Exodus 2:9

2:9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child ¹  and nurse him for me, and I will pay your ²  wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.

Exodus 6:12

6:12 But Moses replied to ³  the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, then ⁴  how will Pharaoh listen to me, since ⁵  I speak with difficulty?” ⁶ 

Exodus 9:27

9:27 So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time! ⁷  The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty. ⁸ 

Exodus 14:17

14:17 And as for me, I am going to harden ⁹  the hearts of the Egyptians so that ¹⁰  they will come after them, that I may be honored ¹¹  because ¹²  of Pharaoh and his army and his chariots and his horsemen.

[2:9]  ¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperative of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh), and so is properly rendered “cause to go” or “take away.”

[2:9]  ² tn The possessive pronoun on the noun “wage” expresses the indirect object: “I will pay wages to you.”

[6:12]  ³ tn Heb “And Moses spoke before.”

[6:12]  ⁴ sn This analogy is an example of a qal wahomer comparison. It is an argument by inference from the light (qal) to the heavy (homer), from the simple to the more difficult. If the Israelites, who are Yahwists, would not listen to him, it is highly unlikely Pharaoh would.

[6:12]  ⁵ tn The final clause begins with a disjunctive vav (ו), a vav on a nonverb form – here a pronoun. It introduces a circumstantial causal clause.

[6:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and [since] I am of uncircumcised lips.” The “lips” represent his speech (metonymy of cause). The term “uncircumcised” makes a comparison between his speech and that which Israel perceived as unacceptable, unprepared, foreign, and of no use to God. The heart is described this way when it is impervious to good impressions (Lev 26:41; Jer 9:26) and the ear when it hears imperfectly (Jer 6:10). Moses has here returned to his earlier claim – he does not speak well enough to be doing this.

[9:27]  ⁵ sn Pharaoh now is struck by the judgment and acknowledges that he is at fault. But the context shows that this penitence was short-lived. What exactly he meant by this confession is uncertain. On the surface his words seem to represent a recognition that he was in the wrong and Yahweh right.

[9:27]  ⁶ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) can mean “ungodly, wicked, guilty, criminal.” Pharaoh here is saying that Yahweh is right, and the Egyptians are not – so they are at fault, guilty. S. R. Driver says the words are used in their forensic sense (in the right or wrong standing legally) and not in the ethical sense of morally right and wrong (Exodus, 75).

[14:17]  ⁷ tn הִנְנִי (hinni) before the participle gives it the force of a futur instans participle, meaning “I am about to harden” or “I am going to harden” their heart.

[14:17]  ⁸ tn The form again is the imperfect tense with vav (ו) to express the purpose or the result of the hardening. The repetition of the verb translated “come” is interesting: Moses is to divide the sea in order that the people may cross, but God will harden the Egyptians’ hearts in order that they may follow.

[14:17]  ⁹ tn For the comments on this verb see the discussion in v. 4. God would get glory by defeating Egypt.

[14:17]  ¹⁰ tn Or “I will get glory over.”