Exodus 8:16

The Third Blow: Gnats

8:16 ¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Extend your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become ²  gnats ³  throughout all the land of Egypt.’”

Exodus 8:22

8:22 But on that day I will mark off ⁴  the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, ⁵  so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of this land. ⁶ 

Exodus 9:22-23

9:22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sky ⁷  that there may be ⁸  hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, ⁹  and on everything that grows ¹⁰  in the field in the land of Egypt.” 9:23 When Moses extended ¹¹  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ¹²  sent thunder ¹³  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ¹⁴  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

Exodus 10:5

10:5 They will cover ¹⁵  the surface ¹⁶  of the earth, so that you ¹⁷  will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped ¹⁸  – what is left over ¹⁹  for you – from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field.

Exodus 10:13

10:13 So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord ²⁰  brought ²¹  an east wind on the land all that day and all night. ²²  The morning came, ²³  and the east wind had brought up ²⁴  the locusts!

Exodus 12:12

12:12 I will pass through ²⁵  the land of Egypt in the same ²⁶  night, and I will attack ²⁷  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, ²⁸  and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. ²⁹  I am the Lord.

Exodus 13:5

13:5 When ³⁰  the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, ³¹  then you will keep ³²  this ceremony ³³  in this month.

Exodus 16:35

16:35 Now the Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was inhabited; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

Exodus 33:1

33:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up ³⁴  from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath ³⁵  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ³⁶ 

[8:16]  ¹ sn The third plague is brief and unannounced. Moses and Aaron were simply to strike the dust so that it would become gnats. Not only was this plague unannounced, but also it was not duplicated by the Egyptians.

[8:16]  ² tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, meaning “and it will be.” When הָיָה (hayah) is followed by the lamed (ל) proposition, it means “become.”

[8:16]  ³ tn The noun is כִּנִּים (kinnim). The insect has been variously identified as lice, gnats, ticks, flies, fleas, or mosquitoes. “Lice” follows the reading in the Peshitta and Targum (and so Josephus, Ant. 2.14.3 [2.300]). Greek and Latin had “gnats.” By “gnats” many commentators mean “mosquitoes,” which in and around the water of Egypt were abundant (and the translators of the Greek text were familiar with Egypt). Whatever they were they came from the dust and were troublesome to people and animals.

[8:22]  ⁴ tn Or “distinguish.” וְהִפְלֵיתִי (vÿhifleti) is the Hiphil perfect of פָּלָה (palah). The verb in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” God was going to keep the flies away from Goshen – he was setting that apart. The Greek text assumed that the word was from פָּלֵא (pale’), and translated it something like “I will marvelously glorify.”

[8:22]  ⁵ tn The relative clause modifies the land of Goshen as the place “in which my people are dwelling.” But the normal word for “dwelling” is not used here. Instead, עֹמֵד (’omed) is used, which literally means “standing.” The land on which Israel stood was spared the flies and the hail.

[8:22]  ⁶ tn Or “of the earth” (KJV, ASV, NAB).

[9:22]  ⁷ tn Or “the heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[9:22]  ⁸ tn The jussive with the conjunction (וִיהִי, vihi) coming after the imperative provides the purpose or result.

[9:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “on man and on beast.”

[9:22]  ¹⁰ tn The noun refers primarily to cultivated grains. But here it seems to be the general heading for anything that grows from the ground, all vegetation and plant life, as opposed to what grows on trees.

[9:23]  ¹⁰ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next clause in view of the emphasis put on the subject, Yahweh, by the disjunctive word order of that clause.

[9:23]  ¹¹ tn By starting the clause with the subject (an example of disjunctive word order) the text is certainly stressing that Yahweh alone did this.

[9:23]  ¹² tn The expression נָתַן קֹלֹת (natan qolot) literally means “gave voices” (also “voice”). This is a poetic expression for sending the thunder. Ps 29:3 talks about the “voice of Yahweh” – the God of glory thunders!

