Exodus 1:14

1:14 They made their lives bitter ¹  by ²  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ³  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ⁴ 

Exodus 9:25

9:25 The hail struck everything in the open fields, both ⁵  people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows ⁶  in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces.

---

¹ sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

² tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

³ tn Heb “and in all service.”

⁴ tn The line could be more literally translated, “All their service in which they served them [was] with rigor.” This takes the referent of בָּהֶם (bahem) to be the Egyptians. The pronoun may also resume the reference to the kinds of service and so not be needed in English: “All their service in which they served [was] with rigor.”

⁵ tn The exact expression is “from man even to beast.” R. J. Williams lists this as an example of the inclusive use of the preposition מִן (min) to be rendered “both…and” (Hebrew Syntax, 57, §327).

⁶ tn Heb “all the cultivated grain of.”