Exodus 10:12-14

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Exodus 10:12 tn The preposition ב (bet) is unexpected here. BDB 91 s.v. (the note at the end of the entry) says that in this case it can only be read as “with the locusts,” meaning that the locusts were thought to be implicit in Moses’ lifting up of his hand. However, BDB prefers to change the preposition to ל (lamed).
2. Exodus 10:12 tn The noun עֵשֶּׂב (ʿesev) normally would indicate cultivated grains, but in this context seems to indicate plants in general.
3. Exodus 10:13 tn The clause begins וַיהוָה (vaʾdonay [vayhvah], “Now Yahweh….”). In contrast to a normal sequence, this beginning focuses attention on Yahweh as the subject of the verb.
4. Exodus 10:13 tn The verb נָהַג (nahag) means “drive, conduct.” It is elsewhere used for driving sheep, leading armies, or leading in processions.
5. Exodus 10:13 tn Heb “and all the night.”
6. Exodus 10:13 tn The text does not here use ordinary circumstantial clause constructions; rather, Heb “the morning was, and the east wind carried the locusts.” It clearly means “when it was morning,” but the style chosen gives a more abrupt beginning to the plague, as if the reader is in the experience—and at morning, the locusts are there!
7. Exodus 10:13 tn The verb here is a past perfect, indicting that the locusts had arrived before the day came.
8. Exodus 10:14 tn Heb “border.”
9. Exodus 10:14 tn This is an interpretive translation. The clause simply has כָּבֵד מְאֹד (kaved m^eʾod), the stative verb with the adverb—“it was very heavy.” The description prepares for the following statement about the uniqueness of this locust infestation.
10. Exodus 10:14 tn Heb “after them.”