Exodus 10:10

Summary

Pharaoh responds to Moses and Aaron with a statement introduced by the jussive yehi ("may he be", H1961), invoking Yehovah's presence conditioned on a comparison clause introduced by ka'asher ("as", H0834D). He then commands them with the imperative re'u ("see", H7200I) that ra'ah ("evil", H7451I) is before their faces.

Key words

• yehi ("may he be", H1961) — qal jussive, expressing a wish or permission: "let it be."
• ka'asher ("as", H0834D) — a relative/comparative particle linking the wish for Yehovah's presence to the following clause about sending the people out; its comparative function is grammatically flexible and does not itself indicate sincerity or irony.
• 'ashalach ("I will send/let go", H7971H) — piel imperfect, first person, describing an intensified or repeated action of sending, here in future/modal aspect.
• re'u ("see", H7200I) — qal imperative, plural, a direct command to perceive or recognize something.
• ra'ah ("evil", H7451I) — feminine singular noun, the object to be "seen," standing "before your faces" (neged pene khem).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two parts. The first is Pharaoh's statement built on the jussive yehi ("may he be") plus ken ("thus", H3651C), producing "may it be thus, Yehovah with you" — a formula whose tone (blessing, concession, or challenge) is not fixed by the grammar alone. This clause is followed by ka'asher ("as") governing the piel imperfect 'ashalach ("I will send"), which grammatically compares the wish for divine presence to the act of sending the people with their taph ("little ones", H2945). The comparative particle ka'asher creates a structural ambiguity: the Hebrew does not mark whether the comparison is sincere or rhetorical/conditional, since Hebrew syntax alone permits both readings.

The second part is a separate imperative clause: re'u ki ra'ah neged peneikhem — "see that evil is before your faces." The particle ki ("that", H3588A) here introduces the content of what is to be perceived, and neged ("before", H5048) with pene ("faces", H6440G) forms a construct phrase locating the "evil" spatially in front of them.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the sending clause with a question about ἀποσκευὴν ("baggage/possessions"), which does not correspond to the Hebrew taph ("little ones", H2945); the Hebrew names children, not possessions. The Vulgate makes the ambiguous ka'asher clause explicit as a rhetorical question ("cui dubium est quod pessime cogitetis?" — "who doubts that you intend evil?"), an interpretive addition not present as an explicit interrogative in the Hebrew syntax. Modern translations (BSB, SBLIBRE) similarly resolve the ambiguity of ka'asher... 'ashalach by supplying conditional or ironic markers ("if I ever let you go") not overtly present in the Hebrew comparative construction itself.