Exodus 10:5-7
New English Translation
5 They will cover[a] the surface[b] of the earth, so that you[c] will be unable to see the ground. They will eat the remainder of what escaped[d]—what is left over[e] for you—from the hail, and they will eat every tree that grows for you from the field. 6 They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as[f] neither[g] your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been[h] in the land until this day!’” Then Moses[i] turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long[j] will this man be a menace[k] to us? Release the people so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not know[l] that Egypt is destroyed?”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 10:5 tn The verbs describing the locusts are singular because it is a swarm or plague of locusts. This verb (וְכִסָּה, vekhissah, “cover”) is a Piel perfect with a vav consecutive; it carries the same future nuance as the participle before it.
- Exodus 10:5 tn Heb “eye,” an unusual expression (see v. 15; Num 22:5, 11).
- Exodus 10:5 tn The text has וְלֹא יוּכַל לִרְאֹת (veloʾ yukhal lirʾot, “and he will not be able to see”). The verb has no expressed subjects. The clause might, therefore, be given a passive translation: “so that [it] cannot be seen.” The whole clause is the result of the previous statement.
- Exodus 10:5 sn As the next phrase explains “what escaped” refers to what the previous plague did not destroy. The locusts will devour everything, because there will not be much left from the other plagues for them to eat.
- Exodus 10:5 tn הַנִּשְׁאֶרֶת (hannishʾeret) parallels (by apposition) and adds further emphasis to the preceding two words; it is the Niphal participle, meaning “that which is left over.”
- Exodus 10:6 tn The relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher) is occasionally used as a comparative conjunction (see GKC 499 §161.b).
- Exodus 10:6 tn Heb “which your fathers have not seen, nor your fathers’ fathers.”
- Exodus 10:6 tn The Hebrew construction מִיּוֹם הֱיוֹתָם (miyyom heyotam, “from the day of their being”). The statement essentially says that no one, even the elderly, could remember seeing a plague of locusts like this. In addition, see B. Childs, “A Study of the Formula, ‘Until This Day,’” JBL 82 (1963).
- Exodus 10:6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Exodus 10:7 sn The question of Pharaoh’s servants echoes the question of Moses—“How long?” Now the servants of Pharaoh are demanding what Moses demanded—“Release the people.” They know that the land is destroyed, and they speak of it as Moses’ doing. That way they avoid acknowledging Yahweh or blaming Pharaoh.
- Exodus 10:7 tn Heb “snare” (מוֹקֵשׁ, moqesh), a word used for a trap for catching birds. Here it is a figure for the cause of Egypt’s destruction.
- Exodus 10:7 tn With the adverb טֶרֶם (terem), the imperfect tense receives a present sense: “Do you not know?” (See GKC 481 §152.r).
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