Exodus 4:23

4:23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve ¹  me,’ but since you have refused to let him go, ²  I will surely kill ³  your son, your firstborn!”’”

Exodus 8:10

8:10 He said, “Tomorrow.” And Moses said, ⁴  “It will be ⁵  as you say, ⁶  so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.

Exodus 9:24

9:24 Hail fell ⁷  and fire mingled ⁸  with the hail; the hail was so severe ⁹  that there had not been any like it ¹⁰  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Exodus 10:8

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?” ¹¹ 

Exodus 20:20

20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, ¹²  that the fear of him ¹³  may be before you so that you do not ¹⁴  sin.”

Exodus 39:23

39:23 There was an opening in the center of the robe, like the opening of a collar, with an edge all around the opening so that it could not be torn.

[4:23]  ¹ tn The text uses the imperative, “send out” (שַׁלַּח, shallakh) followed by the imperfect or jussive with the vav (ו) to express purpose.

[4:23]  ² tn The Piel infinitive serves as the direct object of the verb, answering the question of what Pharaoh would refuse to do. The command and refusal to obey are the grounds for the announcement of death for Pharaoh’s son.

[4:23]  ³ tn The construction is very emphatic. The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) gives it an immediacy and a vividness, as if God is already beginning to act. The participle with this particle has the nuance of an imminent future act, as if God is saying, “I am about to kill.” These words are not repeated until the last plague.

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “And he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:10]  ⁵ tn “It will be” has been supplied.

[8:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “according to your word” (so NASB).

[9:24]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

[9:24]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[10:8]  ¹⁰ 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.

[20:20]  ¹³ tn נַסּוֹת (nassot) is the Piel infinitive construct; it forms the purpose of God’s coming with all the accompanying phenomena. The verb can mean “to try, test, prove.” The sense of “prove” fits this context best because the terrifying phenomena were intended to put the fear of God in their hearts so that they would obey. In other words, God was inspiring them to obey, not simply testing to see if they would.

[20:20]  ¹⁴ tn The suffix on the noun is an objective genitive, referring to the fear that the people would have of God (GKC 439 §135.m).

[20:20]  ¹⁵ tn The negative form לְבִלְתִּי (lÿvilti) is used here with the imperfect tense (see for other examples GKC 483 §152.x). This gives the imperfect the nuance of a final imperfect: that you might not sin. Others: to keep you from sin.