Exodus 11:5

11:5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh ¹  who sits on his throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

Jude 1:21

1:21 maintain ²  yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating ³  the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. ⁴ 

Job 31:10

31:10 then let my wife turn the millstone ⁵  for another man,

and may other men have sexual relations with her. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 27:7

27:7 All nations must serve him and his son and grandson ⁷  until the time comes for his own nation to fall. ⁸  Then many nations and great kings will in turn subjugate Babylon. ⁹ 

Lamentations 5:13

5:13 The young men perform menial labor; ¹⁰ 

boys stagger from their labor. ¹¹ 

Matthew 24:41

24:41 There will be two women grinding grain with a mill; ¹²  one will be taken and one left.

Luke 17:35

17:35 There will be two women grinding grain together; ¹³  one will be taken and the other left.”

[11:5]  ¹ sn The firstborn in Egyptian and Israelite cultures was significant, but the firstborn of Pharaoh was most important. Pharaoh was considered a god, the son of Re, the sun god, for the specific purpose of ruling over Re’s chief concern, the land of Egypt. For the purpose of re-creation, the supreme god assumed the form of the living king and gave seed which was to become the next king and the next “son of Re.” Moreover, the Pharaoh was the incarnation of the god Horus, a falcon god whose province was the heavens. Horus represented the living king who succeeded the dead king Osiris. Every living king was Horus, every dead king Osiris (see J. A. Wilson, “Egypt,” Before Philosophy, 83-84). To strike any firstborn was to destroy the heir, who embodied the hopes and aspirations of the Egyptians, but to strike the firstborn son of Pharaoh was to destroy this cardinal doctrine of the divine kingship of Egypt. Such a blow would be enough for Pharaoh, for then he would drive the Israelites out.

[1:21]  ² tn Or “keep.”

[1:21]  ³ tn Or “waiting for.”

[1:21]  ⁴ tn Grk “unto eternal life.”

[31:10]  ⁵ tn Targum Job interpreted the verb טָחַן (takhan, “grind”) in a sexual sense, and this has influenced other versions and commentaries. But the literal sense fits well in this line. The idea is that she would be a slave for someone else. The second line of the verse then might build on this to explain what kind of a slave – a concubine (see A. B. Davidson, Job, 215).

[31:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “bow down over her,” an idiom for sexual relations.

[27:7]  ⁷ sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho at Carchemish until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. There were only four rulers. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil Merodach (cf. 52:31), and two other rulers who were not descended from him.

[27:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).

[27:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)

[5:13]  ¹⁰ tn The text is difficult. Word by word the MT has “young men hand mill(?) they take up” Perhaps it means “they take [our] young men for mill grinding,” or perhaps it means “the young men take up [the labor of] mill grinding.” This expression is an example of synecdoche where the mill stands for the labor at the mill and then that labor stands for performing menial physical labor as servants. The surface reading, “young men carry hand mills,” does not portray any great adversity for them. The Vulgate translates as an abusive sexual metaphor (see D. R. Hillers, Lamentations [AB], 99), but this gives no known parallel to the second part of the verse.

[5:13]  ¹¹ tc Heb “boys trip over wood.” This phrase makes little sense. The translation adopts D. R. Hillers’ suggestion (Lamentations [AB], 99) of בְּעֶצֶב כָּשָׁלוּ (bÿ’etsev kashalu). Due to letter confusion and haplography the final ב (bet) of בְּעֶצֶב (bÿ’etsev) which looks like the כ (kaf) beginning the next word, was dropped. This verb can have an abstract noun after the preposition ב (bet) meaning “from, due to” rather than “over.”

[24:41]  ¹² tn According to L&N 46.16, this refers to a hand mill normally operated by two women.

[17:35]  ¹³ tn Grk “at the same place.” According to L&N 46.16, this refers to a hand mill normally operated by two women.