Mazmur 105:25-36

105:25 He caused them ¹  to hate his people,

and to mistreat ²  his servants.

105:26 He sent his servant Moses,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

105:27 They executed his miraculous signs among them, ³ 

and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham.

105:28 He made it dark; ⁴ 

they did not disobey his orders. ⁵ 

105:29 He turned their water into blood,

and killed their fish.

105:30 Their land was overrun by frogs,

which even got into the rooms of their kings.

105:31 He ordered flies to come; ⁶ 

gnats invaded their whole territory.

105:32 He sent hail along with the rain; ⁷ 

there was lightning in their land. ⁸ 

105:33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees,

and broke the trees throughout their territory.

105:34 He ordered locusts to come, ⁹ 

innumerable grasshoppers.

105:35 They ate all the vegetation in their land,

and devoured the crops of their fields. ¹⁰ 

105:36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the firstfruits of their reproductive power. ¹¹ 

[105:25]  ¹ tn Heb “their heart.”

[105:25]  ² tn Or “to deal deceptively.” The Hitpael of נָכַל (nakhal) occurs only here and in Gen 37:18, where it is used of Joseph’s brothers “plotting” to kill him.

[105:27]  ³ tn Apparently the pronoun refers to “his servants” (i.e., the Israelites, see v. 25).

[105:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “he sent darkness and made it dark.”

[105:28]  sn He made it dark. The psalmist begins with the ninth plague (see Exod 10:21-29).

[105:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “they did not rebel against his words.” Apparently this refers to Moses and Aaron, who obediently carried out God’s orders.

[105:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “he spoke and flies came.”

[105:32]  ⁷ tn Heb “he gave their rains hail.”

[105:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “fire of flames [was] in their land.”

[105:34]  ⁹ tn Heb “he spoke and locusts came.”

[105:35]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the fruit of their ground.”

[105:36]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the beginning of all their strength,” that is, reproductive power (see Ps 78:51).

[105:36]  sn Verses 28-36 recall the plagues in a different order than the one presented in Exodus: v. 28 (plague 9), v. 29 (plague 1), v. 30 (plague 2), v. 31a (plague 4), v. 31b (plague 3), vv. 32-33 (plague 7), vv. 34-35 (plague 8), v. 36 (plague 10). No reference is made in Ps 105 to plagues 5 and 6.