Genesis 15:13

15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain ¹  that your descendants will be strangers ²  in a foreign country. ³  They will be enslaved and oppressed ⁴  for four hundred years.

Exodus 9:16

9:16 But ⁵  for this purpose I have caused you to stand: ⁶  to show you ⁷  my strength, and so that my name may be declared ⁸  in all the earth.

Exodus 10:1

The Eighth Blow: Locusts

10:1 ⁹ The Lord said ¹⁰  to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display ¹¹  these signs of mine before him, ¹² 

Deuteronomy 2:30

2:30 But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the Lord our ¹³  God had made him obstinate ¹⁴  and stubborn ¹⁵  so that he might deliver him over to you ¹⁶  this very day.

Romans 9:17-19

9:17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh: ¹⁷  “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸  9:18 So then, ¹⁹  God ²⁰  has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. ²¹ 

9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?”

[15:13]  ¹ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, with the Qal infinitive absolute followed by the imperfect from יָדַע (yada’, “know”). The imperfect here has an obligatory or imperatival force.

[15:13]  ² tn The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger, “sojourner, stranger”) is related to the verb גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to stay for awhile”). Abram’s descendants will stay in a land as resident aliens without rights of citizenship.

[15:13]  ³ tn Heb “in a land not theirs.”

[15:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they will serve them and they will oppress them.” The verb עִנּוּ, (’innu, a Piel form from עָנָה, ’anah, “to afflict, to oppress, to treat harshly”), is used in Exod 1:11 to describe the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt.

[9:16]  ⁵ tn The first word is a very strong adversative, which, in general, can be translated “but, howbeit”; BDB 19 s.v. אוּלָם suggests for this passage “but in very deed.”

[9:16]  ⁶ tn The form הֶעֱמַדְתִּיךָ (he’emadtikha) is the Hiphil perfect of עָמַד (’amad). It would normally mean “I caused you to stand.” But that seems to have one or two different connotations. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 73) says that it means “maintain you alive.” The causative of this verb means “continue,” according to him. The LXX has the same basic sense – “you were preserved.” But Paul bypasses the Greek and writes “he raised you up” to show God’s absolute sovereignty over Pharaoh. Both renderings show God’s sovereign control over Pharaoh.

[9:16]  ⁷ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct הַרְאֹתְךָ (har’otÿkha) is the purpose of God’s making Pharaoh come to power in the first place. To make Pharaoh see is to cause him to understand, to experience God’s power.

[9:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “in order to declare my name.” Since there is no expressed subject, this may be given a passive translation.

[10:1]  ⁹ sn The Egyptians dreaded locusts like every other ancient civilization. They had particular gods to whom they looked for help in such catastrophes. The locust-scaring deities of Greece and Asia were probably looked to in Egypt as well (especially in view of the origins in Egypt of so many of those religious ideas). The announcement of the plague falls into the now-familiar pattern. God tells Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh but reminds Moses that he has hardened his heart. Yahweh explains that he has done this so that he might show his power, so that in turn they might declare his name from generation to generation. This point is stressed so often that it must not be minimized. God was laying the foundation of the faith for Israel – the sovereignty of Yahweh.

[10:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”

[10:1]  ¹¹ tn The verb is שִׁתִי (shiti, “I have put”); it is used here as a synonym for the verb שִׂים (sim). Yahweh placed the signs in his midst, where they will be obvious.

[10:1]  ¹² tn Heb “in his midst.”

[2:30]  ¹³ tc The translation follows the LXX in reading the first person pronoun. The MT, followed by many English versions, has a second person masculine singular pronoun, “your.”

[2:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “hardened his spirit” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “made his spirit stubborn.”

[2:30]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “made his heart obstinate” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “made his heart defiant.”

[2:30]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “into your hand.”

[9:17]  ¹⁷ sn Paul uses a typical rabbinic formula here in which the OT scriptures are figuratively portrayed as speaking to Pharaoh. What he means is that the scripture he cites refers (or can be applied) to Pharaoh.

[9:17]  ¹⁸ sn A quotation from Exod 9:16.

[9:18]  ¹⁹ sn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[9:18]  ²⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.”