Keluaran 12:30

12:30 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.

Keluaran 14:21

14:21 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart ⁴  by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided.

Keluaran 29:37

29:37 For seven days ⁵  you are to make atonement for the altar and set it apart as holy. Then the altar will be most holy. ⁶  Anything that touches the altar will be holy. ⁷ 

[12:30]  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.

[12:30]  ² tn The noun is an adverbial accusative of time – “in the night” or “at night.”

[12:30]  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.

[14:21]  ⁴ tn Or “drove the sea back” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV). The verb is simply the Hiphil of הָלַךְ (halakh, “to walk, go”). The context requires that it be interpreted along the lines of “go back, go apart.”

[29:37]  ⁵ tn Once again this is an adverbial accusative of time. Each day for seven days the ritual at the altar is to be followed.

[29:37]  ⁶ tn The construction is the superlative genitive: “holy of holies,” or “most holy.”

[29:37]  ⁷ sn This line states an unusual principle, meant to preserve the sanctity of the altar. S. R. Driver explains it this way (Exodus, 325): If anything comes in contact with the altar, it becomes holy and must remain in the sanctuary for Yahweh’s use. If a person touches the altar, he likewise becomes holy and cannot return to the profane regions. He will be given over to God to be dealt with as God pleases. Anyone who was not qualified to touch the altar did not dare approach it, for contact would have meant that he was no longer free to leave but was God’s holy possession – and might pay for it with his life (see Exod 30:29; Lev 6:18b, 27; and Ezek 46:20).