[9:23]  ¹³ sn This clause has been variously interpreted. Lightning would ordinarily accompany thunder; in this case the mention of fire could indicate that the lightning was beyond normal and that it was striking in such a way as to start fires on the ground. It could also mean that fire went along the ground from the pounding hail.

[10:5]  ¹³ tn The verbs describing the locusts are singular because it is a swarm or plague of locusts. This verb (וְכִסָּה, vÿkhissah, “cover”) is a Piel perfect with a vav consecutive; it carries the same future nuance as the participle before it.

[10:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “eye,” an unusual expression (see v. 15; Num 22:5, 11).

[10:5]  ¹⁵ tn The text has לִרְאֹת וְלֹא יוּכַל (vÿlo’ yukhal lir’ot, “and he will not be able to see”). The verb has no expressed subjects. The clause might, therefore, be given a passive translation: “so that [it] cannot be seen.” The whole clause is the result of the previous statement.

[10:5]  ¹⁶ sn As the next phrase explains “what escaped” refers to what the previous plague did not destroy. The locusts will devour everything, because there will not be much left from the other plagues for them to eat.

[10:5]  ¹⁷ tn הַנִּשְׁאֶרֶת (hannish’eret) parallels (by apposition) and adds further emphasis to the preceding two words; it is the Niphal participle, meaning “that which is left over.”

[10:13]  ¹⁶ tn The clause begins וַיהוָה (va’adonay [vayhvah], “Now Yahweh….”). In contrast to a normal sequence, this beginning focuses attention on Yahweh as the subject of the verb.

[10:13]  ¹⁷ tn The verb נָהַג (nahag) means “drive, conduct.” It is elsewhere used for driving sheep, leading armies, or leading in processions.

[10:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and all the night.”

[10:13]  ¹⁹ tn The text does not here use ordinary circumstantial clause constructions; rather, Heb “the morning was, and the east wind carried the locusts.” It clearly means “when it was morning,” but the style chosen gives a more abrupt beginning to the plague, as if the reader is in the experience – and at morning, the locusts are there!

[10:13]  ²⁰ tn The verb here is a past perfect, indicting that the locusts had arrived before the day came.

[12:12]  ¹⁹ tn The verb וְעָבַרְתִּי (vÿ’avarti) is a Qal perfect with vav (ו) consecutive, announcing the future action of God in bringing judgment on the land. The word means “pass over, across, through.” This verb provides a contextual motive for the name “Passover.”

[12:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “this night.”

[12:12]  ²¹ tn The verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to strike, smite, attack”; it does not always mean “to kill,” but that is obviously its outcome in this context. This is also its use in 2:12, describing how Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.

[12:12]  ²² tn Heb “from man and to beast.”

[12:12]  ²³ tn The phrase אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים (’e’eseh shÿfatim) is “I will do judgments.” The statement clearly includes what had begun in Exod 6:1. But the statement that God would judge the gods of Egypt is appropriately introduced here (see also Num 33:4) because with the judgment on Pharaoh and the deliverance from bondage, Yahweh would truly show himself to be the one true God. Thus, “I am Yahweh” is fitting here (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 312).

[13:5]  ²² tn Heb “and it will be when.”

[13:5]  ²³ tn See notes on Exod 3:8.

[13:5]  ²⁴ tn The verb is וְעָבַדְתָּ (vÿ’avadta), the Qal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive. It is the equivalent of the imperfect tense of instruction or injunction; it forms the main point after the temporal clause – “when Yahweh brings you out…then you will serve.”

[13:5]  ²⁵ tn The object is a cognate accusative for emphasis on the meaning of the service – “you will serve this service.” W. C. Kaiser notes how this noun was translated “slavery” and “work” in the book, but “service” or “ceremony” for Yahweh. Israel was saved from slavery to Egypt into service for God as remembered by this ceremony (“Exodus,” EBC 2:383).

[33:1]  ²⁵ tn The two imperatives underscore the immediacy of the demand: “go, go up,” meaning “get going up” or “be on your way.”

[33:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “the land which I swore.”

[33:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “seed.”