Keluaran 8:21
Konteks8:21 If you do not release 1 my people, then I am going to send 2 swarms of flies 3 on you and on your servants and on your people and in your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground they stand on. 4
Keluaran 19:16
Konteks19:16 On 5 the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense 6 cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud 7 horn; 8 all the people who were in the camp trembled.
[8:21] 1 tn The construction uses the predicator of nonexistence – אֵין (’en, “there is not”) – with a pronominal suffix prior to the Piel participle. The suffix becomes the subject of the clause. Heb “but if there is not you releasing.”
[8:21] 2 tn Here again is the futur instans use of the participle, now Qal with the meaning “send”: הִנְנִי מַשְׁלִיחַ (hinni mashliakh, “here I am sending”).
[8:21] 3 tn The word עָרֹב (’arov) means “a mix” or “swarm.” It seems that some irritating kind of flying insect is involved. Ps 78:45 says that the Egyptians were eaten or devoured by them. Various suggestions have been made over the years: (1) it could refer to beasts or reptiles; (2) the Greek took it as the dog-fly, a vicious blood-sucking gadfly, more common in the spring than in the fall; (3) the ordinary house fly, which is a symbol of Egypt in Isa 7:18 (Hebrew זְבוּב, zÿvuv); and (4) the beetle, which gnaws and bites plants, animals, and materials. The fly probably fits the details of this passage best; the plague would have greatly intensified a problem with flies that already existed.
[8:21] 4 tn Or perhaps “the land where they are” (cf. NRSV “the land where they live”).
[19:16] 5 tn Heb “and it was on.”
[19:16] 6 tn Heb “heavy” (כָּבֵד, kaved).
[19:16] 7 tn Literally “strong” (חָזָק, khazaq).
[19:16] 8 tn The word here is שֹׁפָר (shofar), the normal word for “horn.” This word is used especially to announce something important in a public event (see 1 Kgs 1:34; 2 Sam 6:15). The previous word used in the context (v. 16) was יֹבֵל (yovel, “ram’s horn”).