Exodus 7:14

The First Blow: Water to Blood

7:14 ¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; ²  he refuses to release ³  the people.

Exodus 12:38

12:38 A mixed multitude ⁴  also went up with them, and flocks and herds – a very large number of cattle. ⁵ 

Exodus 4:10

4:10 Then Moses said to the Lord, ⁶  “O ⁷  my Lord, ⁸  I am not an eloquent man, ⁹  neither in the past ¹⁰  nor since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” ¹¹ 

Exodus 8:24

8:24 The Lord did so; a ¹²  thick ¹³  swarm of flies came into ¹⁴  Pharaoh’s house and into the houses ¹⁵  of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined ¹⁶  because of the swarms of flies.

Exodus 9:3

9:3 then the hand of the Lord will surely bring ¹⁷  a very terrible plague ¹⁸  on your livestock in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, ¹⁹  the herds, and the flocks.

Exodus 9:18

9:18 I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down ²⁰  about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred ²¹  in Egypt from the day it was founded ²²  until now.

Exodus 9:24

9:24 Hail fell ²³  and fire mingled ²⁴  with the hail; the hail was so severe ²⁵  that there had not been any like it ²⁶  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Exodus 18:18

18:18 You will surely wear out, ²⁷  both you and these people who are with you, for this is too ²⁸  heavy a burden ²⁹  for you; you are not able to do it by yourself.

Exodus 10:14

10:14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory ³⁰  of Egypt. It was very severe; ³¹  there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again. ³² 

Exodus 17:12

17:12 When ³³  the hands of Moses became heavy, ³⁴  they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, ³⁵  and so his hands were steady ³⁶  until the sun went down.

Exodus 19:16

19:16 On ³⁷  the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense ³⁸  cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud ³⁹  horn; ⁴⁰  all the people who were in the camp trembled.

[7:14]  ¹ sn With the first plague, or blow on Pharaoh, a new section of the book unfolds. Until now the dominant focus has been on preparing the deliverer for the exodus. From here the account will focus on preparing Pharaoh for it. The theological emphasis for exposition of the entire series of plagues may be: The sovereign Lord is fully able to deliver his people from the oppression of the world so that they may worship and serve him alone. The distinct idea of each plague then will contribute to this main idea. It is clear from the outset that God could have delivered his people simply and suddenly. But he chose to draw out the process with the series of plagues. There appear to be several reasons: First, the plagues are designed to judge Egypt. It is justice for slavery. Second, the plagues are designed to inform Israel and Egypt of the ability of Yahweh. Everyone must know that it is Yahweh doing all these things. The Egyptians must know this before they are destroyed. Third, the plagues are designed to deliver Israel. The first plague is the plague of blood: God has absolute power over the sources of life. Here Yahweh strikes the heart of Egyptian life with death and corruption. The lesson is that God can turn the source of life into the prospect of death. Moreover, the Nile was venerated; so by turning it into death Moses was showing the superiority of Yahweh.

[7:14]  ² tn Or “unresponsive” (so HALOT 456 s.v. I כָּבֵד).

[7:14]  ³ tn The Piel infinitive construct לְשַׁלַּח (lÿshallakh) serves as the direct object of מֵאֵן (me’en), telling what Pharaoh refuses (characteristic perfect) to do. The whole clause is an explanation (like a metonymy of effect) of the first clause that states that Pharaoh’s heart is hard.

[12:38]  ⁴ tn The “mixed multitude” (עֵרֶב רַב, ’erev rav) refers to a great “swarm” (see a possible cognate in 8:21[17]) of folk who joined the Israelites, people who were impressed by the defeat of Egypt, who came to faith, or who just wanted to escape Egypt (maybe slaves or descendants of the Hyksos). The expression prepares for later references to riffraff who came along.

[12:38]  ⁵ tn Heb “and very much cattle.”

[4:10]  ⁷ sn Now Moses took up another line of argumentation, the issue of his inability to speak fluently (vv. 10-17). The point here is that God’s servants must yield themselves as instruments to God, the Creator. It makes no difference what character traits they have or what weaknesses they think they have (Moses manages to speak very well) if God is present. If the sovereign God has chosen them, then they have everything that God intended them to have.

[4:10]  ⁸ tn The word בִּי (bi) is a particle of entreaty; it seeks permission to speak and is always followed by “my lord” or “my Lord.” Often rendered “please,” it is “employed in petitions, complaints and excuses” (W. H. C. Propp, Exodus 1–18 [AB], 213).

[4:10]  ⁹ tn The designation in Moses’ address is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay), a term of respect and deference such as “lord, master, sir” but pointed as it would be when it represents the tetragrammaton. B. Jacob says since this is the first time Moses spoke directly to Yahweh, he did so hesitatingly (Exodus, 87).

