Exodus 7:3-4

7:3 But I will harden ¹  Pharaoh’s heart, and although I will multiply ²  my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt, 7:4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. ³  I will reach into ⁴  Egypt and bring out my regiments, ⁵  my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.

[7:3]  ¹ tn The clause begins with the emphatic use of the pronoun and a disjunctive vav (ו) expressing the contrast “But as for me, I will harden.” They will speak, but God will harden.

[7:3]  ² tn The form beginning the second half of the verse is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, הִרְבֵּיתִי (hirbeti). It could be translated as a simple future in sequence after the imperfect preceding it, but the logical connection is not obvious. Since it carries the force of an imperfect due to the sequence, it may be subordinated as a temporal clause to the next clause that begins in v. 4. That maintains the flow of the argument.

[7:4]  ³ tn Heb “and Pharaoh will not listen.”

[7:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “put my hand into.” The expression is a strong anthropomorphism to depict God’s severest judgment on Egypt. The point is that neither the speeches of Moses and Aaron nor the signs that God would do will be effective. Consequently, God would deliver the blow that would destroy.

[7:4]  ⁵ tn See the note on this term in 6:26.