[Translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses. We are in process of changing translations; the usual commentaries we feature will be added later. For now, only the text/translation is being updated.–Admin1]
In these three chapters, note the following:
- the demonstration of YHWH’s power in bringing upon Egypt calamities one after another;
- the plagues were inflicted only upon the Egyptians, the Hebrews were spared;
- the hardening/strengthening of Pharaoh’s heart by himself and by YHWH,
- and the repetition like a refrain of the words as YHWH had spoken, meaning if God has said it will happen, it will happen.
- What is the point of all these? “That you may know that I am YHWH.”
- How important is it for people to know the True God and His Name?
The narrative reads simply and needs no further interpretation. However, please take note of the following:
- Most casual readers of the “Old” Testament presume that Pharaoh hardened his heart repeatedly during the plagues, so God gave in to him by hardening his heart the 9th time so that the final plague affecting all firstborn would be the turning point in this Pharaoh’s villainous role in the story. As it turns out, from the start God announces He will “harden” (AST: “strengthen”) Pharaoh’s heart and predicts how Pharaoh will not give in.
- Backtrack three chapters and recall the use of the word ‘Elohiym: 8:21-22 are the verses that hint at what the “lamb” is to Egyptians; Pharaoh tells Mosheh to go ahead and sacrifice to their God, but do it “in the land” (Egypt) and Mosheh answers the Egyptians will react in revulsion and will stone the Hebrews if they perform their sacrifice in Egypt.
- Exodus/Shemoth 4:16 He shall speak for you to the people,
he, he shall be for you a mouth, and you, you shall be for him a god. - That same expression is used in this chapter, this time applied to Pharaoh. Exodus/Shemoth 7:1 YHVH said to Moshe:
See, I will make you as a god for Pharaoh,
and Aharon your brother will be your prophet.
- Exodus/Shemoth 4:16 He shall speak for you to the people,
Exodus/Shemoth 7
7:1 YHVH said to Moshe:See, I will make you as a god for Pharaoh,
and Aharon your brother will be your prophet.
2 You are to speak all that I command you,
And Aharon your brother is to speak to Pharaoh
so that he may send free the Children of Israel from his land.
3 But I,
I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,
I will make my signs and my portents many in the land of Egypt:
4 Pharaoh will not hearken to you,
so I will set my hand against Egypt,
and I will bring out my forces,
my people, the Children of Israel,
from the land of Egypt, with great (acts of) judgment;
5 the Egyptians will know that I am YHVH,
when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring the Children of Israel out from their midst.
6 Moshe and Aharon did
as YHVH had commanded them, thus they did.
7 Now Moshe was eighty years old, and Aharon was eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8 YHVH said to Moshe and to Aharon, saying:
Serpent Rods 9 When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying: Give, you, a portent,
then say to Aharon:
Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh: Let it become a serpent.
10 Moshe and Aharon came to Pharaoh,
they did thus, as YHVH had commanded,
Aharon threw down his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
11 Pharaoh too called for the wise men and for the sorcerers,
that they too, the magicians of Egypt, should do thus with their occult-arts,
12 they threw down, each-man, his staff, and these became serpents.
But Aharon’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart remained strong-willed, and he did not hearken to them,
as YHVH had spoken.
14 YHVH said to Moshe:
Pharaoh’s heart is heavy-with-stubbornness-he refuses to send the people free.
15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, here, he goes out to the Nile,
station yourself to meet him by the shore of the Nile,
and the staff that changed into a snake, take in your hand,
16 and say to him:
YHVH, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying:
Send free my people, that they may serve me in the wilderness!
But here, you have not hearkened thus far. Bloody River 17 Thus says YHVH:
By this shall you know that I am YHVH:
here, I will strike-with the staff that is in my hand-upon the water that is in the Nile,
and it will change into blood.
18 The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will reek,
and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile.
19 YHVH said to Moshe:
Say to Aharon:
Take your staff
and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their tributaries, over their Nile-canals, over their ponds and over all their bodies of water,
and let them become blood!
There will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt-in the wooden-containers, in the stoneware.
20 Moshe and Aharon did thus, as YHVH had commanded them.
He raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants,
and all the water that was in the Nile changed into blood.
21 The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile reeked,
and the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile;
the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 But the magicians of Egypt did thus with their occult-arts,
and Pharaoh’s heart re
mained strong-willed, and he did not hearken to them,
as YHVH had spoken.
