Keluaran 8:3

8:3 The Nile will swarm ¹  with frogs, and they will come up and go into your house, in your bedroom, and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading troughs. ² 

Keluaran 8:8-9

8:8 Then Pharaoh summoned ³  Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray ⁴  to the Lord that he may take the frogs away ⁵  from me and my people, and I will release ⁶  the people that they may sacrifice ⁷  to the Lord.” 8:9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor over me ⁸  – when shall I pray for you, your servants, and your people, for the frogs to be removed ⁹  from you and your houses, so that ¹⁰  they will be left ¹¹  only in the Nile?”

Keluaran 8:17

8:17 They did so; Aaron extended his hand with his staff, he struck the dust of the ground, and it became gnats on people ¹²  and on animals. All the dust of the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

Keluaran 8:19-20

8:19 The magicians said ¹³  to Pharaoh, “It is the finger ¹⁴  of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ¹⁵  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

The Fourth Blow: Flies

8:20 ¹⁶ The Lord ¹⁷  said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Release my people that they may serve me!

Keluaran 8:22

8:22 But on that day I will mark off ¹⁸  the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, ¹⁹  so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of this land. ²⁰ 

Keluaran 8:24

8:24 The Lord did so; a ²¹  thick ²²  swarm of flies came into ²³  Pharaoh’s house and into the houses ²⁴  of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined ²⁵  because of the swarms of flies.

Keluaran 22:1

Laws about Property

22:1 ²⁶ (21:37) ²⁷  “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he must pay back ²⁸  five head of cattle for the ox, and four sheep for the one sheep. ²⁹ 

Keluaran 22:3

22:3 If the sun has risen on him, then there is blood guilt for him. A thief ³⁰  must surely make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he will be sold for his theft.

Keluaran 22:7

22:7 “If a man gives his neighbor money or articles ³¹  for safekeeping, ³²  and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, ³³  he must repay double.

Keluaran 22:10

22:10 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep, and it dies or is hurt ³⁴  or is carried away ³⁵  without anyone seeing it, ³⁶ 

Keluaran 22:14

22:14 “If a man borrows an animal ³⁷  from his neighbor, and it is hurt or dies when its owner was not with it, the man who borrowed it ³⁸  will surely pay.

Keluaran 22:25

22:25 “If you lend money to any of ³⁹  my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender ⁴⁰  to him; do not charge ⁴¹  him interest. ⁴² 

[8:3]  ¹ sn The choice of this verb שָׁרַץ (sharats) recalls its use in the creation account (Gen 1:20). The water would be swarming with frogs in abundance. There is a hint here of this being a creative work of God as well.

[8:3]  ² sn This verse lists places the frogs will go. The first three are for Pharaoh personally – they are going to touch his private life. Then the text mentions the servants and the people. Mention of the ovens and kneading bowls (or troughs) of the people indicates that food would be contaminated and that it would be impossible even to eat a meal in peace.

[8:8]  ³ tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the lamed (ל) preposition has the meaning “to summon.”

[8:8]  ⁴ tn The verb הַעְתִּירוּ (ha’tiru) is the Hiphil imperative of the verb עָתַר (’atar). It means “to pray, supplicate,” or “make supplication” – always addressed to God. It is often translated “entreat” to reflect that it is a more urgent praying.

[8:8]  ⁵ tn This form is the jussive with a sequential vav that provides the purpose of the prayer: pray…that he may turn away the frogs.

[8:8]  sn This is the first time in the conflict that Pharaoh even acknowledged that Yahweh existed. Now he is asking for prayer to remove the frogs and is promising to release Israel. This result of the plague must have been an encouragement to Moses.

[8:8]  ⁶ tn The form is the Piel cohortative וַאֲשַׁלְּחָה (va’ashallÿkhah) with the vav (ו) continuing the sequence from the request and its purpose. The cohortative here stresses the resolve of the king: “and (then) I will release.”

[8:8]  ⁷ tn Here also the imperfect tense with the vav (ו) shows the purpose of the release: “that they may sacrifice.”

[8:9]  ⁸ tn The expression הִתְפָּאֵר עָלַי (hitpa’er ’alay) is problematic. The verb would be simply translated “honor yourself” or “deck yourself with honor.” It can be used in the bad sense of self-exaltation. But here it seems to mean “have the honor or advantage over me” in choosing when to remove the frogs. The LXX has “appoint for me.” Moses is doing more than extending a courtesy to Pharaoh; he is giving him the upper hand in choosing the time. But it is also a test, for if Pharaoh picked the time it would appear less likely that Moses was manipulating things. As U. Cassuto puts it, Moses is saying “my trust in God is so strong you may have the honor of choosing the time” (Exodus, 103).

[8:9]  ⁹ tn Or “destroyed”; Heb “to cut off the frogs.”

[8:9]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase “so that” is implied.

[8:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “survive, remain.”

[8:17]  ¹² tn Heb “man,” but in the generic sense of “humans” or “people” (also in v. 18).

[8:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the magicians said.”

[8:19]  ¹⁴ tn The word “finger” is a bold anthropomorphism (a figure of speech in which God is described using human characteristics).

