Exodus 7:12

7:12 Each man ¹  threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

Exodus 7:10

7:10 When ²  Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them – Aaron threw ³  down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake. ⁴ 

Exodus 9:23

9:23 When Moses extended ⁵  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ⁶  sent thunder ⁷  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ⁸  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

Exodus 10:13

10:13 So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord ⁹  brought ¹⁰  an east wind on the land all that day and all night. ¹¹  The morning came, ¹²  and the east wind had brought up ¹³  the locusts!

[7:12]  ¹ tn The verb is plural, but the subject is singular, “a man – his staff.” This noun can be given a distributive sense: “each man threw down his staff.”

[7:10]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “and Aaron threw.”

[7:10]  ⁴ 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.

[9:23]  ³ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next clause in view of the emphasis put on the subject, Yahweh, by the disjunctive word order of that clause.

[9:23]  ⁴ tn By starting the clause with the subject (an example of disjunctive word order) the text is certainly stressing that Yahweh alone did this.

[9:23]  ⁵ tn The expression נָתַן קֹלֹת (natan qolot) literally means “gave voices” (also “voice”). This is a poetic expression for sending the thunder. Ps 29:3 talks about the “voice of Yahweh” – the God of glory thunders!

[9:23]  ⁶ sn This clause has been variously interpreted. Lightning would ordinarily accompany thunder; in this case the mention of fire could indicate that the lightning was beyond normal and that it was striking in such a way as to start fires on the ground. It could also mean that fire went along the ground from the pounding hail.

[10:13]  ⁴ tn The clause begins וַיהוָה (va’adonay [vayhvah], “Now Yahweh….”). In contrast to a normal sequence, this beginning focuses attention on Yahweh as the subject of the verb.

[10:13]  ⁵ tn The verb נָהַג (nahag) means “drive, conduct.” It is elsewhere used for driving sheep, leading armies, or leading in processions.

[10:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “and all the night.”

[10:13]  ⁷ tn The text does not here use ordinary circumstantial clause constructions; rather, Heb “the morning was, and the east wind carried the locusts.” It clearly means “when it was morning,” but the style chosen gives a more abrupt beginning to the plague, as if the reader is in the experience – and at morning, the locusts are there!

[10:13]  ⁸ tn The verb here is a past perfect, indicting that the locusts had arrived before the day came.