Keluaran 8:3

8:3 The Nile will swarm ¹  with frogs, and they will come up and go into your house, in your bedroom, and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading troughs. ² 

Keluaran 8:17

8:17 They did so; Aaron extended his hand with his staff, he struck the dust of the ground, and it became gnats on people ³  and on animals. All the dust of the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

Keluaran 8:19-20

8:19 The magicians said ⁴  to Pharaoh, “It is the finger ⁵  of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ⁶  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

The Fourth Blow: Flies

8:20 ⁷ The Lord ⁸  said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Release my people that they may serve me!

Keluaran 8:24

8:24 The Lord did so; a ⁹  thick ¹⁰  swarm of flies came into ¹¹  Pharaoh’s house and into the houses ¹²  of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined ¹³  because of the swarms of flies.

Keluaran 8:26

8:26 But Moses said, “That would not be the right thing to do, ¹⁴  for the sacrifices we make ¹⁵  to the Lord our God would be an abomination ¹⁶  to the Egyptians. ¹⁷  If we make sacrifices that are an abomination to the Egyptians right before their eyes, ¹⁸  will they not stone us? ¹⁹ 

Keluaran 22:1

Laws about Property

22:1 ²⁰ (21:37) ²¹  “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he must pay back ²²  five head of cattle for the ox, and four sheep for the one sheep. ²³ 

Keluaran 22:3

22:3 If the sun has risen on him, then there is blood guilt for him. A thief ²⁴  must surely make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he will be sold for his theft.

Keluaran 22:5-7

22:5 “If a man grazes ²⁵  his livestock ²⁶  in a field or a vineyard, and he lets the livestock loose and they graze in the field of another man, he must make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.

22:6 “If a fire breaks out and spreads ²⁷  to thorn bushes, ²⁸  so that stacked grain or standing grain or the whole field is consumed, the one who started ²⁹  the fire must surely make restitution.

22:7 “If a man gives his neighbor money or articles ³⁰  for safekeeping, ³¹  and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, ³²  he must repay double.

Keluaran 22:10-11

22:10 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep, and it dies or is hurt ³³  or is carried away ³⁴  without anyone seeing it, ³⁵  22:11 then there will be an oath to the Lord ³⁶  between the two of them, that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor’s goods, and its owner will accept this, and he will not have to pay.

Keluaran 22:14

22:14 “If a man borrows an animal ³⁷  from his neighbor, and it is hurt or dies when its owner was not with it, the man who borrowed it ³⁸  will surely pay.

Keluaran 22:25

22:25 “If you lend money to any of ³⁹  my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender ⁴⁰  to him; do not charge ⁴¹  him interest. ⁴² 

Keluaran 22:31

22:31 “You will be holy ⁴³  people to me; you must not eat any meat torn by animals in the field. ⁴⁴  You must throw it to the dogs.

[8:3]  ¹ sn The choice of this verb שָׁרַץ (sharats) recalls its use in the creation account (Gen 1:20). The water would be swarming with frogs in abundance. There is a hint here of this being a creative work of God as well.

[8:3]  ² sn This verse lists places the frogs will go. The first three are for Pharaoh personally – they are going to touch his private life. Then the text mentions the servants and the people. Mention of the ovens and kneading bowls (or troughs) of the people indicates that food would be contaminated and that it would be impossible even to eat a meal in peace.

[8:17]  ³ tn Heb “man,” but in the generic sense of “humans” or “people” (also in v. 18).

[8:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the magicians said.”

[8:19]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[8:20]  ⁷ sn The announcement of the fourth plague parallels that of the first plague. Now there will be flies, likely dogflies. Egypt has always suffered from flies, more so in the summer than in the winter. But the flies the plague describes involve something greater than any normal season for flies. The main point that can be stressed in this plague comes by tracing the development of the plagues in their sequence. Now, with the flies, it becomes clear that God can inflict suffering on some people and preserve others – a preview of the coming judgment that will punish Egypt but set Israel free. God is fully able to keep the dog-fly in the land of the Egyptians and save his people from these judgments.

[8:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “And Yahweh said.”

[8:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “and there came a….”

[8:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “heavy,” or “severe.”

[8:24]  ¹¹ tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.

[8:24]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.

[8:24]  ¹³ tc Concerning the connection of “the land was ruined” with the preceding, S. R. Driver (Exodus, 68) suggests reading with the LXX, Smr, and Peshitta; this would call for adding a conjunction before the last clause to make it read, “into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was…”

[8:24]  tn The Hebrew word תִּשָּׁחֵת (tishakhet) is a strong word; it is the Niphal imperfect of שָׁחַת (shakhat) and is translated “ruined.” If the classification as imperfect stands, then it would have to be something like a progressive imperfect (the land was being ruined); otherwise, it may simply be a preterite without the vav (ו) consecutive. The verb describes utter devastation. This is the verb that is used in Gen 13:10 to describe how Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Swarms of flies would disrupt life, contaminate everything, and bring disease.

[8:26]  ¹⁴ tn The clause is a little unusual in its formation. The form נָכוֹן (nakhon) is the Niphal participle from כּוּן (kun), which usually means “firm, fixed, steadfast,” but here it has a rare meaning of “right, fitting, appropriate.” It functions in the sentence as the predicate adjective, because the infinitive לַעֲשּׂוֹת (la’asot) is the subject – “to do so is not right.”

