Exodus 10:7

10:7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long ¹  will this man be a menace ²  to us? Release the people so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not know ³  that Egypt is destroyed?”

Exodus 12:33

12:33 The Egyptians were urging ⁴  the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, ⁵  for they were saying, “We are all dead!”

[10:7]  ¹ sn The question of Pharaoh’s servants echoes the question of Moses – “How long?” Now the servants of Pharaoh are demanding what Moses demanded – “Release the people.” They know that the land is destroyed, and they speak of it as Moses’ doing. That way they avoid acknowledging Yahweh or blaming Pharaoh.

[10:7]  ² tn Heb “snare” (מוֹקֵשׁ, moqesh), a word used for a trap for catching birds. Here it is a figure for the cause of Egypt’s destruction.

[10:7]  ³ tn With the adverb טֶרֶם (terem), the imperfect tense receives a present sense: “Do you not know?” (See GKC 481 §152.r).

[12:33]  ⁴ tn The verb used here (חָזַק, khazaq) is the same verb used for Pharaoh’s heart being hardened. It conveys the idea of their being resolved or insistent in this – they were not going to change.

[12:33]  ⁵ tn The phrase uses two construct infinitives in a hendiadys, the first infinitive becoming the modifier.