Exodus 9:18

9:18 I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down ¹  about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred ²  in Egypt from the day it was founded ³  until now.

Exodus 9:24

9:24 Hail fell ⁴  and fire mingled ⁵  with the hail; the hail was so severe ⁶  that there had not been any like it ⁷  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Exodus 11:6

11:6 There will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as there has never been, ⁸  nor ever will be again. ⁹ 

Exodus 30:32

30:32 It must not be applied ¹⁰  to people’s bodies, and you must not make any like it with the same recipe. It is holy, and it must be holy to you.

[9:18]  ¹ tn הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר (hinÿni mamtir) is the futur instans construction, giving an imminent future translation: “Here – I am about to cause it to rain.”

[9:18]  ² tn Heb “which not was like it in Egypt.” The pronoun suffix serves as the resumptive pronoun for the relative particle: “which…like it” becomes “the like of which has not been.” The word “hail” is added in the translation to make clear the referent of the relative particle.

[9:18]  ³ tn The form הִוָּסְדָה (hivvasdah) is perhaps a rare Niphal perfect and not an infinitive (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 117).

[9:24]  ⁴ tn The verb is the common preterite וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), which is normally translated “and there was” if it is translated at all. The verb הָיָה (hayah), however, can mean “be, become, befall, fall, fall out, happen.” Here it could be simply translated “there was hail,” but the active “hail fell” fits the point of the sequence better.

[9:24]  ⁵ tn The form מִתְלַקַּחַת (mitlaqqakhat) is a Hitpael participle; the clause reads, “and fire taking hold of itself in the midst of the hail.” This probably refers to lightning flashing back and forth. See also Ezek 1:4. God created a great storm with flashing fire connected to it.

[9:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

[9:24]  ⁷ tn A literal reading of the clause would be “which there was not like it in all the land of Egypt.” The relative pronoun must be joined to the resumptive pronoun: “which like it (like which) there had not been.”

[11:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “which like it there has never been.”

[11:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and like it it will not add.”

[30:32]  ¹⁰ tn Without an expressed subject, the verb may be treated as a passive. Any common use, as in personal hygiene, would be a complete desecration.