[8:26]  ¹⁵ tn This translation has been smoothed out to capture the sense. The text literally says, “for the abomination of Egypt we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God.” In other words, the animals that Israel would sacrifice were sacred to Egypt, and sacrificing them would have been abhorrent to the Egyptians.

[8:26]  ¹⁶ tn An “abomination” is something that is off-limits, something that is tabu. It could be translated “detestable” or “loathsome.”

[8:26]  ¹⁷ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 109) says there are two ways to understand “the abomination of the Egyptians.” One is that the sacrifice of the sacred animals would appear an abominable thing in the eyes of the Egyptians, and the other is that the word “abomination” could be a derogatory term for idols – we sacrifice what is an Egyptian idol. So that is why he says if they did this the Egyptians would stone them.

[8:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “if we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians [or “of Egypt”] before their eyes.”

[8:26]  ¹⁹ tn The interrogative clause has no particle to indicate it is a question, but it is connected with the conjunction to the preceding clause, and the meaning of these clauses indicate it is a question (GKC 473 §150.a).

[22:1]  ²⁰ sn The next section of laws concerns property rights. These laws protected property from thieves and oppressors, but also set limits to retribution. The message could be: God’s laws demand that the guilty make restitution for their crimes against property and that the innocent be exonerated.

[22:1]  ²¹ sn Beginning with 22:1, the verse numbers through 22:31 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 22:1 ET = 21:37 HT, 22:2 ET = 22:1 HT, etc., through 22:31 ET = 22:30 HT. Thus in the English Bible ch. 22 has 31 verses, while in the Hebrew Bible it has 30 verses, with the one extra verse attached to ch. 21 in the Hebrew Bible.

[22:1]  ²² tn The imperfect tense here has the nuance of obligatory imperfect – he must pay back.

[22:1]  ²³ tn בָּקַר (baqar) and צֹאן (tso’n) are the categories to which the ox and the sheep belonged, so that the criminal had some latitude in paying back animals.

[22:3]  ²⁴ tn The words “a thief” have been added for clarification. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 224) thinks that these lines are out of order, since some of them deal with killing the thief and then others with the thief making restitution, but rearranging the clauses is not a necessary way to bring clarity to the paragraph. The idea here would be that any thief caught alive would pay restitution.

[22:5]  ²⁵ tn The verb בָּעַר (ba’ar, “graze”) as a denominative from the word “livestock” is not well attested. So some have suggested that with slight changes this verse could be read: “If a man cause a field or a vineyard to be burnt, and let the burning spread, and it burnt in another man’s field” (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 225).

[22:5]  ²⁶ tn The phrase “his livestock” is supplied from the next clause.

[22:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “if a fire goes out and finds”; NLT “if a fire gets out of control.”

[22:6]  ²⁸ sn Thorn bushes were used for hedges between fields, but thorn bushes also burned easily, making the fire spread rapidly.

[22:6]  ²⁹ tn This is a Hiphil participle of the verb “to burn, kindle” used substantivally. This is the one who caused the fire, whether by accident or not.

[22:7]  ³⁰ tn The word usually means “vessels” but can have the sense of household goods and articles. It could be anything from jewels and ornaments to weapons or pottery.

[22:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “to keep.” Here “safekeeping,” that is, to keep something secure on behalf of a third party, is intended.

[22:7]  ³² tn Heb “found.”

[22:10]  ³³ tn The form is a Niphal participle from the verb “to break” – “is broken,” which means harmed, maimed, or hurt in any way.

[22:10]  ³⁴ tn This verb is frequently used with the meaning “to take captive.” The idea here then is that raiders or robbers have carried off the animal.

[22:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “there is no one seeing.”

[22:11]  ³⁶ tn The construct relationship שְׁבֻעַת יְהוָה (shÿvu’at yÿhvah, “the oath of Yahweh”) would require a genitive of indirect object, “an oath [to] Yahweh.” U. Cassuto suggests that it means “an oath by Yahweh” (Exodus, 287). The person to whom the animal was entrusted would take a solemn oath to Yahweh that he did not appropriate the animal for himself, and then his word would be accepted.

[22:14]  ³⁷ tn Heb “if a man asks [an animal] from his neighbor” (see also Exod 12:36). The ruling here implies an animal is borrowed, and if harm comes to it when the owner is not with it, the borrower is liable. The word “animal” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[22:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who borrowed the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:25]  ³⁹ tn “any of” has been supplied.

[22:25]  ⁴⁰ sn The moneylender will be demanding and exacting. In Ps 109:11 and 2 Kgs 4:1 the word is rendered as “extortioner.”

[22:25]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “set.”

[22:25]  ⁴² sn In ancient times money was lent primarily for poverty and not for commercial ventures (H. Gamoran, “The Biblical Law against Loans on Interest,” JNES 30 [1971]: 127-34). The lending to the poor was essentially a charity, and so not to be an opportunity to make money from another person’s misfortune. The word נֶשֶׁךְ (neshekh) may be derived from a verb that means “to bite,” and so the idea of usury or interest was that of putting out one’s money with a bite in it (See S. Stein, “The Laws on Interest in the Old Testament,” JTS 4 [1953]: 161-70; and E. Neufeld, “The Prohibition against Loans at Interest in the Old Testament,” HUCA 26 [1955]: 355-412).

[22:31]  ⁴³ sn The use of this word here has to do with the laws of the sanctuary and not some advanced view of holiness. The ritual holiness at the sanctuary would prohibit eating anything torn to pieces.

[22:31]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “by wild animals.”