Keluaran 5:17

5:17 But Pharaoh replied, ¹  “You are slackers! Slackers! ²  That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’

Keluaran 8:15

8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, ³  he hardened ⁴  his heart and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted. ⁵ 

[5:17]  ¹ tn Heb “And he said.”

[5:17]  ² tn Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים (nirpim) is derived from the verb רָפָה (rafah), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.”

[8:15]  ³ tn The word רְוָחָה (rÿvakhah) means “respite, relief.” BDB 926 relates it to the verb רָוַח (ravakh, “to be wide, spacious”). There would be relief when there was freedom to move about.

[8:15]  ⁴ tn וְהַכְבֵּד (vÿhakhbed) is a Hiphil infinitive absolute, functioning as a finite verb. The meaning of the word is “to make heavy,” and so stubborn, sluggish, indifferent. It summarizes his attitude and the outcome, that he refused to keep his promises.

[8:15]  ⁵ sn The end of the plague revealed clearly God’s absolute control over Egypt’s life and deities – all at the power of the man who prayed to God. Yahweh had made life unpleasant for the people by sending the plague, but he was also the one who could remove it. The only recourse anyone has in such trouble is to pray to the sovereign Lord God. Everyone should know that there is no one like Yahweh.