Keluaran 12:30

12:30 Pharaoh got up ¹  in the night, ²  along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house ³  in which there was not someone dead.

Amsal 21:13

21:13 The one who shuts his ears ⁴  to the cry ⁵  of the poor,

he too will cry out and will not be answered. ⁶ 

Amos 5:17

5:17 In all the vineyards there will be wailing,

for I will pass through ⁷  your midst,” says the Lord.

[12:30]  ¹ tn Heb “arose,” the verb קוּם (qum) in this context certainly must describe a less ceremonial act. The entire country woke up in terror because of the deaths.

[12:30]  ² tn The noun is an adverbial accusative of time – “in the night” or “at night.”

[12:30]  ³ sn Or so it seemed. One need not push this description to complete literalness. The reference would be limited to houses that actually had firstborn people or animals. In a society in which households might include more than one generation of humans and animals, however, the presence of a firstborn human or animal would be the rule rather than the exception.

[21:13]  ⁴ sn The imagery means “pay no attention to” the cry for help or “refuse to help,” so it is a metonymy of cause for the effect.

[21:13]  ⁵ sn “Cry” here would be a metonymy of effect for the cause, the cause being the great needs of the poor.

[21:13]  ⁶ sn The proverb is teaching that those who show mercy will receive mercy. It involves the principle of talionic justice – those who refuse the needs of others will themselves be refused when they need help (so Luke 16:19-31).

[5:17]  ⁷ sn The expression pass through your midst alludes to Exod 12:12, where the Lord announced he would “pass through” Egypt and bring death to the Egyptian firstborn.