Discovery BoxExodus 9:13-21 
Context9:13 1 The Lord said 2 to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand 3 before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: “Release my people so that they may serve me! 9:14 For this time I will send all my plagues 4 on your very self 5 and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 9:15 For by now I could have stretched out 6 my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed 7 from the earth. 9:16 But 8 for this purpose I have caused you to stand: 9 to show you 10 my strength, and so that my name may be declared 11 in all the earth. 9:17 You are still exalting 12 yourself against my people by 13 not releasing them. 9:18 I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down 14 about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred 15 in Egypt from the day it was founded 16 until now. 9:19 So now, send instructions 17 to gather 18 your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person 19 or animal caught 20 in the field and not brought into the house – the hail will come down on them, and they will die!”’”
9:20 Those 21 of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their 22 servants and livestock into the houses, 9:21 but those 23 who did not take 24 the word of the Lord seriously left their servants and their cattle 25 in the field.
1 sn With the seventh plague there is more explanation of what God is doing to Pharaoh. This plague begins with an extended lesson (vv. 13-21). Rain was almost unknown in Egypt, and hail and lightning were harmless. The Egyptians were fascinated by all these, though, and looked on them as portentous. Herodotus describes how they studied such things and wrote them down (1.2.c.38). If ordinary rainstorms were ominous, what must fire and hail have been? The Egyptians had denominated fire Hephaistos, considering it to be a mighty deity (cf. Diodorus, 1.1.c.1). Porphry says that at the opening of the temple of Serapis the Egyptians worshiped with water and fire. If these connections were clearly understood, then these elements in the plague were thought to be deities that came down on their own people with death and destruction.
2 tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”
3 tn Or “take your stand.”
4 tn The expression “all my plagues” points to the rest of the plagues and anticipates the proper outcome. Another view is to take the expression to mean the full brunt of the attack on the Egyptian people.
5 tn Heb “to your heart.” The expression is unusual, but it may be an allusion to the hard heartedness of Pharaoh – his stubbornness and blindness (B. Jacob, Exodus, 274).
6 tn The verb is the Qal perfect שָׁלַחְתִּי (shalakhti), but a past tense, or completed action translation does not fit the context at all. Gesenius lists this reference as an example of the use of the perfect to express actions and facts, whose accomplishment is to be represented not as actual but only as possible. He offers this for Exod 9:15: “I had almost put forth” (GKC 313 §106.p). Also possible is “I should have stretched out my hand.” Others read the potential nuance instead, and render it as “I could have…” as in the present translation.
7 tn The verb כָּחַד (kakhad) means “to hide, efface,” and in the Niphal it has the idea of “be effaced, ruined, destroyed.” Here it will carry the nuance of the result of the preceding verbs: “I could have stretched out my hand…and struck you…and (as a result) you would have been destroyed.”
8 tn The first word is a very strong adversative, which, in general, can be translated “but, howbeit”; BDB 19 s.v. אוּלָם suggests for this passage “but in very deed.”
9 tn The form הֶעֱמַדְתִּיךָ (he’emadtikha) is the Hiphil perfect of עָמַד (’amad). It would normally mean “I caused you to stand.” But that seems to have one or two different connotations. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 73) says that it means “maintain you alive.” The causative of this verb means “continue,” according to him. The LXX has the same basic sense – “you were preserved.” But Paul bypasses the Greek and writes “he raised you up” to show God’s absolute sovereignty over Pharaoh. Both renderings show God’s sovereign control over Pharaoh.
10 tn The Hiphil infinitive construct הַרְאֹתְךָ (har’otÿkha) is the purpose of God’s making Pharaoh come to power in the first place. To make Pharaoh see is to cause him to understand, to experience God’s power.
11 tn Heb “in order to declare my name.” Since there is no expressed subject, this may be given a passive translation.
12 tn מִסְתּוֹלֵל (mistolel) is a Hitpael participle, from a root that means “raise up, obstruct.” So in the Hitpael it means to “raise oneself up,” “elevate oneself,” or “be an obstructionist.” See W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:363; U. Cassuto, Exodus, 116.
13 tn The infinitive construct with lamed here is epexegetical; it explains how Pharaoh has exalted himself – “by not releasing the people.”
14 tn הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר (hinÿni mamtir) is the futur instans construction, giving an imminent future translation: “Here – I am about to cause it to rain.”
15 tn Heb “which not was like it in Egypt.” The pronoun suffix serves as the resumptive pronoun for the relative particle: “which…like it” becomes “the like of which has not been.” The word “hail” is added in the translation to make clear the referent of the relative particle.
16 tn The form הִוָּסְדָה (hivvasdah) is perhaps a rare Niphal perfect and not an infinitive (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 117).
17 tn The object “instructions” is implied in the context.
18 tn הָעֵז (ha’ez) is the Hiphil imperative from עוּז (’uz, “to bring into safety” or “to secure”). Although there is no vav (ו) linking the two imperatives, the second could be subordinated by virtue of the meanings. “Send to bring to safety.”
19 tn Heb “man, human.”
20 tn Heb “[who] may be found.” The verb can be the imperfect of possibility.
21 tn The text has “the one fearing.” The singular expression here and throughout vv. 20-21 refers to all who fit the description.
22 tn Heb “his” (singular).
23 tn The Hebrew text again has the singular.
24 tn Heb “put to his heart.”
25 tn Heb “his servants and his cattle.”
