Exodus 8 General Notes

Structure and Formatting

- v. 1–15: Second plague: frogs- v. 16–19: Third plague (first that magicians cannot imitate): gnats- v. 20–32: Fourth plague: flies

Translation Issues in This Chapter

- the exact insects in plagues 3–4 are not certain; translation teams will need to decide what insects they can use for each- Pharaoh makes his own heart heavy, that is, he determines to be proud and resist Yahweh twice in this chapter- the Israelites’ sacrifices are spoken of as an abomination to the Egyptians, but it is not specified how or why that is

Lifting up the hand and staff:

In the next few chapters, God will instruct Moses or Aaron or both to raise his hand or staff or both hand and staff. The narrative will then record who will raise his hand or staff or both. The instruction and the action do not always match exactly. God may say raise your hand, and the narrative may say that Moses raised his staff. These are not conflicting reports. Translators should understand that the hand and the staff are always understood together. They are one unit, and they can both be mentioned, or they can be mentioned separately. In each case, Moses or Aaron raises his hand with the staff in it. This fact is merely expressed differently.