Exodus 9:24

9:24 Hail fell ¹  and fire mingled ²  with the hail; the hail was so severe ³  that there had not been any like it ⁴  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, ⁵  nor ever will be again. ⁶ 

Exodus 28:8

28:8 The artistically woven waistband ⁷  of the ephod that is on it is to be like it, of one piece with the ephod, ⁸  of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen.

[9:24]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

[9:24]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “which like it there has never been.”

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

[28:8]  ⁹ tn This is the rendering of the word חֵשֶׁב (kheshev), cognate to the word translated “designer” in v. 6. Since the entire ephod was of the same material, and this was of the same piece, it is unclear why this is singled out as “artistically woven.” Perhaps the word is from another root that just describes the item as a “band.” Whatever the connection, this band was to be of the same material, and the same piece, as the ephod, but perhaps a different pattern (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 301). It is this sash that attaches the ephod to the priest’s body, that is, at the upper border of the ephod and clasped together at the back.

[28:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from it” but meaning “of one [the same] piece”; the phrase “the ephod” has been supplied.