Keluaran 8:24

8:24 The Lord did so; a ¹  thick ²  swarm of flies came into ³  Pharaoh’s house and into the houses ⁴  of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined ⁵  because of the swarms of flies.

Keluaran 1:12

1:12 But the more the Egyptians ⁶  oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. ⁷  As a result the Egyptians loathed ⁸  the Israelites,

[8:24]  ¹ tn Heb “and there came a….”

[8:24]  ² tn Heb “heavy,” or “severe.”

[8:24]  ³ tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.

[8:24]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.

[8:24]  ⁵ 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.

[1:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:12]  ⁷ tn The imperfect tenses in this verse are customary uses, expressing continual action in past time (see GKC 315 §107.e). For other examples of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) with כֵּן (ken) expressing a comparison (“just as…so”) see Gen 41:13; Judg 1:7; Isa 31:4.

[1:12]  sn Nothing in the oppression caused this, of course. Rather, the blessing of God (Gen 12:1-3) was on Israel in spite of the efforts of Egypt to hinder it. According to Gen 15 God had foretold that there would be this period of oppression (עָנָה [’anah] in Gen 15:13). In other words, God had decreed and predicted both their becoming a great nation and the oppression to show that he could fulfill his promise to Abraham in spite of the bondage.

[1:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “they felt a loathing before/because of”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.