Exodus 10:26-29

10:26 Our livestock must ¹  also go with us! Not a hoof is to be left behind! For we must take ²  these animals ³  to serve the Lord our God. Until we arrive there, we do not know what we must use to serve the Lord.” ⁴ 

10:27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to release them. 10:28 Pharaoh said to him, “Go from me! ⁵  Watch out for yourself! Do not appear before me again, ⁶  for when ⁷  you see my face you will die!” 10:29 Moses said, “As you wish! ⁸  I will not see your face again.” ⁹ 

[10:26]  ¹ tn This is the obligatory imperfect nuance. They were obliged to take the animals if they were going to sacrifice, but more than that, since they were not coming back, they had to take everything.

[10:26]  ² tn The same modal nuance applies to this verb.

[10:26]  ³ tn Heb “from it,” referring collectively to the livestock.

[10:26]  ⁴ sn Moses gives an angry but firm reply to Pharaoh’s attempt to control Israel; he makes it clear that he has no intention of leaving any pledge with Pharaoh. When they leave, they will take everything that belongs to them.

[10:28]  ⁵ tn The expression is לֵךְ מֵעָלָי (lekh me’alay, “go from on me”) with the adversative use of the preposition, meaning from being a trouble or a burden to me (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 84; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 51, §288).

[10:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “add to see my face.” The construction uses a verbal hendiadys: “do not add to see” (אַל־תֹּסֶף רְאוֹת, ’al-toseph rÿ’ot), meaning “do not see again.” The phrase “see my face” means “come before me” or “appear before me.”

[10:28]  ⁷ tn The construction is בְּיוֹם רְאֹתְךָ (bÿyom rÿ’otÿkha), an adverbial clause of time made up of the prepositional phrase, the infinitive construct, and the suffixed subjective genitive. “In the day of your seeing” is “when you see.”

[10:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “Thus you have spoken.”

[10:29]  ⁹ tn This is a verbal hendiadys construction: “I will not add again [to] see.”