Exodus 7:10

7:10 When ¹  Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them – Aaron threw ²  down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake. ³ 

Exodus 32:19

32:19 When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. ⁴  He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain. ⁵ 

[7:10]  ¹ tn The clause begins with the preterite and the vav (ו) consecutive; it is here subordinated to the next clause as a temporal clause.

[7:10]  ² tn Heb “and Aaron threw.”

[7:10]  ³ tn The noun used here is תַּנִּין (tannin), and not the word for “serpent” or “snake” used in chap. 4. This noun refers to a large reptile, in some texts large river or sea creatures (Gen 1:21; Ps 74:13) or land creatures (Deut 32:33). This wonder paralleled Moses’ miracle in 4:3 when he cast his staff down. But this is Aaron’s staff, and a different miracle. The noun could still be rendered “snake” here since the term could be broad enough to include it.

[32:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the anger of Moses burned hot.”

[32:19]  ⁵ sn See N. M. Waldham, “The Breaking of the Tablets,” Judaism 27 (1978): 442-47.