Exodus 12:29

The Deliverance from Egypt

12:29 ¹ It happened ²  at midnight – the Lord attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

Exodus 12:2

12:2 “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. ³ 

Exodus 19:1

Israel at Sinai

19:1 ⁴ In the third month after the Israelites went out ⁵  from the land of Egypt, on the very day, ⁶  they came to the Desert of Sinai.

Proverbs 14:32

14:32 The wicked will be thrown down in his trouble, ⁷ 

but the righteous have refuge ⁸  even in the threat of death. ⁹ 

Ecclesiastes 11:3

11:3 If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth,

and whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, the tree will lie wherever it falls.

Daniel 5:30

5:30 And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, ¹⁰  was killed. ¹¹ 

Luke 12:20

12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ¹²  will be demanded back from ¹³  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ¹⁴ 

Acts 1:25

1:25 to assume the task ¹⁵  of this service ¹⁶  and apostleship from which Judas turned aside ¹⁷  to go to his own place.” ¹⁸ 

Acts 1:1

Jesus Ascends to Heaven

1:1 I wrote ¹⁹  the former ²⁰  account, ²¹  Theophilus, ²²  about all that Jesus began to do and teach

Acts 5:2-3

5:2 He ²³  kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought ²⁴  only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet. 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled ²⁵  your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of ²⁶  the land?

[12:29]  ¹ sn The next section records the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and so becomes the turning point of the book. Verses 28 and 29 could be included in the exposition of the previous section as the culmination of that part. The message might highlight God’s requirement for deliverance from bondage through the application of the blood of the sacrifice, God’s instruction for the memorial of deliverance through the purging of corruption, and the compliance of those who believed the message. But these verses also form the beginning of this next section (and so could be used transitionally). This unit includes the judgment on Egypt (29-30), the exodus from Egypt (31-39) and the historical summation and report (40-42).

[12:29]  ² tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), often translated “and it came to pass.” Here it could be left untranslated: “In the middle of the night Yahweh attacked.” The word order of the next and main clause furthers the emphasis by means of the vav disjunctive on the divine name preceding the verb. The combination of these initial and disjunctive elements helps to convey the suddenness of the attack, while its thoroughness is stressed by the repetition of “firstborn” in the rest of the verse, the merism (“from the firstborn of Pharaoh…to the firstborn of the captive”), and the mention of cattle.

[12:2]  ³ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 294-95) shows that the intent of the passage was not to make this month in the spring the New Year – that was in the autumn. Rather, when counting months this was supposed to be remembered first, for it was the great festival of freedom from Egypt. He observes how some scholars have unnecessarily tried to date one New Year earlier than the other.

[19:1]  ⁴ sn This chapter is essentially about mediation. The people are getting ready to meet with God, receive the Law from him, and enter into a covenant with him. All of this required mediation and preparation. Through it all, Israel will become God’s unique possession, a kingdom of priests on earth – if they comply with his Law. The chapter can be divided as follows: vv. 1-8 tell how God, Israel’s great deliverer promised to make them a kingdom of priests; this is followed by God’s declaration that Moses would be the mediator (v. 9); vv. 10-22 record instructions for Israel to prepare themselves to worship Yahweh and an account of the manifestation of Yahweh with all the phenomena; and the chapter closes with the mediation of Moses on behalf of the people (vv. 23-25). Having been redeemed from Egypt, the people will now be granted a covenant with God. See also R. E. Bee, “A Statistical Study of the Sinai Pericope,” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 135 (1972): 406-21.

[19:1]  ⁵ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct followed by the subjective genitive to form a temporal clause.

[19:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “on this day.”

[14:32]  ⁷ tn The prepositional phrase must be “in his time of trouble” (i.e., when catastrophe comes). Cf. CEV “In times of trouble the wicked are destroyed.” A wicked person has nothing to fall back on in such times.

[14:32]  ⁸ sn The righteous have hope in a just retribution – they have a place of safety even in death.

[14:32]  ⁹ tc The LXX reads this as “in his integrity,” as if it were בְּתוּמּוֹ (bÿtumo) instead of “in his death” (בְּמוֹתוֹ, bÿmoto). The LXX is followed by some English versions (e.g., NAB “in his honesty,” NRSV “in their integrity,” and TEV “by their integrity”).

[5:30]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “king of the Chaldeans.”

[5:30]  ¹¹ sn The year was 539 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been approximately eighty-one years old. The relevant extra-biblical records describing the fall of Babylon include portions of Herodotus, Xenophon, Berossus (cited in Josephus), the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Babylonian Chronicle.

[12:20]  ¹² tn Grk “your soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.

[12:20]  ¹³ tn Or “required back.” This term, ἀπαιτέω (apaitew), has an economic feel to it and is often used of a debt being called in for repayment (BDAG 96 s.v. 1).

[12:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The words “for yourself” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[1:25]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “to take the place.”

[1:25]  ¹⁶ tn Or “of this ministry.”

[1:25]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the task of this service and apostleship which Judas ceased to perform.”

[1:25]  ¹⁸ sn To go to his own place. This may well be a euphemism for Judas’ judged fate. He separated himself from them, and thus separated he would remain.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “produced,” Grk “made.”

[1:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “first.” The translation “former” is preferred because “first” could imply to the modern English reader that the author means that his previous account was the first one to be written down. The Greek term πρῶτος (prwtos) does not necessarily mean “first” in an absolute sense, but can refer to the first in a set or series. That is what is intended here – the first account (known as the Gospel of Luke) as compared to the second one (known as Acts).

[1:1]  ²¹ tn The Greek word λόγος (logos) is sometimes translated “book” (NRSV, NIV) or “treatise” (KJV). A formal, systematic treatment of a subject is implied, but the word “book” may be too specific and slightly misleading to the modern reader, so “account” has been used.

[1:1]  ²² tn Grk “O Theophilus,” but the usage of the vocative in Acts with ὦ (w) is unemphatic, following more the classical idiom (see ExSyn 69).

[5:2]  ²³ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[5:2]  ²⁴ tn The participle ἐνέγκας (enenka") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[5:3]  ²⁵ sn This is a good example of the Greek verb fill (πληρόω, plhrow) meaning “to exercise control over someone’s thought and action” (cf. Eph 5:18).

[5:3]  ²⁶ tn The words “from the sale of” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the meaning, since the phrase “proceeds from the land” could possibly be understood as crops rather than money from the sale.