Exodus 10:13

10:13 So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord ¹  brought ²  an east wind on the land all that day and all night. ³  The morning came, ⁴  and the east wind had brought up ⁵  the locusts!

Exodus 10:19

10:19 and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, ⁶  and it picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. ⁷  Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.

[10:13]  ¹ tn The clause begins וַיהוָה (va’adonay [vayhvah], “Now Yahweh….”). In contrast to a normal sequence, this beginning focuses attention on Yahweh as the subject of the verb.

[10:13]  ² tn The verb נָהַג (nahag) means “drive, conduct.” It is elsewhere used for driving sheep, leading armies, or leading in processions.

[10:13]  ³ tn Heb “and all the night.”

[10:13]  ⁴ tn The text does not here use ordinary circumstantial clause constructions; rather, Heb “the morning was, and the east wind carried the locusts.” It clearly means “when it was morning,” but the style chosen gives a more abrupt beginning to the plague, as if the reader is in the experience – and at morning, the locusts are there!

[10:13]  ⁵ tn The verb here is a past perfect, indicting that the locusts had arrived before the day came.

[10:19]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps “sea wind,” i.e., a wind off the Mediterranean.

[10:19]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew name here is יַם־סוּף (Yam Suf), sometimes rendered “Reed Sea” or “Sea of Reeds.” The word סוּף is a collective noun that may have derived from an Egyptian name for papyrus reeds. Many English versions have used “Red Sea,” which translates the name that ancient Greeks used: ejruqrav qalavssa (eruqra qalassa).