Exodus 10:7

Summary

Pharaoh's servants ask him how long the Israelite leader (referred to as "this man") will continue to be a problem for Egypt, urging him to let the people go to serve Yehovah, and pointing out that Egypt is already facing ruin.

Key words

• mo.Kesh ("a snare", H4170) — masculine singular noun, image of entrapment; the officials describe the ongoing crisis as a trap for Egypt.
• sha.Lach ("let go", H7971H) — piel imperative, an intensive command form addressed directly to Pharaoh, urging immediate action.
• ya.'av.Du ("they may serve", H5647H) — qal imperfect with prefixed vav, expressing purpose or result following the imperative: "let them go, so that they may serve."
• Te.rem ("not yet", H2962) — combined with the interrogative ha (H9008), forms the question "do you not yet...?", implying the action described is overdue.
• 'a.ve.Dah ("it will perish"/"it has perished", H0006) — qal perfect, a completed-action form applied to Egypt's condition, though the servants speak of an ongoing or impending state.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav on yo.me.Ru ("and they said"), a standard qal narrative form introducing direct speech from 'av.Dei Far.'Oh ("the servants of Pharaoh"), a construct chain identifying whose servants are speaking. The question "'ad-ma.Tai yih.Yeh zeh la.nu le.mo.Kesh" uses the qal imperfect yih.Yeh ("will he become") to frame an open-ended, ongoing situation, with zeh ("this") referring back to Moses without naming him, and le.mo.Kesh ("into a snare") using the preposition le to indicate the resulting state.

The imperative sha.Lach ("let go") is followed by the object marker 'et and ha.'a.na.Shim ("the men"), then the purpose clause ve.ya.'av.Du ("so that they may serve") — a qal imperfect with conjunctive vav indicating the intended outcome of releasing the people. The final question begins with the interrogative ha attached to Te.rem ("not yet"), producing "do you not yet know," followed by ki ("that") introducing the clause with 'a.ve.Dah Mitz.Ra.yim. Here 'a.ve.Dah is grammatically a completed (perfect) action — "it has perished" — applied to Egypt's state, even though the surrounding context concerns an unfolding crisis.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew ve.ya.'av.Du 'et-Yehovah 'e.lo.hei.hem ("so that they may serve Yehovah their God") is rendered in the LXX as λατρεύσωσιν τῷ θεῷ αὐτῶν ("that they may serve their god"), omitting the divine name found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate instead uses sacrificent Domino Deo suo ("that they may sacrifice to the Lord their God"), introducing the verb "sacrifice" where the Hebrew has "serve" (ya.'av.Du, H5647H). For the closing question, the Hebrew ha.Te.rem te.Da' ("do you not yet know") appears in the LXX as ἢ εἰδέναι βούλει ("or do you wish to know"), and in the Vulgate as nonne vides ("do you not see"), both diverging from the Hebrew's specific "not yet know" construction built on Te.rem (H2962).