Discovery BoxExodus 12:30-31 
Context12:30 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. 12:31 Pharaoh 4 summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out 5 from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! 6
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.
2 tn The noun is an adverbial accusative of time – “in the night” or “at night.”
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.
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn The urgency in Pharaoh’s words is caught by the abrupt use of the imperatives – “get up, go” (קוּמוּ צְּאוּ, qumu tsÿ’u), and “go, serve” (וּלְכוּ עִבְדוּ, ulÿkhu ’ivdu) and “take” and “leave/go” (וָלֵכוּ…קְחוּ, qÿkhu...valekhu).
6 tn Heb “as you have said.” The same phrase also occurs in the following verse.
sn It appears from this clause that Pharaoh has given up attempting to impose restrictions as he had earlier. With the severe judgment on him for his previous refusals he should now know that these people are no longer his subjects, and he is no longer sovereign. As Moses had insisted, all the Israelites would leave, and with all their possessions, to worship Yahweh.
