Exodus 10:1-2

The Eighth Blow: Locusts

10:1 ¹ The Lord said ²  to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display ³  these signs of mine before him, ⁴  10:2 and in order that in the hearing of your son and your grandson you may tell ⁵  how I made fools ⁶  of the Egyptians ⁷  and about ⁸  my signs that I displayed ⁹  among them, so that you may know ¹⁰  that I am the Lord.”

Exodus 14:17-18

14:17 And as for me, I am going to harden ¹¹  the hearts of the Egyptians so that ¹²  they will come after them, that I may be honored ¹³  because ¹⁴  of Pharaoh and his army and his chariots and his horsemen. 14:18 And the Egyptians will know ¹⁵  that I am the Lord when I have gained my honor ¹⁶  because of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Exodus 15:14-15

15:14 The nations will hear ¹⁷  and tremble;

anguish ¹⁸  will seize ¹⁹  the inhabitants of Philistia.

15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified, ²⁰ 

trembling will seize ²¹  the leaders of Moab,

and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake.

Exodus 18:10-11

18:10 Jethro said, “Blessed ²²  be the Lord who has delivered you from the hand of Egypt, and from the hand of Pharaoh, who has delivered the people from the Egyptians’ control! ²³  18:11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, for in the thing in which they dealt proudly against them he has destroyed them.” ²⁴ 

Joshua 2:9-10

2:9 She said to the men, “I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. ²⁵  We are absolutely terrified of you, ²⁶  and all who live in the land are cringing before ²⁷  you. ²⁸  2:10 For we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan. ²⁹ 

Joshua 9:9

9:9 They told him, “Your subjects ³⁰  have come from a very distant land because of the reputation ³¹  of the Lord your God, for we have heard the news about all he did in Egypt ³² 

Joshua 9:1

The Gibeonites Deceive Israel

9:1 When the news reached all the kings on the west side of the Jordan ³³  – in the hill country, the lowlands, ³⁴  and all along the Mediterranean coast ³⁵  as far as ³⁶  Lebanon (including the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites) –

Joshua 4:8

4:8 The Israelites did just as Joshua commanded. They picked up twelve stones, according to the number of the Israelite tribes, from the middle of the Jordan as the Lord had instructed Joshua. They carried them over with them to the camp and put them there.

Psalms 83:17-18

83:17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified! ³⁷ 

May they die in shame! ³⁸ 

83:18 Then they will know ³⁹  that you alone are the Lord, ⁴⁰ 

the sovereign king ⁴¹  over all the earth.

Proverbs 16:4

16:4 The Lord works ⁴²  everything for its own ends ⁴³  –

even the wicked for the day of disaster. ⁴⁴ 

Isaiah 37:20

37:20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” ⁴⁵ 

[10:1]  ¹ sn The Egyptians dreaded locusts like every other ancient civilization. They had particular gods to whom they looked for help in such catastrophes. The locust-scaring deities of Greece and Asia were probably looked to in Egypt as well (especially in view of the origins in Egypt of so many of those religious ideas). The announcement of the plague falls into the now-familiar pattern. God tells Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh but reminds Moses that he has hardened his heart. Yahweh explains that he has done this so that he might show his power, so that in turn they might declare his name from generation to generation. This point is stressed so often that it must not be minimized. God was laying the foundation of the faith for Israel – the sovereignty of Yahweh.

[10:1]  ² tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”

[10:1]  ³ tn The verb is שִׁתִי (shiti, “I have put”); it is used here as a synonym for the verb שִׂים (sim). Yahweh placed the signs in his midst, where they will be obvious.

[10:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “in his midst.”

[10:2]  ⁵ tn The expression is unusual: תְּסַפֵּר בְּאָזְנֵי (tÿsapper bÿ’ozne, “[that] you may declare in the ears of”). The clause explains an additional reason for God’s hardening the heart of Pharaoh, namely, so that the Israelites can tell their children of God’s great wonders. The expression is highly poetic and intense – like Ps 44:1, which says, “we have heard with our ears.” The emphasis would be on the clear teaching, orally, from one generation to another.

[10:2]  ⁶ tn The verb הִתְעַלַּלְתִּי (hit’allalti) is a bold anthropomorphism. The word means to occupy oneself at another’s expense, to toy with someone, which may be paraphrased with “mock.” The whole point is that God is shaming and disgracing Egypt, making them look foolish in their arrogance and stubbornness (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:366-67). Some prefer to translate it as “I have dealt ruthlessly” with Egypt (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 123).

[10:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “of Egypt.” The place is put by metonymy for the inhabitants.

[10:2]  ⁸ tn The word “about” is supplied to clarify this as another object of the verb “declare.”

[10:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “put” or “placed.”

[10:2]  ¹⁰ tn The form is the perfect tense with vav consecutive, וִידַעְתֶּם (vida’tem, “and that you might know”). This provides another purpose for God’s dealings with Egypt in the way that he was doing. The form is equal to the imperfect tense with vav (ו) prefixed; it thus parallels the imperfect that began v. 2 – “that you might tell.”

[14:17]  ¹¹ tn הִנְנִי (hinni) before the participle gives it the force of a futur instans participle, meaning “I am about to harden” or “I am going to harden” their heart.

