Keluaran 8:12

8:12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried ¹  to the Lord because of ²  the frogs that he had brought on ³  Pharaoh.

Keluaran 8:15

8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, ⁴  he hardened ⁵  his heart and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted. ⁶ 

Keluaran 9:12

9:12 But the Lord hardened ⁷  Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted to Moses.

[8:12]  ¹ tn The verb צָעַק (tsa’aq) is used for prayers in which people cry out of trouble or from danger. U. Cassuto observes that Moses would have been in real danger if God had not answered this prayer (Exodus, 103).

[8:12]  ² tn Heb “over the matter of.”

[8:12]  ³ tn The verb is an unusual choice if it were just to mean “brought on.” It is the verb שִׂים (sim, “place, put”). S. R. Driver thinks the thought is “appointed for Pharaoh” as a sign (Exodus, 64). The idea of the sign might be too much, but certainly the frogs were positioned for the instruction of the stubborn king.

[8:15]  ⁴ tn The word רְוָחָה (rÿvakhah) means “respite, relief.” BDB 926 relates it to the verb רָוַח (ravakh, “to be wide, spacious”). There would be relief when there was freedom to move about.

[8:15]  ⁵ tn וְהַכְבֵּד (vÿhakhbed) is a Hiphil infinitive absolute, functioning as a finite verb. The meaning of the word is “to make heavy,” and so stubborn, sluggish, indifferent. It summarizes his attitude and the outcome, that he refused to keep his promises.

[8:15]  ⁶ sn The end of the plague revealed clearly God’s absolute control over Egypt’s life and deities – all at the power of the man who prayed to God. Yahweh had made life unpleasant for the people by sending the plague, but he was also the one who could remove it. The only recourse anyone has in such trouble is to pray to the sovereign Lord God. Everyone should know that there is no one like Yahweh.

[9:12]  ⁷ tn This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq); see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53.