[8:19]  sn The point of the magicians’ words is clear enough. They knew they were beaten and by whom. The reason for their choice of the word “finger” has occasioned many theories, none of which is entirely satisfying. At the least their statement highlights that the plague was accomplished by God with majestic ease and effortlessness. Perhaps the reason that they could not do this was that it involved producing life – from the dust of the ground, as in Genesis 2:7. The creative power of God confounded the magic of the Egyptians and brought on them a loathsome plague.

[8:19]  ¹⁵ tn 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.

[8:20]  ¹⁶ sn The announcement of the fourth plague parallels that of the first plague. Now there will be flies, likely dogflies. Egypt has always suffered from flies, more so in the summer than in the winter. But the flies the plague describes involve something greater than any normal season for flies. The main point that can be stressed in this plague comes by tracing the development of the plagues in their sequence. Now, with the flies, it becomes clear that God can inflict suffering on some people and preserve others – a preview of the coming judgment that will punish Egypt but set Israel free. God is fully able to keep the dog-fly in the land of the Egyptians and save his people from these judgments.

[8:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And Yahweh said.”

[8:22]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or “of the earth” (KJV, ASV, NAB).

[8:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “and there came a….”

[8:24]  ²² tn Heb “heavy,” or “severe.”

[8:24]  ²³ tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.

[8:24]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.

[8:24]  ²⁵ tc Concerning the connection of “the land was ruined” with the preceding, S. R. Driver (Exodus, 68) suggests reading with the LXX, Smr, and Peshitta; this would call for adding a conjunction before the last clause to make it read, “into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was…”

[8:24]  tn The Hebrew word תִּשָּׁחֵת (tishakhet) is a strong word; it is the Niphal imperfect of שָׁחַת (shakhat) and is translated “ruined.” If the classification as imperfect stands, then it would have to be something like a progressive imperfect (the land was being ruined); otherwise, it may simply be a preterite without the vav (ו) consecutive. The verb describes utter devastation. This is the verb that is used in Gen 13:10 to describe how Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Swarms of flies would disrupt life, contaminate everything, and bring disease.

[22:1]  ²⁶ sn The next section of laws concerns property rights. These laws protected property from thieves and oppressors, but also set limits to retribution. The message could be: God’s laws demand that the guilty make restitution for their crimes against property and that the innocent be exonerated.

[22:1]  ²⁷ sn Beginning with 22:1, the verse numbers through 22:31 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 22:1 ET = 21:37 HT, 22:2 ET = 22:1 HT, etc., through 22:31 ET = 22:30 HT. Thus in the English Bible ch. 22 has 31 verses, while in the Hebrew Bible it has 30 verses, with the one extra verse attached to ch. 21 in the Hebrew Bible.

[22:1]  ²⁸ tn The imperfect tense here has the nuance of obligatory imperfect – he must pay back.

[22:1]  ²⁹ tn בָּקַר (baqar) and צֹאן (tso’n) are the categories to which the ox and the sheep belonged, so that the criminal had some latitude in paying back animals.

[22:3]  ³⁰ tn The words “a thief” have been added for clarification. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 224) thinks that these lines are out of order, since some of them deal with killing the thief and then others with the thief making restitution, but rearranging the clauses is not a necessary way to bring clarity to the paragraph. The idea here would be that any thief caught alive would pay restitution.

[22:7]  ³¹ tn The word usually means “vessels” but can have the sense of household goods and articles. It could be anything from jewels and ornaments to weapons or pottery.

[22:7]  ³² tn Heb “to keep.” Here “safekeeping,” that is, to keep something secure on behalf of a third party, is intended.

[22:7]  ³³ tn Heb “found.”

[22:10]  ³⁴ tn The form is a Niphal participle from the verb “to break” – “is broken,” which means harmed, maimed, or hurt in any way.

[22:10]  ³⁵ tn This verb is frequently used with the meaning “to take captive.” The idea here then is that raiders or robbers have carried off the animal.

[22:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “there is no one seeing.”

[22:14]  ³⁷ tn Heb “if a man asks [an animal] from his neighbor” (see also Exod 12:36). The ruling here implies an animal is borrowed, and if harm comes to it when the owner is not with it, the borrower is liable. The word “animal” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[22:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who borrowed the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:25]  ³⁹ tn “any of” has been supplied.

[22:25]  ⁴⁰ sn The moneylender will be demanding and exacting. In Ps 109:11 and 2 Kgs 4:1 the word is rendered as “extortioner.”

[22:25]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “set.”

[22:25]  ⁴² sn In ancient times money was lent primarily for poverty and not for commercial ventures (H. Gamoran, “The Biblical Law against Loans on Interest,” JNES 30 [1971]: 127-34). The lending to the poor was essentially a charity, and so not to be an opportunity to make money from another person’s misfortune. The word נֶשֶׁךְ (neshekh) may be derived from a verb that means “to bite,” and so the idea of usury or interest was that of putting out one’s money with a bite in it (See S. Stein, “The Laws on Interest in the Old Testament,” JTS 4 [1953]: 161-70; and E. Neufeld, “The Prohibition against Loans at Interest in the Old Testament,” HUCA 26 [1955]: 355-412).