23 So Pharaoh turned and came into his house, neither did he pay any mind to this.
24 But all Egypt had to dig around the Nile to drink water,
for they could not drink from the waters of the Nile.
25 Seven days were fulfilled, after YHVH had struck the Nile.
26 YHVH said to Moshe:
Come to Pharaoh and say to him:
Thus says YHVH:
Send free my people, that they may serve me!
27 Now if you refuse to send them free,
here, I will smite your entire territory with frogs.
28 The Nile will swarm with frogs;
they will ascend, they will come
into your house, into your bedroom, upon your couch,
into your servants’ houses, in among your people,
into your ovens and into your dough-pans;
29 onto you, onto your people, onto all your servants will the frogs ascend!
Exodus/Shemoth 8
Frogs 1 YHVH said to Moshe:
Say to Aharon:
Stretch out your hand with your staff, over the tributaries, over the Nile-canals, and over the ponds, make the frogs ascend upon the land of Egypt!
2 Aharon stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt,
the frog-horde ascended
and covered the land of Egypt.
3 Now the magicians did thus with their occult-arts-
they made frogs ascend upon the land of Egypt.
4 Pharaoh had Moshe and Aharon called
and said:
Plead with YHVH, that he may remove the frogs from me and from my people,
and I will send the people free, that they may slaughter (offerings) to YHVH!
5 Moshe said to Pharaoh:
Be praised over me:
For when shall I plead for you, for your servants, for your people,
to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses,
(so that) only in the Nile will they remain?
6 He said:
For the morrow.
He said:
According to your words, (then)!
In order that you may know
that there is none like YHVH our God.
7 The frogs shall remove from you, from your houses, from your servants, from your people,
-only in the Nile shall they remain.
8 Moshe and Aharon went out from Pharaoh,
Moshe cried out to YHVH
on account of the frogs that he had imposed upon Pharaoh.
9 And YHVH did according to Moshe’s words:
the frogs died away, from the houses, from the courtyards, and from the fields.
10 They piled them up, heaps upon heaps, and the land reeked.
11 But when Pharaoh saw that there was breathing-room,
he made his heart heavy-with-stubbornness, and did not hearken to them,
as YHVH had spoken.
Lice 12 YHVH said to Moshe:
Say to Aharon:
Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land,
it will become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt!
13 They did thus,
Aharon stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the ground,
and gnats were on man and on beast;
all the dust of the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.
14 Now the magicians did thus with their occult-arts, to bring forth the gnats, but they could not, the gnats were on man and on beast.
15 The magicians said to Pharaoh:
This is the finger of a god!
But Pharaoh’s heart remained strong-willed, and he did not hearken to them,
as YHVH had spoken.
16 YHVH said to Moshe:
Start-early in the morning, station yourself before Pharaoh-here, he goes out to the water,
and say to him:
Thus says YHVH:
Send free my people, that they may serve me!
Wild Beasts 17 Indeed, if you do not send my people free,
here, I will send upon you, upon your servants, upon your people, upon your houses-
insects,
the houses of Egypt will be full of the insects,
as well as the ground upon which they are!
18 But I will make distinct, on that day, the region of Goshen, where my people is situated,
so that there will be no insects there,
in order that you may know that I am YHVH in the land;
19 I will put a ransom between my people and your people-
on the morrow will this sign occur.
20 YHVH did thus,
heavy insect (swarms) came into Pharaoh’s house, into the houses of his servants, throughout all the land of Egypt,
the land was in ruins in the face of the insects.
21 Pharaoh had Moshe and Aharon called
and said:
Go, slaughter (offerings) to your god in the land!
22 Moshe said:
It would not be wise to do thuswise:
for Egypt’s abomination is what we slaughter for our God;
if we were to slaughter Egypt’s abomination before their eyes,
would they not stone us?
23 Let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness,
and we shall slaughter (offerings) to YHVH our God, as he has said to us.
24 Pharaoh said:
I will send you free,
that you may slaughter (offerings) to YHVH your God in the wilderness,
only: you are not to go far, too far!
Plead for me!
25 Moshe said:
Here, when I go out from you, I will plead with YHVH,
and the insects will remove from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, on the morrow, only: let not Pharaoh continue to trifle (with us),
by not sending the people free to slaughter (offerings) to YHVH!
