Exodus 7:21

7:21 When the fish ¹  that were in the Nile died, the Nile began ²  to stink, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood ³  everywhere in the land of Egypt!

Exodus 8:6

8:6 So Aaron extended his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs ⁴  came up and covered the land of Egypt.

Exodus 8:24

8:24 The Lord did so; a ⁵  thick ⁶  swarm of flies came into ⁷  Pharaoh’s house and into the houses ⁸  of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined ⁹  because of the swarms of flies.

Exodus 9:24

9:24 Hail fell ¹⁰  and fire mingled ¹¹  with the hail; the hail was so severe ¹²  that there had not been any like it ¹³  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Exodus 10:21-22

The Ninth Blow: Darkness

10:21 ¹⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward heaven ¹⁵  so that there may be ¹⁶  darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness so thick it can be felt.” ¹⁷ 

10:22 So Moses extended his hand toward heaven, and there was absolute darkness ¹⁸  throughout the land of Egypt for three days. ¹⁹ 

Exodus 11:6

11:6 There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been, ²⁰  nor ever will be again. ²¹ 

Exodus 13:11

13:11 When the Lord brings you ²²  into the land of the Canaanites, ²³  as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it ²⁴  to you,

Exodus 33:3

33:3 Go up ²⁵  to a land flowing with milk and honey. But ²⁶  I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you ²⁷  on the way.”

[7:21]  ¹ tn The first clause in this verse begins with a vav disjunctive, introducing a circumstantial clause to the statement that the water stank. The vav (ו) consecutive on the next verb shows that the smell was the result of the dead fish in the contaminated water. The result is then expressed with the vav beginning the clause that states that they could not drink it.

[7:21]  ² tn The preterite could be given a simple definite past translation, but an ingressive past would be more likely, as the smell would get worse and worse with the dead fish.

[7:21]  ³ tn Heb “and there was blood.”

[8:6]  ⁴ tn The noun is singular, a collective. B. Jacob notes that this would be the more natural way to refer to the frogs (Exodus, 260).

[8:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “and there came a….”

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

[8:24]  ⁹ tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.

[8:24]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.

[8:24]  ¹¹ 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…”

[9:24]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

[9:24]  ¹³ 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.”

[10:21]  ¹³ sn The ninth plague is that darkness fell on all the land – except on Israel. This plague is comparable to the silence in heaven, just prior to the last and terrible plague (Rev 8:1). Here Yahweh is attacking a core Egyptian religious belief as well as portraying what lay before the Egyptians. Throughout the Bible darkness is the symbol of evil, chaos, and judgment. Blindness is one of its manifestations (see Deut 28:27-29). But the plague here is not blindness, or even spiritual blindness, but an awesome darkness from outside (see Joel 2:2; Zeph 1:15). It is particularly significant in that Egypt’s high god was the Sun God. Lord Sun was now being shut down by Lord Yahweh. If Egypt would not let Israel go to worship their God, then Egypt’s god would be darkness. The structure is familiar: the plague, now unannounced (21-23), and then the confrontation with Pharaoh (24-27).

[10:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the sky” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[10:21]  ¹⁵ sn The verb form is the jussive with the sequential vav – וִיהִי חֹשֶׁךְ (vihi khoshekh). B. Jacob (Exodus, 286) notes this as the only instance where Scripture says, “Let there be darkness” (although it is subordinated as a purpose clause; cf. Gen 1:3). Isa 45:7 alluded to this by saying, “who created light and darkness.”

[10:21]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term מוּשׁ (mush) means “to feel.” The literal rendering would be “so that one may feel darkness.” The image portrays an oppressive darkness; it was sufficiently thick to possess the appearance of substance, although it was just air (B. Jacob, Exodus, 286).

[10:22]  ¹⁶ tn The construction is a variation of the superlative genitive: a substantive in the construct state is connected to a noun with the same meaning (see GKC 431 §133.i).

[10:22]  ¹⁷ sn S. R. Driver says, “The darkness was no doubt occasioned really by a sand-storm, produced by the hot electrical wind…which blows in intermittently…” (Exodus, 82, 83). This is another application of the antisupernatural approach to these texts. The text, however, is probably describing something that was not a seasonal wind, or Pharaoh would not have been intimidated. If it coincided with that season, then what is described here is so different and so powerful that the Egyptians would have known the difference easily. Pharaoh here would have had to have been impressed that this was something very abnormal, and that his god was powerless. Besides, there was light in all the dwellings of the Israelites.

[11:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “which like it there has never been.”

[11:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and like it it will not add.”

[13:11]  ²² tn Heb “and it will be when Yahweh brings (will bring) you.”

[13:11]  ²³ sn The name “the Canaanite” (and so collective for “Canaanites”) is occasionally used to summarize all the list of Canaanitish tribes that lived in the land.

[13:11]  ²⁴ tn The verb וּנְתָנָהּ (unÿtanah) is the Qal perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; this is in sequence to the preceding verb, and forms part of the protasis, the temporal clause. The main clause is the instruction in the next verse.

[33:3]  ²⁵ tn This verse seems to be a continuation of the command to “go up” since it begins with “to a land….” The intervening clauses are therefore parenthetical or relative. But the translation is made simpler by supplying the verb.

[33:3]  ²⁶ tn This is a strong adversative here, “but.”

[33:3]  ²⁷ tn The clause is “lest I consume you.” It would go with the decision not to accompany them: “I will not go up with you…lest I consume (destroy) you in the way.” The verse is saying that because of the people’s bent to rebellion, Yahweh would not remain in their midst as he had formerly said he would do. Their lives would be at risk if he did.