[14:17]  ¹² tn The form again is the imperfect tense with vav (ו) to express the purpose or the result of the hardening. The repetition of the verb translated “come” is interesting: Moses is to divide the sea in order that the people may cross, but God will harden the Egyptians’ hearts in order that they may follow.

[14:17]  ¹³ tn For the comments on this verb see the discussion in v. 4. God would get glory by defeating Egypt.

[14:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “I will get glory over.”

[14:18]  ¹⁵ tn The construction is unusual in that it says, “And Egypt will know.” The verb is plural, and so “Egypt” must mean “the Egyptians.” The verb is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive, showing that this recognition or acknowledgment by Egypt will be the result or purpose of the defeat of them by God.

[14:18]  ¹⁶ tn The form is בְּהִכָּבְדִי (bÿhikkavÿdi), the Niphal infinitive construct with a preposition and a suffix. For the suffix on a Niphal, see GKC 162-63 §61.c. The word forms a temporal clause in the line.

[15:14]  ¹⁷ tn This verb is a prophetic perfect, assuming that the text means what it said and this song was sung at the Sea. So all these countries were yet to hear of the victory.

[15:14]  ¹⁸ tn The word properly refers to “pangs” of childbirth. When the nations hear, they will be terrified.

[15:14]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is again a prophetic perfect.

[15:15]  ²⁰ tn This is a prophetic perfect.

[15:15]  ²¹ tn This verb is imperfect tense.

[18:10]  ²² tn This is a common form of praise. The verb בָּרוּךְ (barukh) is the Qal passive participle of the verb. Here must be supplied a jussive, making this participle the predicate: “May Yahweh be blessed.” The verb essentially means “to enrich”; in praise it would mean that he would be enriched by the praises of the people.

[18:10]  ²³ tn Heb “from under the hand of the Egyptians.”

[18:11]  ²⁴ tn The end of this sentence seems not to have been finished, or it is very elliptical. In the present translation the phrase “he has destroyed them” is supplied. Others take the last prepositional phrase to be the completion and supply only a verb: “[he was] above them.” U. Cassuto (Exodus, 216) takes the word “gods” to be the subject of the verb “act proudly,” giving the sense of “precisely (כִּי, ki) in respect of these things of which the gods of Egypt boasted – He is greater than they (עֲלֵיהֶם, ‘alehem).” He suggests rendering the clause, “excelling them in the very things to which they laid claim.”

[2:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “has given the land to you.” Rahab’s statement uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.

[2:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “terror of you has fallen upon us.”

[2:9]  ²⁷ tn Or “melting away because of.”

[2:9]  ²⁸ tn Both of these statements are actually subordinated to “I know” in the Hebrew text, which reads, “I know that the Lord…and that terror of you…and that all the inhabitants….”

[2:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and what you did to the two Amorite kings who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, how you annihilated them.”

[9:9]  ³⁰ tn Or “servants.”

[9:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “name.”

[9:9]  ³² tn Heb “the report about him, all that he did in Egypt.”

[9:1]  ³³ tn Heb “When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan heard.”

[9:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “foothills”; Heb “the Shephelah.”

[9:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “all the coast of the Great Sea.” The “Great Sea” was the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

[9:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “in front of.”

[83:17]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and may they be terrified to perpetuity.” The Hebrew expression עֲדֵי־עַד (’adey-’ad, “to perpetuity”) can mean “forevermore” (see Pss 92:7; 132:12, 14), but here it may be used hyperbolically, for the psalmist asks that the experience of judgment might lead the nations to recognize (v. 18) and even to seek (v. 16) God.

[83:17]  ³⁸ tn Heb “may they be ashamed and perish.” The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling severe judgment down on his enemies. The strong language of the imprecation seems to run contrary to the positive outcome of divine judgment envisioned in v. 16b. Perhaps the language of v. 17 is overstated for effect. Another option is that v. 16b expresses an ideal, while the strong imprecation of vv. 17-18 anticipates reality. It would be nice if the defeated nations actually pursued a relationship with God, but if judgment does not bring them to that point, the psalmist asks that they be annihilated so that they might at least be forced to acknowledge God’s power.

[83:18]  ³⁹ tn After the preceding jussives (v. 17), the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose (“so that they may know”) or result.

[83:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “that you, your name [is] the Lord, you alone.”

[83:18]  ⁴¹ tn Traditionally “the Most High.”

[16:4]  ⁴² sn The Hebrew verb translated “works” (פָּעַל, pa’al) means “to work out; to bring about; to accomplish.” It is used of God’s sovereign control of life (e.g., Num 23:23; Isa 26:12).

[16:4]  ⁴³ tn Heb “for its answer.” The term לַמַּעֲנֵהוּ (lamma’anehu) has been taken to mean either “for his purpose” or “for its answer.” The Hebrew word is מַעֲנֶה (ma’aneh, “answer”) and not לְמַעַן (lÿma’an, “purpose”). So the suffix likely refers to “everything” (כֹּל, kol). God ensures that everyone’s actions and the consequences of those actions correspond – certainly the wicked for the day of calamity. In God’s order there is just retribution for every act.

[16:4]  ⁴⁴ sn This is an example of synthetic parallelism (“A, what’s more B”). The A-line affirms a truth, and the B-line expands on it with a specific application about the wicked – whatever disaster comes their way is an appropriate correspondent for their life.

[37:20]  ⁴⁵ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”