26 Moshe went out from before Pharaoh and pleaded with YHVH.
27 And YHVH did according to Moshe’s words,
he removed the insects from Pharaoh, from his servants and from his people,
not one remained.
28 But Pharaoh made his heart heavy-with-stubbornness this time as well,
and he did not send the people free.
Exodus/Shemoth 9
1 YHVH said to Moshe:
Come to Pharaoh and speak to him:
Thus says YHVH, the God of the Hebrews:
Send free my people, that they may serve me!
2 If you refuse to send (them) free, and continue to hold-on-strongly to them,
3 here, YHVH’S hand will be on your livestock in the field,
on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, (and) on the sheep-
an exceedingly heavy pestilence!
4 And YHVH will make-a-distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt: there will not die among all that belong to the Children of Israel a thing!
5 YHVH set an appointed-time, saying:
On the morrow, YHVH will do this thing in the land.
6 YHVH did that thing on the morrow-
all the livestock of Egypt died,
but of the livestock of the Children of Israel, there died not one.
7 Pharaoh sent to inquire, and here: there had not died of the livestock of the Children of Israel even one.
But Pharaoh’s heart remained heavy-with-stubbornness, and he did not send the people free.
8 YHVH said to Moshe and to Aharon:
Take yourselves fistfuls of soot from a furnace
and let Moshe toss it heavenward before Pharaoh’s eyes,
9 it will become fine-dust on all the land of Egypt,
and on man and on beast, it will become boils sprouting into blisters,
throughout all the land of Egypt!
10 They took the soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moshe tossed it heavenward, and it became boil-blisters, sprouting on man and on beast.
11 Now the magicians could not stand before Moshe because of the boils,
for the boils were upon the magicians and upon all Egypt.
12 But YHVH made Pharaoh’s heart strong-willed, and he did not hearken to them,
as YHVH had said to Moshe.
13 YHVH said to Moshe:
Start-early in the morning, station yourself before Pharaoh and say to him:
Thus says YHVH, the God of the Hebrews:
Send free my people, that they may serve me!
14 Indeed, this time I will send all my blows upon your heart, and against your servants, and against your people,
so that you may know that there is none like me throughout all the land;
15 indeed, by now I could have sent out my hand and struck you and your people with the pestilence,
and you would have vanished from the land;
16 however, just on account of this I have allowed you to withstand,
to make you see my power.
and in order that they might recount my name throughout all the land.
17 (But) still you set yourself up over my people, by not sending them free-
18 here, around this time tomorrow I will cause to rain down an exceedingly heavy hail,
the like of which has never been in Egypt from the days of its founding until now!
19 So now:
send (word): give refuge to your livestock and to all that is yours in the field;
all men and beasts who are found in the field and who have not been gathered into the house-
the hail will come down upon them, and they will die!
20 Whoever had awe for the word of YHVH among Pharaoh’s servants had his servants and his livestock flee into the houses,
21 but whoever did not pay any mind to the word of YHVH left his servants and his livestock out in the field.
22 YHVH said to Moshe:
Stretch out your hand over the heavens:
Let there be hail throughout all the land of Egypt,
on man and on beast and on all the plants of the field, throughout the land of Egypt!
23 Moshe stretched out his staff over the heavens,
and YHVH gave forth thunder-sounds and hail, and fire went toward the earth,
and YHVH caused hail to rain down upon the land of Egypt.
24 There was hail and a fire taking-hold-of-itself amidst the hail, exceedingly heavy,
the like of which had never been throughout all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.
25 The hail struck, throughout all the land of Egypt, all that was in the field, from man to beast;
all the plants of the field the hail struck, and all the trees of the field it broke down;
26 only in the region of Goshen, where the Children of Israel were, was there no hail.
27 Pharaoh sent and had Moshe and Aharon called
and said to them:
This-time I have sinned!
YHVH is the one-in-the-right, I and my people are the ones-in-the-wrong!
28 Plead with YHVH!
For enough is the God-thunder and this hail!
Let me send you free-do not continue staying here!
29 Moshe said to him:
As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to YHVH,
the thunder will stop and the hail will be no more-
in order that you may know that the land belongs to YHVH.
30 But as for you and your servants,
I know well that you do not yet stand-in-fear
before the face of YHVH, God!
31 -Now the flax and the barley were stricken, for the barley was in
ears and the flax was in buds,
32 but the wheat and the spelt were not stricken, for late (-ripening) are they.-
33 Moshe went from Pharaoh, outside the city, and spread out his hands to YHVH:
the thunder and the hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down to earth.
