Psalms 68:31

68:31 They come with red cloth ¹  from Egypt,

Ethiopia ²  voluntarily offers tribute ³  to God.

Exodus 9:29

9:29 Moses said to him, “When I leave the city ⁴  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. ⁵ 

Exodus 9:1

The Fifth Blow: Disease

9:1 ⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Release my people that they may serve me!

Exodus 8:22

8:22 But on that day I will mark off ⁷  the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, ⁸  so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of this land. ⁹ 

Job 11:13

11:13 “As for you, ¹⁰  if you prove faithful, ¹¹ 

and if ¹²  you stretch out your hands toward him, ¹³ 

[68:31]  ¹ tn This noun, which occurs only here in the OT, apparently means “red cloth” or “bronze articles” (see HALOT 362 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NEB “tribute”). Traditionally the word has been taken to refer to “nobles” (see BDB 365 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NIV “envoys”). Another option would be to emend the text to הַשְׁמַנִּים (hashmannim, “the robust ones,” i.e., leaders).

[68:31]  ² tn Heb “Cush.”

[68:31]  ³ tn Heb “causes its hands to run,” which must mean “quickly stretches out its hands” (to present tribute).

[9:29]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.

[9:1]  ⁶ sn This plague demonstrates that Yahweh has power over the livestock of Egypt. He is able to strike the animals with disease and death, thus delivering a blow to the economic as well as the religious life of the land. By the former plagues many of the Egyptian religious ceremonies would have been interrupted and objects of veneration defiled or destroyed. Now some of the important deities will be attacked. In Goshen, where the cattle are merely cattle, no disease hits, but in the rest of Egypt it is a different matter. Osiris, the savior, cannot even save the brute in which his own soul is supposed to reside. Apis and Mnevis, the ram of Ammon, the sheep of Sais, and the goat of Mendes, perish together. Hence, Moses reminds Israel afterward, “On their gods also Yahweh executed judgments” (Num 33:4). When Jethro heard of all these events, he said, “Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the gods” (Exod 18:11).

[8:22]  ⁷ tn Or “distinguish.” וְהִפְלֵיתִי (vÿhifleti) is the Hiphil perfect of פָּלָה (palah). The verb in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” God was going to keep the flies away from Goshen – he was setting that apart. The Greek text assumed that the word was from פָּלֵא (pale’), and translated it something like “I will marvelously glorify.”

[8:22]  ⁸ tn The relative clause modifies the land of Goshen as the place “in which my people are dwelling.” But the normal word for “dwelling” is not used here. Instead, עֹמֵד (’omed) is used, which literally means “standing.” The land on which Israel stood was spared the flies and the hail.

[8:22]  ⁹ tn Or “of the earth” (KJV, ASV, NAB).

[11:13]  ¹⁰ tn The pronoun is emphatic, designed to put Job in a different class than the hollow men – at least to raise the possibility of his being in a different class.

[11:13]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew uses the perfect of כּוּן (kun, “establish”) with the object “your heart.” The verb can be translated “prepare, fix, make firm” your heart. To fix the heart is to make it faithful and constant, the heart being the seat of the will and emotions. The use of the perfect here does not refer to the past, but should be given a future perfect sense – if you shall have fixed your heart, i.e., prove faithful. Job would have to make his heart secure, so that he was no longer driven about by differing views.

[11:13]  ¹² tn This half-verse is part of the protasis and not, as in the RSV, the apodosis to the first half. The series of “if” clauses will continue through these verses until v. 15.

[11:13]  ¹³ sn This is the posture of prayer (see Isa 1:15). The expression means “spread out your palms,” probably meaning that the one praying would fall to his knees, put his forehead to the ground, and spread out his hands in front of him on the ground.