Psalms 144:13-14

144:13 Our storehouses ¹  will be full,

providing all kinds of food. ² 

Our sheep will multiply by the thousands

and fill ³  our pastures. ⁴ 

144:14 Our cattle will be weighted down with produce. ⁵ 

No one will break through our walls,

no one will be taken captive,

and there will be no terrified cries in our city squares. ⁶ 

Genesis 30:43

30:43 In this way Jacob ⁷  became extremely prosperous. He owned ⁸  large flocks, male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.

Genesis 31:9

31:9 In this way God has snatched away your father’s livestock and given them to me.

Exodus 9:3-7

9:3 then the hand of the Lord will surely bring ⁹  a very terrible plague ¹⁰  on your livestock in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, ¹¹  the herds, and the flocks. 9:4 But the Lord will distinguish ¹²  between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing ¹³  will die of all that the Israelites have.”’” ¹⁴ 

9:5 The Lord set ¹⁵  an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this ¹⁶  in the land.” 9:6 And the Lord did this ¹⁷  on the next day; ¹⁸  all ¹⁹  the livestock of the Egyptians ²⁰  died, but of the Israelites’ livestock not one died. 9:7 Pharaoh sent representatives to investigate, ²¹  and indeed, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ²²  and he did not release the people.

Exodus 12:38

12:38 A mixed multitude ²³  also went up with them, and flocks and herds – a very large number of cattle. ²⁴ 

Deuteronomy 7:14

7:14 You will be blessed beyond all peoples; there will be no barrenness ²⁵  among you or your livestock.

Proverbs 10:22

10:22 The blessing ²⁶  from the Lord ²⁷  makes a person rich, ²⁸ 

and he adds no sorrow ²⁹  to ³⁰  it.

[144:13]  ¹ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.

[144:13]  ² tn Heb “from kind to kind.” Some prefer to emend the text to מָזוֹן עַל מָזוֹן (mazon ’al mazon, “food upon food”).

[144:13]  ³ tn Heb “they are innumerable.”

[144:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “in outside places.” Here the term refers to pastures and fields (see Job 5:10; Prov 8:26).

[144:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “weighted down.” This probably refers (1) to the cattle having the produce from the harvest placed on their backs to be transported to the storehouses (see BDB 687 s.v. סָבַל). Other options are (2) to take this as reference to the cattle being pregnant (see HALOT 741 s.v. סבל pu) or (3) to their being well-fed or fattened (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 288).

[144:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “there [will be] no breach, and there [will be] no going out, and there [will be] no crying out in our broad places.”

[30:43]  ⁷ tn Heb “the man”; Jacob’s name has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[30:43]  ⁸ tn Heb “and there were to him.”

[9:3]  ⁹ tn The form used here is הוֹיָה (hoyah), the Qal active participle, feminine singular, from the verb “to be.” This is the only place in the OT that this form occurs. Ogden shows that this form is appropriate with the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) to stress impending divine action, and that it conforms to the pattern in these narratives where five times the participle is used in the threat to Pharaoh (7:17; 8:2; 9:3, 14; 10:4). See G. S. Ogden, “Notes on the Use of הויה in Exodus IX. 3,” VT 17 (1967): 483-84.

[9:3]  ¹⁰ tn The word דֶּבֶר (dever) is usually translated “pestilence” when it applies to diseases for humans. It is used only here and in Ps 78:50 for animals.

[9:3]  ¹¹ sn The older view that camels were not domesticated at this time (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 70; W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, 96; et. al.) has been corrected by more recently uncovered information (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD³ 160-61).

[9:4]  ¹² tn The verb פָּלָה (palah) in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” See also Exod 8:22 (18 HT); 11:7; 33:16.

[9:4]  ¹³ tn There is a wordplay in this section. A pestilence – דֶּבֶר (dever) – will fall on Egypt’s cattle, but no thing – דָּבָר (davar) – belonging to Israel would die. It was perhaps for this reason that the verb was changed in v. 1 from “say” to “speak” (דִּבֶּר, dibber). See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 111.

[9:4]  ¹⁴ tn The lamed preposition indicates possession: “all that was to the Israelites” means “all that the Israelites had.”

[9:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and Yahweh set.”

[9:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “this thing.”

[9:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “this thing.”

[9:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “on the morrow.”

[9:6]  ¹⁹ tn The word “all” clearly does not mean “all” in the exclusive sense, because subsequent plagues involve cattle. The word must denote such a large number that whatever was left was insignificant for the economy. It could also be taken to mean “all [kinds of] livestock died.”

[9:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “of Egypt.” The place is put by metonymy for the inhabitants.

[9:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “Pharaoh sent.” The phrase “representatives to investigate” is implied in the context.

[9:7]  ²² tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh was hardened.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word כָּבֵד (kaved; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.

[12:38]  ²³ tn The “mixed multitude” (עֵרֶב רַב, ’erev rav) refers to a great “swarm” (see a possible cognate in 8:21[17]) of folk who joined the Israelites, people who were impressed by the defeat of Egypt, who came to faith, or who just wanted to escape Egypt (maybe slaves or descendants of the Hyksos). The expression prepares for later references to riffraff who came along.

[12:38]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and very much cattle.”

[7:14]  ²⁵ sn One of the ironies about the promises to the patriarchs concerning offspring was the characteristic barrenness of the wives of the men to whom these pledges were made (cf. Gen 11:30; 25:21; 29:31). Their affliction is in each case described by the very Hebrew word used here (עֲקָרָה, ’aqarah), an affliction that will no longer prevail in Canaan.

[10:22]  ²⁶ tn The term בְּרָכָּה (bÿrakhah, “blessing”) refers to a gift, enrichment or endowment from the Lord.

[10:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) functions here as a genitive of source.

[10:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “makes rich” (so NASB); NAB “brings wealth.” The direct object “a person” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the Hiphil verb; it is supplied in the translation.

[10:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “toil.” The noun עֶצֶב (’etsev) has a basic two-fold range of meanings: (1) “toil; labor” which produces pain and sorrow, and (2) “pain; sorrow” which is the result of toil and labor (BDB 780 s.v.). This is the word used of the curse of “toil” in man’s labor (Gen 3:17) and the “pain” in the woman’s child-bearing (Gen 3:16). God’s blessing is pure and untarnished – it does not bring physical pain or emotional sorrow.

[10:22]  ³⁰ tn Heb “with.”