Exodus 10:8-11

10:8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Exactly who is going with you?” ¹  10:9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold ²  a pilgrim feast for the Lord.”

10:10 He said to them, “The Lord will need to be with you ³  if I release you and your dependents! ⁴  Watch out! ⁵  Trouble is right in front of you! ⁶  10:11 No! ⁷  Go, you men ⁸  only, and serve the Lord, for that ⁹  is what you want.” ¹⁰  Then Moses and Aaron ¹¹  were driven ¹²  out of Pharaoh’s presence.

[10:8]  ¹ tn The question is literally “who and who are the ones going?” (מִי וָמִי הַהֹלְכִים, mi vami haholÿkhim). Pharaoh’s answer to Moses includes this rude question, which was intended to say that Pharaoh would control who went. The participle in this clause, then, refers to the future journey.

[10:9]  ² tn Heb “we have a pilgrim feast (חַג, khag) to Yahweh.”

[10:10]  ³ sn Pharaoh is by no means offering a blessing on them in the name of Yahweh. The meaning of his “wish” is connected to the next clause – as he is releasing them, may God help them. S. R. Driver says that in Pharaoh’s scornful challenge Yahweh is as likely to protect them as Pharaoh is likely to let them go – not at all (Exodus, 80). He is planning to keep the women and children as hostages to force the men to return. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 125) paraphrases it this way: “May the help of your God be as far from you as I am from giving you permission to go forth with your little ones.” The real irony, Cassuto observes, is that in the final analysis he will let them go, and Yahweh will be with them.

[10:10]  ⁴ tn The context of Moses’ list of young and old, sons and daughters, and the contrast with the word for strong “men” in v. 11 indicates that טַפְּכֶם (tappÿkhem), often translated “little ones” or “children,” refers to dependent people, noncombatants in general.

[10:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “see.”

[10:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “before your face.”

[10:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “not thus.”

[10:11]  ⁸ tn The word is הַגְּבָרִים (haggÿvarim, “the strong men”), a word different from the more general one that Pharaoh’s servants used (v. 7). Pharaoh appears to be conceding, but he is holding hostages. The word “only” has been supplied in the translation to indicate this.

[10:11]  ⁹ tn The suffix on the sign of the accusative refers in a general sense to the idea contained in the preceding clause (see GKC 440-41 §135.p).

[10:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you are seeking.”

[10:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Moses and Aaron) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:11]  ¹² tn The verb is the Piel preterite, third person masculine singular, meaning “and he drove them out.” But “Pharaoh” cannot be the subject of the sentence, for “Pharaoh” is the object of the preposition. The subject is not specified, and so the verb can be treated as passive.