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 9:23

9:23 When Moses extended ⁵  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ⁶  sent thunder ⁷  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ⁸  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

Exodus 9:26

9:26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there no hail.

Exodus 9:25

9:25 The hail struck everything in the open fields, both ⁹  people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows ¹⁰  in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces.

Exodus 9:28

9:28 Pray to the Lord, for the mighty ¹¹  thunderings and hail are too much! ¹²  I will release you and you will stay no longer.” ¹³ 

Exodus 9:18

9:18 I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down ¹⁴  about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred ¹⁵  in Egypt from the day it was founded ¹⁶  until now.

Exodus 9:34

9:34 When Pharaoh saw ¹⁷  that the rain and hail and thunder ceased, he sinned again: ¹⁸  both he and his servants hardened ¹⁹  their hearts.

Exodus 9:19

9:19 So now, send instructions ²⁰  to gather ²¹  your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person ²²  or animal caught ²³  in the field and not brought into the house – the hail will come down on them, and they will die!”’”

Exodus 9:22

9:22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sky ²⁴  that there may be ²⁵  hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, ²⁶  and on everything that grows ²⁷  in the field in the land of Egypt.”

Exodus 9:33

9:33 So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain stopped pouring on the earth.

Exodus 10:12

10:12 The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand over the land of Egypt for ²⁸  the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt and eat everything that grows ²⁹  in the ground, everything that the hail has left.”

Exodus 9:29

9:29 Moses said to him, “When I leave the city ³⁰  I will spread my hands to the Lord, the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to the Lord. ³¹ 

Exodus 10:5

10:5 They will cover ³²  the surface ³³  of the earth, so that you ³⁴  will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped ³⁵  – what is left over ³⁶  for you – from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field.

Exodus 10:15

10:15 They covered ³⁷  the surface ³⁸  of all the ground, so that the ground became dark with them, ³⁹  and they ate all the vegetation of the ground and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or on anything that grew in the fields throughout the whole land of Egypt.

Exodus 9:31

9:31 (Now the ⁴⁰  flax and the barley were struck ⁴¹  by the hail, ⁴²  for the barley had ripened ⁴³  and the flax ⁴⁴  was in bud.

[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.”

[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.

[9:25]  ⁹ tn The exact expression is “from man even to beast.” R. J. Williams lists this as an example of the inclusive use of the preposition מִן (min) to be rendered “both…and” (Hebrew Syntax, 57, §327).

[9:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the cultivated grain of.”

[9:28]  ¹³ sn The text has Heb “the voices of God.” The divine epithet can be used to express the superlative (cf. Jonah 3:3).

[9:28]  ¹⁴ tn The expression וְרַב מִהְיֹת (vÿrav mihyot, “[the mighty thunder and hail] is much from being”) means essentially “more than enough.” This indicates that the storm was too much, or, as one might say, “It is enough.”

[9:28]  ¹⁵ tn The last clause uses a verbal hendiadys: “you will not add to stand,” meaning “you will no longer stay.”

[9:18]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn The form הִוָּסְדָה (hivvasdah) is perhaps a rare Niphal perfect and not an infinitive (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 117).

[9:34]  ²¹ tn The clause beginning with the preterite and vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next, and main clause – that he hardened his heart again.

[9:34]  ²² tn The construction is another verbal hendiadys: וַיֹּסֶף לַחֲטֹּא (vayyosef lakhatto’), literally rendered “and he added to sin.” The infinitive construct becomes the main verb, and the Hiphil preterite becomes adverbial. The text is clearly interpreting as sin the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and his refusal to release Israel. At the least this means that the plagues are his fault, but the expression probably means more than this – he was disobeying Yahweh God.

[9:34]  ²³ tn This phrase translates the Hebrew word כָּבֵד (kaved); see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53.

[9:19]  ²⁵ tn The object “instructions” is implied in the context.

[9:19]  ²⁶ tn הָעֵז (ha’ez) is the Hiphil imperative from עוּז (’uz, “to bring into safety” or “to secure”). Although there is no vav (ו) linking the two imperatives, the second could be subordinated by virtue of the meanings. “Send to bring to safety.”

[9:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “man, human.”

[9:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “[who] may be found.” The verb can be the imperfect of possibility.

[9:22]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn The jussive with the conjunction (וִיהִי, vihi) coming after the imperative provides the purpose or result.

[9:22]  ³¹ tn Heb “on man and on beast.”

[9:22]  ³² 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.

[10:12]  ³³ tn The preposition בְּ (bet) is unexpected here. BDB 91 s.v. (the note at the end of the entry) says that in this case it can only be read as “with the locusts,” meaning that the locusts were thought to be implicit in Moses’ lifting up of his hand. However, BDB prefers to change the preposition to לְ (lamed).

[10:12]  ³⁴ tn The noun עֵשֶּׂב (’esev) normally would indicate cultivated grains, but in this context seems to indicate plants in general.

[9:29]  ³⁷ tn כְּצֵאתִי (kÿtse’ti) is the Qal infinitive construct of יָצָא (yatsa’); it functions here as the temporal clause before the statement about prayer.

[9:29]  ³⁸ sn This clause provides the purpose/result of Moses’ intention: he will pray to Yahweh and the storms will cease “that you might know….” It was not enough to pray and have the plague stop. Pharaoh must “know” that Yahweh is the sovereign Lord over the earth. Here was that purpose of knowing through experience. This clause provides the key for the exposition of this plague: God demonstrated his power over the forces of nature to show his sovereignty – the earth is Yahweh’s. He can destroy it. He can preserve it. If people sin by ignoring his word and not fearing him, he can bring judgment on them. If any fear Yahweh and obey his instructions, they will be spared. A positive way to express the expositional point of the chapter is to say that those who fear Yahweh and obey his word will escape the powerful destruction he has prepared for those who sinfully disregard his word.

[10:5]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² tn Heb “eye,” an unusual expression (see v. 15; Num 22:5, 11).

[10:5]  ⁴³ 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]  ⁴⁴ 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]  ⁴⁵ 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.”

[10:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and they covered.”

[10:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “eye,” an unusual expression (see v. 5; Num 22:5, 11).

[10:15]  ⁴⁷ tn The verb is וַתֶּחְשַׁךְ (vattekhshakh, “and it became dark”). The idea is that the ground had the color of the swarms of locusts that covered it.

[9:31]  ⁴⁹ tn A disjunctive vav introduces the two verses that provide parenthetical information to the reader. Gesenius notes that the boldness of such clauses is often indicated by the repetition of nouns at the beginning (see GKC 452 §141.d). Some have concluded that because they have been put here rather than back after v. 25 or 26, they form part of Moses’ speech to Pharaoh, explaining that the crops that were necessary for humans were spared, but those for other things were destroyed. This would also mean that Moses was saying there is more that God can destroy (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 279).

[9:31]  ⁵⁰ tn The unusual forms נֻכָּתָה (nukkatah) in v. 31 and נֻכּוּ (nukku) in v. 32 are probably to be taken as old Qal passives. There are no attested Piel uses of the root.

[9:31]  ⁵¹ tn The words “by the hail” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied from context.

[9:31]  ⁵² tn Heb “was in the ear” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “had headed.”

[9:31]  ⁵³ sn Flax was used for making linen, and the area around Tanis was ideal for producing flax. Barley was used for bread for the poor people, as well as beer and animal feed.