Keluaran 5:13

5:13 The slave masters were pressuring ¹  them, saying, “Complete ²  your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”

Keluaran 9:34

9:34 When Pharaoh saw ³  that the rain and hail and thunder ceased, he sinned again: ⁴  both he and his servants hardened ⁵  their hearts.

Keluaran 15:8

15:8 By the blast of your nostrils ⁶  the waters were piled up,

the flowing water stood upright like a heap, ⁷ 

and the deep waters were solidified in the heart of the sea.

[5:13]  ¹ tn Or “pressed.”

[5:13]  ² tn כַּלּוּ (kallu) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of filling up the quota.

[9:34]  ³ tn The clause beginning with the preterite and vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next, and main clause – that he hardened his heart again.

[9:34]  ⁴ tn The construction is another verbal hendiadys: וַיֹּסֶף לַחֲטֹּא (vayyosef lakhatto’), literally rendered “and he added to sin.” The infinitive construct becomes the main verb, and the Hiphil preterite becomes adverbial. The text is clearly interpreting as sin the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and his refusal to release Israel. At the least this means that the plagues are his fault, but the expression probably means more than this – he was disobeying Yahweh God.

[9:34]  ⁵ tn This phrase translates the Hebrew word כָּבֵד (kaved); see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53.

[15:8]  ⁶ sn The phrase “the blast of your nostrils” is a bold anthropomorphic expression for the wind that came in and dried up the water.

[15:8]  ⁷ tn The word “heap” describes the walls of water. The waters, which are naturally fluid, stood up as though they were a heap, a mound of earth. Likewise, the flowing waters deep in the ocean solidified – as though they were turned to ice (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 175).