translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EXO

label: NET translator note

text: The word “like” is added for clarity, making explicit the implied comparison in the statement “I have made you God to Pharaoh.” The word אֱלֹהִים (’ elohim ) is used a few times in the Bible for humans (e.g., Pss 45:6; 82:1 ), and always clearly in the sense of a subordinate to GOD – they are his representatives on earth. The explanation here goes back to 4:16 . If Moses is like God in that Aaron is his prophet, then Moses is certainly like God to Pharaoh. Only Moses, then, is able to speak to Pharaoh with such authority, giving him commands.


text: The word נְבִיאֶךָ ( nÿvi ’ ekha , “your prophet”) recalls 4:16 . Moses was to be like God to Aaron, and Aaron was to speak for him. This indicates that the idea of a “prophet” was of one who spoke for God, an idea with which Moses and Aaron and the readers of Exodus are assumed to be familiar.


text: The imperfect tense here should have the nuance of instruction or injunction: “you are to speak.” The subject is singular (Moses) and made emphatic by the presence of the personal pronoun “ you .”


text: The phrase translated “everything I command you” is a noun clause serving as the direct object of the verb “speak.” The verb in the clause ( אֲצַוֶּךָ , ’ atsavvekha ) is the Piel imperfect. It could be classified as a future: “everything that I will command you.” A nuance of progressive imperfect also fits well: “everything that I am commanding you.” sn The distinct emphasis is important. Aaron will speak to the people and Pharaoh what Moses tells him, and Moses will speak to Aaron what God commands him. The use of “command” keeps everything in perspective for Moses’ position.


text: The form is וְשִׁלַּח ( vÿshillakh ), a Piel perfect with vav ( ו ) consecutive. Following the imperfects of injunction or instruction, this verb continues the sequence. It could be taken as equal to an imperfect expressing future (“and he will release”) or subordinate to express purpose (“to release” = “in order that he may release”).


text: The clause begins with the emphatic use of the pronoun and a disjunctive vav ( ו ) expressing the contrast “But as for me, I will harden.” They will speak, but God will harden. sn The imperfect tense of the verb קָשָׁה ( qasha ) is found only here in these “hardening passages.” The verb (here the Hiphil for “I will harden”) summarizes Pharaoh’s resistance to what God would be doing through Moses – he would stubbornly resist and refuse to submit; he would be resolved in his opposition. See R. R. Wilson, “The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart,” CBQ 41 (1979): 18-36.


text: The form beginning the second half of the verse is the perfect tense with vav ( ו ) consecutive, הִרְבֵּיתִי ( hirbeti ). It could be translated as a simple future in sequence after the imperfect preceding it, but the logical connection is not obvious. Since it carries the force of an imperfect due to the sequence, it may be subordinated as a temporal clause to the next clause that begins in v. 4 . That maintains the flow of the argument.


text: Heb “and Pharaoh will not listen.”


text: Heb “put my hand into.” The expression is a strong anthropomorphism to depict God’s severest judgment on Egypt. The point is that neither the speeches of Moses and Aaron nor the signs that God would do will be effective. Consequently, God would deliver the blow that would destroy.


text: See the note on this term in 6:26 .


text: The emphasis on sequence is clear because the form is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive. sn The use of the verb “to know” ( יָדַע , yada ’) underscores what was said with regard to 6:3 . By the time the actual exodus took place, the Egyptians would have “known” the name Yahweh, probably hearing it more than they wished. But they will know – experience the truth of it – when Yahweh defeats them.


text: Heb “And Yahweh said.”


text: Heb “said to Moses and Aaron, saying.”


text: The verb is תְּנוּ ( tÿnu ), literally “give.” The imperative is followed by an ethical dative that strengthens the subject of the imperative: “ you give a miracle.”


text: Heb “and throw it.” The direct object, “it,” is implied.


text: The form is the jussive יְהִי ( yÿhi ). Gesenius notes that frequently in a conditional clause, a sentence with a protasis and apodosis, the jussive will be used. Here it is in the apodosis (GKC 323 §109. h ).


text: The clause begins with the preterite and the vav ( ו ) consecutive; it is here subordinated to the next clause as a temporal clause.


text: Heb “and Aaron threw.”


text: The noun used here is תַּנִּין ( tannin ), and not the word for “serpent” or “snake” used in chap. . This noun refers to a large reptile, in some texts large river or sea creatures ( Gen 1:21 ; Ps 74:13 ) or land creatures ( Deut 32:33 ). This wonder paralleled Moses’ miracle in 4:3 when he cast his staff down. But this is Aaron’s staff, and a different miracle. The noun could still be rendered “snake” here since the term could be broad enough to include it.


text: The חַרְטֻּמִּים ( kharttummim ) seem to have been the keepers of Egypt’s religious and magical texts, the sacred scribes.


text: The term בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶם ( bÿlahatehem ) means “by their secret arts”; it is from לוּט ( lut , “to enwrap”). The Greek renders the word “by their magic”; Tg. Onq. uses “murmurings” and “whispers,” and other Jewish sources “dazzling display” or “demons” (see further B. Jacob, Exodus , 253-54). They may have done this by clever tricks, manipulation of the animals, or demonic power. Many have suggested that Aaron and the magicians were familiar with an old trick in which they could temporarily paralyze a serpent and then revive it. But here Aaron’s snake swallows up their snakes.


text: The verb is plural, but the subject is singular, “a man – his staff.” This noun can be given a distributive sense: “each man threw down his staff.”


