Keluaran 7:11-12

7:11 Then Pharaoh also summoned wise men and sorcerers, ¹  and the magicians ²  of Egypt by their secret arts ³  did the same thing. 7:12 Each man ⁴  threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

Keluaran 8:18-19

8:18 When ⁵  the magicians attempted ⁶  to bring forth gnats by their secret arts, they could not. So there were gnats on people and on animals. 8:19 The magicians said ⁷  to Pharaoh, “It is the finger ⁸  of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ⁹  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

Yesaya 47:12-14

47:12 Persist ¹⁰  in trusting ¹¹  your amulets

and your many incantations,

which you have faithfully recited ¹²  since your youth!

Maybe you will be successful ¹³  –

maybe you will scare away disaster. ¹⁴ 

47:13 You are tired out from listening to so much advice. ¹⁵ 

Let them take their stand –

the ones who see omens in the sky,

who gaze at the stars,

who make monthly predictions –

let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you! ¹⁶ 

47:14 Look, they are like straw,

which the fire burns up;

they cannot rescue themselves

from the heat ¹⁷  of the flames.

There are no coals to warm them,

no firelight to enjoy. ¹⁸ 

Yesaya 47:2

47:2 Pick up millstones and grind flour!

Remove your veil,

strip off your skirt,

expose your legs,

cross the streams!

Titus 3:8-9

Summary of the Letter

3:8 This saying ¹⁹  is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, ²⁰  so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people. 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, ²¹  quarrels, and fights about the law, ²²  because they are useless and empty.

Wahyu 16:2

16:2 So ²³  the first angel ²⁴  went and poured out his bowl on the earth. Then ²⁵  ugly and painful sores ²⁶  appeared on the people ²⁷  who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.

[7:11]  ¹ sn For information on this Egyptian material, see D. B. Redford, A Study of the Biblical Story of Joseph (VTSup), 203-4.

[7:11]  ² tn The חַרְטֻּמִּים (kharttummim) seem to have been the keepers of Egypt’s religious and magical texts, the sacred scribes.

[7:11]  ³ tn The term בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶם (bÿlahatehem) means “by their secret arts”; it is from לוּט (lut, “to enwrap”). The Greek renders the word “by their magic”; Tg. Onq. uses “murmurings” and “whispers,” and other Jewish sources “dazzling display” or “demons” (see further B. Jacob, Exodus, 253-54). They may have done this by clever tricks, manipulation of the animals, or demonic power. Many have suggested that Aaron and the magicians were familiar with an old trick in which they could temporarily paralyze a serpent and then revive it. But here Aaron’s snake swallows up their snakes.

[7:12]  ⁴ tn The verb is plural, but the subject is singular, “a man – his staff.” This noun can be given a distributive sense: “each man threw down his staff.”

[8:18]  ⁵ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the main clause as a temporal clause.

[8:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the magicians did so.”

[8:18]  sn The report of what the magicians did (or as it turns out, tried to do) begins with the same words as the report about the actions of Moses and Aaron – “and they did so” (vv. 17 and 18). The magicians copy the actions of Moses and Aaron, leading readers to think momentarily that the magicians are again successful, but at the end of the verse comes the news that “they could not.” Compared with the first two plagues, this third plague has an important new feature, the failure of the magicians and their recognition of the source of the plague.

[8:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the magicians said.”

[8:19]  ⁸ tn The word “finger” is a bold anthropomorphism (a figure of speech in which God is described using human characteristics).

[8:19]  sn The point of the magicians’ words is clear enough. They knew they were beaten and by whom. The reason for their choice of the word “finger” has occasioned many theories, none of which is entirely satisfying. At the least their statement highlights that the plague was accomplished by God with majestic ease and effortlessness. Perhaps the reason that they could not do this was that it involved producing life – from the dust of the ground, as in Genesis 2:7. The creative power of God confounded the magic of the Egyptians and brought on them a loathsome plague.

[8:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the heart of Pharaoh became hard.” This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53). In context this represents the continuation of a prior condition.

[47:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

[47:12]  ¹¹ tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

[47:12]  ¹² tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

[47:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

[47:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.

[47:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you are tired because of the abundance of your advice.”

[47:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “let them stand and rescue you – the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make known by months – from those things which are coming upon you.”

[47:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.

[47:14]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.

[3:8]  ¹⁹ sn This saying (Grk “the saying”) refers to the preceding citation (Titus 3:4-7). See 1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11 for other occurrences of this phrase.

[3:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “concerning these things.”

[3:9]  ²¹ tn Cf. 1 Tim 1:4.

[3:9]  ²² sn Fights about the law were characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus as well as in Crete (cf. 1 Tim 1:3-7; Titus 1:10, 14).

[16:2]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the directions given by the voice from the temple.

[16:2]  ²⁴ tn Grk “the first”; the referent (the first angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[16:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “ulcerated sores”; the term in the Greek text is singular but is probably best understood as a collective singular.

[16:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk ‘the men,” but this is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") and refers to both men and women.