Exodus 7:4

7:4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. ¹  I will reach into ²  Egypt and bring out my regiments, ³  my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.

Exodus 8:19

8:19 The magicians said ⁴  to Pharaoh, “It is the finger ⁵  of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ⁶  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

Exodus 8:1

8:1 (7:26) ⁷  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Release my people in order that they may serve me!

Exodus 5:6-11

5:6 That same day Pharaoh commanded ⁸  the slave masters and foremen ⁹  who were ¹⁰  over the people: ¹¹  5:7 “You must no longer ¹²  give straw to the people for making bricks ¹³  as before. ¹⁴  Let them go ¹⁵  and collect straw for themselves. 5:8 But you must require ¹⁶  of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before. ¹⁷  Do not reduce it, for they are slackers. ¹⁸  That is why they are crying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to our God.’ 5:9 Make the work harder ¹⁹  for the men so they will keep at it ²⁰  and pay no attention to lying words!” ²¹ 

5:10 So the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said, ²²  “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I am not giving ²³  you straw. 5:11 You ²⁴  go get straw for yourselves wherever you can ²⁵  find it, because there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’”

Exodus 6:9

6:9 ²⁶ Moses told this ²⁷  to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him ²⁸  because of their discouragement ²⁹  and hard labor.

Acts 13:11

13:11 Now ³⁰  look, the hand of the Lord is against ³¹  you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!” Immediately mistiness ³²  and darkness came over ³³  him, and he went around seeking people ³⁴  to lead him by the hand.

[7:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and Pharaoh will not listen.”

[7:4]  ² 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]  ³ tn See the note on this term in 6:26.

[8:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the magicians said.”

[8:19]  ⁵ tn The word “finger” is a bold anthropomorphism (a figure of speech in which God is described using human characteristics).

[8:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.

[8:1]  ⁷ sn Beginning with 8:1, the verse numbers through 8:32 in English Bibles differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 8:1 ET = 7:26 HT, 8:2 ET = 7:27 HT, 8:3 ET = 7:28 HT, 8:4 ET = 7:29 HT, 8:5 ET = 8:1 HT, etc., through 8:32 ET = 8:28 HT. Thus in English Bibles chapter 8 has 32 verses, while in the Hebrew Bible it has 28 verses, with the four extra verses attached to chapter 7.

[5:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and Pharaoh commanded on that day.”

[5:6]  ⁹ tn The Greek has “scribes” for this word, perhaps thinking of those lesser officials as keeping records of the slaves and the bricks.

[5:6]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase “who were” is supplied for clarity.

[5:6]  ¹¹ sn In vv. 6-14 the second section of the chapter describes the severe measures by the king to increase the labor by decreasing the material. The emphasis in this section must be on the harsh treatment of the people and Pharaoh’s reason for it – he accuses them of idleness because they want to go and worship. The real reason, of course, is that he wants to discredit Moses (v. 9) and keep the people as slaves.

[5:7]  ¹² tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys: לֹא תֹאסִפוּן לָתֵת (lo’ to’sifun latet, “you must not add to give”). The imperfect tense acts adverbially, and the infinitive becomes the main verb of the clause: “you must no longer give.”

[5:7]  ¹³ tn The expression “for making bricks” is made of the infinitive construct followed by its cognate accusative: לִלְבֹּן הַלְּבֵנִים (lilbon hallÿvenim).

[5:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “as yesterday and three days ago” or “as yesterday and before that.” This is idiomatic for “as previously” or “as in the past.”

[5:7]  ¹⁵ tn The jussive יֵלְכוּ (yelÿkhu) and its following sequential verb would have the force of decree and not permission or advice. He is telling them to go and find straw or stubble for the bricks.

[5:8]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is the Qal imperfect of שִׂים (sim, “place, put”). The form could be an imperfect of instruction: “You will place upon them the quota.” Or, as here, it may be an obligatory imperfect: “You must place.”

[5:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “yesterday and three days ago” or “yesterday and before that” is idiomatic for “previously” or “in the past.”

[5:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים (nirpim) is derived from the verb רָפָה (rafah), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.” They had been letting the work go, Pharaoh reasoned, and being idle is why they had time to think about going to worship.

[5:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “let the work be heavy.”

[5:9]  ²⁰ tn The text has וְיַעֲשׂוּ־בָהּ (vÿya’asu-vah, “and let them work in it”) or the like. The jussive forms part of the king’s decree that the men not only be required to work harder but be doing it: “Let them be occupied in it.”

[5:9]  ²¹ sn The words of Moses are here called “lying words” (דִבְרֵי־שָׁקֶר, divre-shaqer). Here is the main reason, then, for Pharaoh’s new policy. He wanted to discredit Moses. So the words that Moses spoke Pharaoh calls false and lying words. The world was saying that God’s words were vain and deceptive because they were calling people to a higher order. In a short time God would reveal that they were true words.

[5:10]  ²² tn Heb “went out and spoke to the people saying.” Here “the people” has been specified as “the Israelites” for clarity.

[5:10]  ²³ tn The construction uses the negative particle combined with a subject suffix before the participle: אֵינֶנִּי נֹתֵן (’enenni noten, “there is not I – giving”).

[5:11]  ²⁴ tn The independent personal pronoun emphasizes that the people were to get their own straw, and it heightens the contrast with the king. “You – go get.”

[5:11]  ²⁵ tn The tense in this section could be translated as having the nuance of possibility: “wherever you may find it,” or the nuance of potential imperfect: “wherever you are able to find any.”

[6:9]  ²⁶ sn The final part of this section focuses on instructions for Moses. The commission from God is the same – he is to speak to Pharaoh and he is to lead Israel out. It should have been clear to him that God would do this, for he had just been reminded how God was going to lead out, deliver, redeem, take the people as his people, and give them land. It was God’s work of love from beginning to end. Moses simply had his task to perform.

[6:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and Moses spoke thus.”

[6:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to Moses.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:9]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew מִקֹּצֶּר רוּחַ (miqqotser ruakh) means “because of the shortness of spirit.” This means that they were discouraged, dispirited, and weary – although some have also suggested it might mean impatient. The Israelites were now just not in the frame of mind to listen to Moses.

[13:11]  ³⁰ tn Grk “And now.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[13:11]  ³¹ tn Grk “upon,” but in a negative sense.

[13:11]  ³² sn The term translated mistiness here appears in the writings of the physician Galen as a medical technical description of a person who is blind. The picture of judgment to darkness is symbolic as well. Whatever power Elymas had, it represented darkness. Magic will again be an issue in Acts 19:18-19. This judgment is like that of Ananias and his wife in Acts 5:1-11.

[13:11]  ³³ tn Grk “fell on.”

[13:11]  ³⁴ tn The noun χειραγωγός (ceiragwgo") is plural, so “people” is used rather than singular “someone.”