text: This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק ( khazaq ); see S. R. Driver, Exodus , 53. sn For more on this subject, see B. Jacob, Exodus , 241-49. S. R. Driver ( Exodus , 53) notes that when this word ( חָזַק ) is used it indicates a will or attitude that is unyielding and firm, but when כָּבֵד ( kaved ) is used, it stresses the will as being slow to move, unimpressionable, slow to be affected.


text: Or “unresponsive” (so HALOT 456 s.v. I כָּבֵד ).


text: The Piel infinitive construct לְשַׁלַּח ( lÿshallakh ) serves as the direct object of מֵאֵן ( me ’ en ), telling what Pharaoh refuses (characteristic perfect) to do. The whole clause is an explanation (like a metonymy of effect) of the first clause that states that Pharaoh’s heart is hard.


text: The clause begins with הִנֵּה ( hinneh ); here it provides the circumstances for the instruction for Moses – he is going out to the water so go meet him. A temporal clause translation captures the connection between the clauses.


text: The instruction to Moses continues with this perfect tense with vav ( ו ) consecutive following the imperative. The verb means “to take a stand, station oneself.” It seems that Pharaoh’s going out to the water was a regular feature of his day and that Moses could be there waiting to meet him.


text: The verb תִּקַּח ( tiqqakh ), the Qal imperfect of לָקַח ( laqakh ), functions here as the imperfect of instruction, or injunction perhaps, given the word order of the clause.


text: The final clause begins with the noun and vav disjunctive, which singles this instruction out for special attention – “now the staff…you are to take.”


text: The form לֵאמֹר ( le ’ mor ) is the Qal infinitive construct with the lamed ( ל ) preposition. It is used so often epexegetically that it has achieved idiomatic status – “saying” (if translated at all). But here it would make better sense to take it as a purpose infinitive. God sent him to say these words.


text: The imperfect tense with the vav ( וְיַעַבְדֻנִי , vÿya ’ avduni ) following the imperative is in volitive sequence, showing the purpose – “that they may serve me.” The word “serve” ( עָבַד , ’ avad ) is a general term to include religious observance and obedience.


text: The final עַד־כֹּה (’ ad-koh , “until now”) narrows the use of the perfect tense to the present perfect: “you have not listened.” That verb, however, involves more than than mere audition. It has the idea of responding to, hearkening, and in some places obeying; here “you have not complied” might catch the point of what Moses is saying, while “listen” helps to maintain the connection with other uses of the verb.


text: Or “complied” ( שָׁמַעְתָּ , shama ’ ta ).


text: The construction using הִנֵּה ( hinneh ) before the participle (here the Hiphil participle מַכֶּה , makkeh ) introduces a futur instans use of the participle, expressing imminent future, that he is about to do something.


text: The definite article here has the generic use, indicating the class – “fish” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax , 19, §92).


text: The verb לָאָה ( la ’ a ), here in the Niphal perfect with a vav consecutive, means “be weary, impatient.” The Niphal meaning is “make oneself weary” in doing something, or “weary (strenuously exert) oneself.” It seems always to indicate exhausted patience (see BDB 521 s.v.). The term seems to imply that the Egyptians were not able to drink the red, contaminated water, and so would expend all their energy looking for water to drink – in frustration of course.


text: Or “irrigation rivers” of the Nile.


text: The imperfect tense with vav ( ו ) after the imperative indicates the purpose or result: “in order that they [the waters] be[come] blood.”


text: Or “in all.”


text: Heb “And he raised”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Gesenius calls the preposition on “staff” the בְּ ( bet ) instrumenti , used to introduce the object (GKC 380-81 §119. q ). This construction provides a greater emphasis than an accusative.


text: The text could be rendered “in the sight of,” or simply “before,” but the literal idea of “before the eyes of” may stress how obvious the event was and how personally they were witnesses of it.


text: The first clause in this verse begins with a vav disjunctive, introducing a circumstantial clause to the statement that the water stank. The vav ( ו ) consecutive on the next verb shows that the smell was the result of the dead fish in the contaminated water. The result is then expressed with the vav beginning the clause that states that they could not drink it.


text: The preterite could be given a simple definite past translation, but an ingressive past would be more likely, as the smell would get worse and worse with the dead fish.


text: Heb “and there was blood.”


text: Heb “thus, so.”


text: The vav consecutive on the preterite introduces the outcome or result of the matter – Pharaoh was hardened.


text: Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק ( khazaq ; see S. R. Driver, Exodus , 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.


text: Heb “to them”; the referents (Moses and Aaron) have been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The text has וְלֹא־שָׁת לִבּוֹ גַּם־לָזֹאת ( vÿlo ’ -shat libbo gam-lazo ’ t ), which literally says, “and he did not set his heart also to this.” To “set the heart” to something would mean “to consider it.” This Hebrew idiom means that he did not pay attention to it, or take it to heart (cf. 2 Sam 13:20 ; Ps 48:13; 62:10 ; Prov 22:17; 24:32 ). Since Pharaoh had not been affected by this, he did not consider it or its implications further.


text: The text literally has “and seven days were filled.” Seven days gave Pharaoh enough time to repent and release Israel. When the week passed, God’s second blow came.


text: This is a temporal clause made up of the preposition, the Hiphil infinitive construct of נָכָה ( nakhah ), הַכּוֹת ( hakkot ), followed by the subjective genitive YHWH. Here the verb is applied to the true meaning of the plague: Moses struck the water, but the plague was a blow struck by God.