Exodus 8:20

The Fourth Blow: Flies

8:20 ¹ The Lord ²  said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Release my people that they may serve me!

Exodus 9:22-23

9:22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sky ³  that there may be ⁴  hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, ⁵  and on everything that grows ⁶  in the field in the land of Egypt.” 9:23 When Moses extended ⁷  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ⁸  sent thunder ⁹  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ¹⁰  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

Exodus 10:13

10:13 So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord ¹¹  brought ¹²  an east wind on the land all that day and all night. ¹³  The morning came, ¹⁴  and the east wind had brought up ¹⁵  the locusts!

Exodus 12:31

12:31 Pharaoh ¹⁶  summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out ¹⁷  from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! ¹⁸ 

Exodus 14:27

14:27 So Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state ¹⁹  when the sun began to rise. ²⁰  Now the Egyptians were fleeing ²¹  before it, but the Lord overthrew ²²  the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.

Exodus 15:25

15:25 He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him ²³  a tree. ²⁴  When Moses ²⁵  threw it into the water, the water became safe to drink. There the Lord ²⁶  made for them ²⁷  a binding ordinance, ²⁸  and there he tested ²⁹  them.

Exodus 25:33

25:33 Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on the next ³⁰  branch, and the same ³¹  for the six branches extending from the lampstand.

Exodus 37:19

37:19 Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on the first branch, and three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on the next ³²  branch, and the same ³³  for the six branches that were extending from the lampstand.

[8:20]  ¹ sn The announcement of the fourth plague parallels that of the first plague. Now there will be flies, likely dogflies. Egypt has always suffered from flies, more so in the summer than in the winter. But the flies the plague describes involve something greater than any normal season for flies. The main point that can be stressed in this plague comes by tracing the development of the plagues in their sequence. Now, with the flies, it becomes clear that God can inflict suffering on some people and preserve others – a preview of the coming judgment that will punish Egypt but set Israel free. God is fully able to keep the dog-fly in the land of the Egyptians and save his people from these judgments.

[8:20]  ² tn Heb “And Yahweh said.”

[9:22]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn The jussive with the conjunction (וִיהִי, vihi) coming after the imperative provides the purpose or result.

[9:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “on man and on beast.”

[9:22]  ⁶ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[10:13]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn The verb נָהַג (nahag) means “drive, conduct.” It is elsewhere used for driving sheep, leading armies, or leading in processions.

[10:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “and all the night.”

[10:13]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn The verb here is a past perfect, indicting that the locusts had arrived before the day came.

[12:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:31]  ¹⁰ tn The urgency in Pharaoh’s words is caught by the abrupt use of the imperatives – “get up, go” (קוּמוּ צְּאוּ, qumu tsÿ’u), and “go, serve” (וּלְכוּ עִבְדוּ, ulÿkhu ’ivdu) and “take” and “leave/go” (וָלֵכוּ…קְחוּ, qÿkhu...valekhu).

[12:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “as you have said.” The same phrase also occurs in the following verse.

[14:27]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term לְאֵיתָנוֹ (lÿ’etano) means “to its place,” or better, “to its perennial state.” The point is that the sea here had a normal level, and now when the Egyptians were in the sea on the dry ground the water would return to that level.

[14:27]  ¹² tn Heb “at the turning of the morning”; NASB, NIV, TEV, CEV “at daybreak.”

[14:27]  ¹³ tn The clause begins with the disjunctive vav (ו) on the noun, signaling either a circumstantial clause or a new beginning. It could be rendered, “Although the Egyptians…Yahweh…” or “as the Egyptians….”

[14:27]  ¹⁴ tn The verb means “shake out” or “shaking off.” It has the significance of “throw downward.” See Neh 5:13 or Job 38:13.

[15:25]  ¹³ tn The verb is וַיּוֹרֵהוּ (vayyorehu, “and he showed him”). It is the Hiphil preterite from יָרָה (yarah), which has a basic meaning of “to point, show, direct.” It then came to mean “to teach”; it is the verb behind the noun “Law” (תּוֹרָה, torah).

[15:25]  ¹⁴ tn Or “a [piece of] wood” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV); NLT “a branch.”

[15:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there he”; the referent (the Lord) is supplied for clarity.

[15:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for him” (referring to Israel as a whole).

[15:25]  ¹⁸ tn This translation interprets the two nouns as a hendiadys: “a statute and an ordinance” becomes “a binding ordinance.”

[15:25]  ¹⁹ tn The verb נִסָּהוּ (nissahu, “and he tested him [them]”) is from the root נָסָה (nasah). The use of this word in the Bible indicates that there is question, doubt, or uncertainty about the object being tested.

[25:33]  ¹⁵ tn The text uses “one” again; “the one…the one” means “the one…and the next” in the distributive sense.

[25:33]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “thus.”

[37:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the one branch.” But the repetition of “one…one” means here one after another, or the “first” and then the “next.”

[37:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “thus for six branches….”