Exodus 7:3

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,

Exodus 13:15

13:15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused ³  to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals. ⁴  That is why I am sacrificing ⁵  to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.’

[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.

[13:15]  ³ tn Heb “dealt hardly in letting us go” or “made it hard to let us go” (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 110). The verb is the simple Hiphil perfect הִקְשָׁה (hiqshah, “he made hard”); the infinitive construct לְשַׁלְּחֵנוּ (lÿshallÿkhenu, “to release us”) could be taken epexegetically, meaning “he made releasing us hard.” But the infinitive more likely gives the purpose or the result after the verb “hardened himself.” The verb is figurative for “be stubborn” or “stubbornly refuse.”

[13:15]  ⁴ tn The text uses “man” and “beast.”

[13:15]  ⁵ tn The form is the active participle.