Psalms 105:27-38

105:27 They executed his miraculous signs among them,

and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham.

105:28 He made it dark;

they did not disobey his orders.

105:29 He turned their water into blood,

and killed their fish.

105:30 Their land was overrun by frogs,

which even got into the rooms of their kings.

105:31 He ordered flies to come;

gnats invaded their whole territory.

105:32 He sent hail along with the rain;

there was lightning in their land.

105:33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees,

and broke the trees throughout their territory.

105:34 He ordered locusts to come,

innumerable grasshoppers.

105:35 They ate all the vegetation in their land,

and devoured the crops of their fields.

105:36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the firstfruits of their reproductive power.

105:37 He brought his people 10  out enriched 11  with silver and gold;

none of his tribes stumbled.

105:38 Egypt was happy when they left,

for they were afraid of them. 12 


tn Apparently the pronoun refers to “his servants” (i.e., the Israelites, see v. 25).

tn Heb “he sent darkness and made it dark.”

sn He made it dark. The psalmist begins with the ninth plague (see Exod 10:21-29).

tn Heb “they did not rebel against his words.” Apparently this refers to Moses and Aaron, who obediently carried out God’s orders.

tn Heb “he spoke and flies came.”

tn Heb “he gave their rains hail.”

tn Heb “fire of flames [was] in their land.”

tn Heb “he spoke and locusts came.”

tn Heb “the fruit of their ground.”

tn Heb “the beginning of all their strength,” that is, reproductive power (see Ps 78:51).

sn Verses 28-36 recall the plagues in a different order than the one presented in Exodus: v. 28 (plague 9), v. 29 (plague 1), v. 30 (plague 2), v. 31a (plague 4), v. 31b (plague 3), vv. 32-33 (plague 7), vv. 34-35 (plague 8), v. 36 (plague 10). No reference is made in Ps 105 to plagues 5 and 6.

10 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Lord’s people) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

11 tn The word “enriched” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

12 tn Heb “for fear of them had fallen upon them.”