Exodus 9:25

9:25 The hail struck everything in the open fields, both ¹  people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows ²  in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces.

Exodus 11:5

11:5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh ³  who sits on his throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

Exodus 11:7

11:7 But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark ⁴  against either people or animals, ⁵  so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes ⁶  between Egypt and Israel.’

Exodus 12:12

12:12 I will pass through ⁷  the land of Egypt in the same ⁸  night, and I will attack ⁹  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, ¹⁰  and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. ¹¹  I am the Lord.

Exodus 12:29

The Deliverance from Egypt

12:29 ¹² It happened ¹³  at midnight – the Lord attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

Exodus 13:15

13:15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused ¹⁴  to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals. ¹⁵  That is why I am sacrificing ¹⁶  to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.’

Exodus 19:13

19:13 No hand will touch him ¹⁷  – but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; ¹⁸  he must not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast they may ¹⁹  go up on the mountain.”

Exodus 22:10

22:10 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep, and it dies or is hurt ²⁰  or is carried away ²¹  without anyone seeing it, ²² 

Exodus 30:4

30:4 You are to make two gold rings for it under its border, on its two flanks; you are to make them on its two sides. ²³  The rings ²⁴  will be places ²⁵  for poles to carry it with.

Exodus 36:1

36:1 So Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person ²⁶  in whom the Lord has put skill ²⁷  and ability ²⁸  to know how ²⁹  to do all the work for the service ³⁰  of the sanctuary are to do the work ³¹  according to all that the Lord has commanded.”

[9:25]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “all the cultivated grain of.”

[11:5]  ³ sn The firstborn in Egyptian and Israelite cultures was significant, but the firstborn of Pharaoh was most important. Pharaoh was considered a god, the son of Re, the sun god, for the specific purpose of ruling over Re’s chief concern, the land of Egypt. For the purpose of re-creation, the supreme god assumed the form of the living king and gave seed which was to become the next king and the next “son of Re.” Moreover, the Pharaoh was the incarnation of the god Horus, a falcon god whose province was the heavens. Horus represented the living king who succeeded the dead king Osiris. Every living king was Horus, every dead king Osiris (see J. A. Wilson, “Egypt,” Before Philosophy, 83-84). To strike any firstborn was to destroy the heir, who embodied the hopes and aspirations of the Egyptians, but to strike the firstborn son of Pharaoh was to destroy this cardinal doctrine of the divine kingship of Egypt. Such a blow would be enough for Pharaoh, for then he would drive the Israelites out.

[11:7]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “growl”; Heb “not a dog will sharpen his tongue.” The expression is unusual, but it must indicate that not only would no harm come to the Israelites, but that no unfriendly threat would come against them either – not even so much as a dog barking. It is possible this is to be related to the watchdog (see F. C. Fensham, “Remarks on Keret 114^b – 136^a,” JNSL 11 [1983]: 75).

[11:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “against man or beast.”

[11:7]  ⁷ tn The verb פָּלָה (palah) in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” See also Exod 8:22 (18 HT); 9:4; 33:16.

[12:12]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “this night.”

[12:12]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from man and to beast.”

[12:12]  ¹¹ 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).

[12:29]  ⁹ sn The next section records the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and so becomes the turning point of the book. Verses 28 and 29 could be included in the exposition of the previous section as the culmination of that part. The message might highlight God’s requirement for deliverance from bondage through the application of the blood of the sacrifice, God’s instruction for the memorial of deliverance through the purging of corruption, and the compliance of those who believed the message. But these verses also form the beginning of this next section (and so could be used transitionally). This unit includes the judgment on Egypt (29-30), the exodus from Egypt (31-39) and the historical summation and report (40-42).

[12:29]  ¹⁰ tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), often translated “and it came to pass.” Here it could be left untranslated: “In the middle of the night Yahweh attacked.” The word order of the next and main clause furthers the emphasis by means of the vav disjunctive on the divine name preceding the verb. The combination of these initial and disjunctive elements helps to convey the suddenness of the attack, while its thoroughness is stressed by the repetition of “firstborn” in the rest of the verse, the merism (“from the firstborn of Pharaoh…to the firstborn of the captive”), and the mention of cattle.

[13:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “dealt hardly in letting us go” or “made it hard to let us go” (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 110). The verb is the simple Hiphil perfect הִקְשָׁה (hiqshah, “he made hard”); the infinitive construct לְשַׁלְּחֵנוּ (lÿshallÿkhenu, “to release us”) could be taken epexegetically, meaning “he made releasing us hard.” But the infinitive more likely gives the purpose or the result after the verb “hardened himself.” The verb is figurative for “be stubborn” or “stubbornly refuse.”

[13:15]  ¹² tn The text uses “man” and “beast.”

[13:15]  ¹³ tn The form is the active participle.

[19:13]  ¹³ sn There is some ambiguity here. The clause either means that no man will touch the mountain, so that if there is someone who is to be put to death he must be stoned or shot since they could not go into the mountain region to get him, or, it may mean no one is to touch the culprit who went in to the region of the mountain.

[19:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a man.”

[19:13]  ¹⁵ tn The nuance here is permissive imperfect, “they may go up.” The ram’s horn would sound the blast to announce that the revelation period was over and it was permitted then to ascend the mountain.

[22:10]  ¹⁵ tn The form is a Niphal participle from the verb “to break” – “is broken,” which means harmed, maimed, or hurt in any way.

[22:10]  ¹⁶ tn This verb is frequently used with the meaning “to take captive.” The idea here then is that raiders or robbers have carried off the animal.

[22:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “there is no one seeing.”

[30:4]  ¹⁷ sn Since it was a small altar, it needed only two rings, one on either side, in order to be carried. The second clause clarifies that the rings should be on the sides, the right and the left, as you approach the altar.

[30:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And it”; this refers to the rings collectively in their placement on the box, and so the word “rings” has been used to clarify the referent for the modern reader.

[30:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for houses.”

[36:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “wise of [in] heart.”

[36:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “wisdom.”

[36:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “understanding, discernment.”

[36:1]  ²² tn The relative clause includes this infinitive clause that expresses either the purpose or the result of God’s giving wisdom and understanding to these folk.

[36:1]  ²³ tn This noun is usually given an interpretive translation. B. Jacob renders the bound relationship as “the holy task” or “the sacred task” (Exodus, 1019). The NIV makes it “constructing,” so read “the work of constructing the sanctuary.”

[36:1]  ²⁴ tn The first word of the verse is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is singular because it agrees with the first of the compound subject. The sentence is a little cumbersome because of the extended relative clause in the middle.