Exodus 10:13-14

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! 10:14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory ⁶  of Egypt. It was very severe; ⁷  there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again. ⁸ 

Exodus 10:19

10:19 and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, ⁹  and it picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. ¹⁰  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.

[10:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “border.”

[10:14]  ⁷ tn This is an interpretive translation. The clause simply has כָּבֵד מְאֹד (kaved mÿ’od), the stative verb with the adverb – “it was very heavy.” The description prepares for the following statement about the uniqueness of this locust infestation.

[10:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “after them.”

[10:19]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps “sea wind,” i.e., a wind off the Mediterranean.

[10:19]  ¹² 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).