34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had stopped,
he continued to sin: he made his heart heavy-with-stubbornness, his and his servants’.
35 Pharaoh’s heart remained strong-willed, and he did not send the Children of Israel free,
as YHVH had spoken through Moshe.
Exodus/Shemoth 10
1 YHVH said to Moshe: Come to Pharaoh! For I have made his heart and the heart of his servants heavy-with-stubbornness, in order that I may put these my signs among them 2 and in order that you may recount in the ears of your child and of your child’s child how I have been capricious with Egypt, and my signs, which I have placed upon them- that you may know that I am YHVH. 3 Moshe and Aharon came to Pharaoh, they said to him: Thus says YHVH, the God of the Hebrews: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Send free my people, that they may serve me! Locusts 4 But if you refuse to send my people free, here, on the morrow I will bring the locust-horde into your territory! 5 They will cover the aspect of the ground, so that one will not be able to see the ground, they will consume what is left of what escaped, of what remains for you from the hail, they will consume all the trees that spring up for you from the field, 6 they will fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all Egypt, as neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen from the day of their being upon the soil until this day. He turned and went out from Pharaoh. 7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him: How long shall this one be a snare to us? Send the men free, that they may serve YHVH their God! Do you not yet know that Egypt is lost? 8 Moshe and Aharon were returned to Pharaoh, and he said to them: Go, serve YHVH your God! -Who is it, who is it that would go? 9 Moshe said: With our young ones, with our elders we will go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our sheep and with our oxen we will go- for it is YHVH’S pilgrimage-festival for us. 10 He said to them: May YHVH be thus with you, the same as I mean to send you free along with your little-ones! You see-yes, your faces are set toward ill! 11 Not thus-go now, O males, and serve YHVH, for that is what you (really) seek! And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s face. 12 YHVH said to Moshe: Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locust-horde, and it will ascend over the land of Egypt, consuming all the plants of the land, all that the hail allowed to remain. 13 Moshe stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and YHVH led in an east wind against the land all that day and all night; when it was morning, the east wind had borne in the locust-horde. 14 The locust-horde ascended over all the land of Egypt, it came to rest upon all the territory of Egypt, exceedingly heavy; before it there was no such locust-horde as it, and after it will be no such again. 15 It covered the aspect of all the ground, and the ground became dark, it consumed all the plants of the land, and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left; nothing at all green was left of the trees and of the plants of the field, throughout all the land of Egypt. 16 Quickly Pharaoh had Moshe and Aharon called and said: I have sinned against YHVH your God, and against you! 17 So now, pray bear my sin just this one time! And plead with YHVH your God, that he may only remove this death from me! 18 He went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with YHVH. 19 YHVH reversed an exceedingly strong sea wind which bore the locusts away and dashed them into the Sea of Reeds, not one locust remained throughout all the territory of Egypt. 20 But YHVH made Pharaoh’s heart strong-willed, and he did not send the Children of Israel free. Darkness 21 YHVH said to Moshe: Stretch out your hand over the heavens, and let there be darkness over the land of Egypt; they will feel darkness! 22 Moshe stretched out his hand over the heavens, and there was gloomy darkness throughout all the land of Egypt, for three days, 23 a man could not see his brother, and a man could not arise from his spot, for three days. But for all the Children of Israel, there was light in their settlements. 24 Pharaoh had Moshe called and said: Go, serve YHVH, only your sheep and your oxen shall be kept back, even your little-ones may go with you! 25 Moshe said: You must also give slaughter-offerings and offerings-up into our hand, so that we may sacrifice them for YHVH our God! 26 Even our livestock must go with us, not a hoof may remain behind: for some of them we must take to serve YHVH our God; we-we do not know how we are to serve YHVH until we come there. 27 But YHVH made Pharaoh’s heart strong-willed, so that he would not consent to send them free. 28 Pharaoh said to him: Go from me! Be on your watch: You are not to see my face again, for on the day that you see my face, you shall die! 29 Moshe said: You have spoken well, I will not henceforth see your face again.
Postscript:
For further reading, there is an aish.com series of articles on Exodus; the specific one that covers this topic published on Jan. 11, 2013:
Chumash Themes #10: The Ten Plaguesby Rabbi Zave Rudman
Unique lessons for Egyptians and Jews.