[4:10]  ¹⁰ tn When a noun clause is negated with לֹא (lo’), rather than אֵין (’en), there is a special emphasis, since the force of the negative falls on a specific word (GKC 479 §152.d). The expression “eloquent man” is אִישׁ דְּבָרִים (’ish dÿvarim, “a man of words”). The genitive may indicate a man characterized by words or a man who is able to command or control words. Moses apparently is resigned to the fact that he can do the signs, but he knows the signs have to be explained.

[4:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “also from yesterday also from three days ago” or “neither since yesterday nor since before that” is idiomatic for “previously” or “in the past.”

[4:10]  ¹² tn The two expressions are כְבַד־פֶּה (khÿvad peh, “heavy of mouth”), and then כְבַד לָשׁוֹן (khÿvad lashon, “heavy of tongue”). Both use genitives of specification, the mouth and the tongue being what are heavy – slow. “Mouth” and “tongue” are metonymies of cause. Moses is saying that he has a problem speaking well. Perhaps he had been too long at the other side of the desert, or perhaps he was being a little dishonest. At any rate, he has still not captured the meaning of God’s presence. See among other works, J. H. Tigay, “‘Heavy of Mouth’ and ‘Heavy of Tongue’: On Moses’ Speech Difficulty,” BASOR 231 (1978): 57-67.

[8:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and there came a….”

[8:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “heavy,” or “severe.”

[8:24]  ¹² tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.

[8:24]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.

[8:24]  ¹⁴ tc Concerning the connection of “the land was ruined” with the preceding, S. R. Driver (Exodus, 68) suggests reading with the LXX, Smr, and Peshitta; this would call for adding a conjunction before the last clause to make it read, “into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was…”

[9:3]  ¹³ tn The form used here is הוֹיָה (hoyah), the Qal active participle, feminine singular, from the verb “to be.” This is the only place in the OT that this form occurs. Ogden shows that this form is appropriate with the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) to stress impending divine action, and that it conforms to the pattern in these narratives where five times the participle is used in the threat to Pharaoh (7:17; 8:2; 9:3, 14; 10:4). See G. S. Ogden, “Notes on the Use of הויה in Exodus IX. 3,” VT 17 (1967): 483-84.

[9:3]  ¹⁴ tn The word דֶּבֶר (dever) is usually translated “pestilence” when it applies to diseases for humans. It is used only here and in Ps 78:50 for animals.

[9:3]  ¹⁵ sn The older view that camels were not domesticated at this time (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 70; W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, 96; et. al.) has been corrected by more recently uncovered information (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD³ 160-61).

[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.”

[18:18]  ²² tn The verb means “to fall and fade” as a leaf (Ps 1:3). In Ps 18:45 it is used figuratively of foes fading away, failing in strength and courage (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 166). Here the infinitive absolute construction heightens the meaning.

[18:18]  ²³ tn Gesenius lists the specialized use of the comparative min (מ) where with an adjective the thought expressed is that the quality is too difficult for the attainment of a particular aim (GKC 430 §133.c).

[18:18]  ²⁴ tn Here “a burden” has been supplied.

[10:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “border.”

[10:14]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “after them.”

[17:12]  ²⁸ tn Literally “now the hands of Moses,” the disjunctive vav (ו) introduces a circumstantial clause here – of time.

[17:12]  ²⁹ tn The term used here is the adjective כְּבֵדִים (kÿvedim). It means “heavy,” but in this context the idea is more that of being tired. This is the important word that was used in the plague stories: when the heart of Pharaoh was hard, then the Israelites did not gain their freedom or victory. Likewise here, when the staff was lowered because Moses’ hands were “heavy,” Israel started to lose.

[17:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “from this, one, and from this, one.”

[17:12]  ³¹ tn The word “steady” is אֱמוּנָה (’emuna) from the root אָמַן (’aman). The word usually means “faithfulness.” Here is a good illustration of the basic idea of the word – firm, steady, reliable, dependable. There may be a double entendre here; on the one hand it simply says that his hands were stayed so that Israel might win, but on the other hand it is portraying Moses as steady, firm, reliable, faithful. The point is that whatever God commissioned as the means or agency of power – to Moses a staff, to the Christians the Spirit – the people of God had to know that the victory came from God alone.

[19:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “and it was on.”

[19:16]  ³² tn Heb “heavy” (כָּבֵד, kaved).

[19:16]  ³³ tn Literally “strong” (חָזָק, khazaq).

[19:16]  ³⁴ tn The word here is שֹׁפָר (shofar), the normal word for “horn.” This word is used especially to announce something important in a public event (see 1 Kgs 1:34; 2 Sam 6:15). The previous word used in the context (v. 16) was יֹבֵל (yovel, “ram’s horn”).