Exodus 15:11

15:11 Who is like you, ¹  O Lord, among the gods? ² 

Who is like you? – majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, ³  working wonders?

Exodus 15:5

15:5 The depths have covered them, ⁴ 

they went down to the bottom ⁵  like a stone.

Exodus 30:38

30:38 Whoever makes anything like it, to use as perfume, ⁶  will be cut off from his people.”

Exodus 15:8

15:8 By the blast of your nostrils ⁷  the waters were piled up,

the flowing water stood upright like a heap, ⁸ 

and the deep waters were solidified in the heart of the sea.

Exodus 30:33

30:33 Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts any of it on someone not a priest ⁹  will be cut off ¹⁰  from his people.’”

Exodus 9:18

9:18 I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down ¹¹  about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred ¹²  in Egypt from the day it was founded ¹³  until now.

Exodus 9:24

9:24 Hail fell ¹⁴  and fire mingled ¹⁵  with the hail; the hail was so severe ¹⁶  that there had not been any like it ¹⁷  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Exodus 11:6

11:6 There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been, ¹⁸  nor ever will be again. ¹⁹ 

Exodus 30:32

30:32 It must not be applied ²⁰  to people’s bodies, and you must not make any like it with the same recipe. It is holy, and it must be holy to you.

Exodus 9:14

9:14 For this time I will send all my plagues ²¹  on your very self ²²  and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

Exodus 10:14

10:14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory ²³  of Egypt. It was very severe; ²⁴  there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again. ²⁵ 

[15:11]  ¹ tn The question is of course rhetorical; it is a way of affirming that no one is comparable to God. See C. J. Labuschagne, The Incomparability of Yahweh in the Old Testament, 22, 66-67, and 94-97.

[15:11]  ² sn Verses 11-17 will now focus on Yahweh as the incomparable one who was able to save Israel from their foes and afterward lead them to the promised land.

[15:11]  ³ tn S. R. Driver suggests “praiseworthy acts” as the translation (Exodus, 137).

[15:5]  ⁴ tn The verb form is יְכַסְיֻמוּ (yÿkhasyumu) is the Piel preterite. Normally a vav (ו) consecutive is used with the preterite, but in some ancient poems the form without the vav appears, as is the case frequently in this poem. That such an archaic form is used should come as no surprise, because the word also uses the yod (י) of the root (GKC 214 §75.dd), and the archaic suffix form (GKC 258 §91.l). These all indicate the antiquity of the poem.

[15:5]  ⁵ tn The parasynonyms here are תְּהֹמֹת (tÿhomot, “deep, ocean depths, deep waters”) and מְצוֹלֹת (mÿtsolot, “the depths”); S. R. Driver says properly the “gurgling places” (Exodus, 134).

[30:38]  ⁷ tn Or to smell it, to use for the maker’s own pleasure.

[15:8]  ¹⁰ sn The phrase “the blast of your nostrils” is a bold anthropomorphic expression for the wind that came in and dried up the water.

[15:8]  ¹¹ tn The word “heap” describes the walls of water. The waters, which are naturally fluid, stood up as though they were a heap, a mound of earth. Likewise, the flowing waters deep in the ocean solidified – as though they were turned to ice (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 175).

[30:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “a stranger,” meaning someone not ordained a priest.

[30:33]  ¹⁴ sn The rabbinic interpretation of this is that it is a penalty imposed by heaven, that the life will be cut short and the person could die childless.

[9:18]  ¹⁶ tn הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר (hinÿni mamtir) is the futur instans construction, giving an imminent future translation: “Here – I am about to cause it to rain.”

[9:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “which not was like it in Egypt.” The pronoun suffix serves as the resumptive pronoun for the relative particle: “which…like it” becomes “the like of which has not been.” The word “hail” is added in the translation to make clear the referent of the relative particle.

[9:18]  ¹⁸ tn The form הִוָּסְדָה (hivvasdah) is perhaps a rare Niphal perfect and not an infinitive (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 117).

[9:24]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is the common preterite וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), which is normally translated “and there was” if it is translated at all. The verb הָיָה (hayah), however, can mean “be, become, befall, fall, fall out, happen.” Here it could be simply translated “there was hail,” but the active “hail fell” fits the point of the sequence better.

[9:24]  ²⁰ tn The form מִתְלַקַּחַת (mitlaqqakhat) is a Hitpael participle; the clause reads, “and fire taking hold of itself in the midst of the hail.” This probably refers to lightning flashing back and forth. See also Ezek 1:4. God created a great storm with flashing fire connected to it.

[9:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

[9:24]  ²² tn A literal reading of the clause would be “which there was not like it in all the land of Egypt.” The relative pronoun must be joined to the resumptive pronoun: “which like it (like which) there had not been.”

[11:6]  ²² tn Heb “which like it there has never been.”

[11:6]  ²³ tn Heb “and like it it will not add.”

[30:32]  ²⁵ tn Without an expressed subject, the verb may be treated as a passive. Any common use, as in personal hygiene, would be a complete desecration.

[9:14]  ²⁸ tn The expression “all my plagues” points to the rest of the plagues and anticipates the proper outcome. Another view is to take the expression to mean the full brunt of the attack on the Egyptian people.

[9:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to your heart.” The expression is unusual, but it may be an allusion to the hard heartedness of Pharaoh – his stubbornness and blindness (B. Jacob, Exodus, 274).

[10:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “border.”

[10:14]  ³² 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]  ³³ tn Heb “after them.”