Exodus 7:9

Summary

The verse gives instructions for a future scenario: if Pharaoh asks Moses and Aaron for a mofet ("wonder", H4159), Moses is to tell Aaron to take his staff and throw it before Pharaoh, so that it will become a tannin ("serpent", H8577M).

Key words

• yedabber ("he will speak", H1696G) — piel imperfect, introduced by ki ("if/that", H3588A) as a conditional clause: "if Pharaoh should speak to you."
• mofet ("a wonder", H4159) — singular noun, the general term for the sign requested, without specifying its nature.
• qach ("take", H3947G) and hashlekh ("throw", H7993) — two qal/hiphil imperatives in sequence, giving Aaron the concrete actions to perform.
• yehi ("let it become", H1961) — qal jussive, expressing result/purpose rather than simple future: "may it become," marking the outcome as consequence of the action rather than an automatic narration.
• tannin ("a serpent", H8577M) — the noun designating what the staff becomes, introduced by the preposition le ("into", H9005) marking transformation.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a conditional-consecutive chain. It opens with ki yedabber ("if he will speak", H3588A + H1696G), setting up a hypothetical situation attributed to Pharaoh. The apodosis begins with ve'amarta ("and you will say", H0559), a sequential perfect that continues the logical sequence begun by the conditional — grammatically presenting Moses' response as the necessary consequence of Pharaoh's request. Within Moses' reported speech to Aaron, two bare imperatives follow one another without connecting particles beyond the simple conjunction ve ("and", H9002): qach ("take", H3947G) and hashlekh ("throw", H7993, hiphil, causative stem — "cause [it] to be thrown/cast"). The hiphil form of hashlekh underlines that Aaron is made to cause the staff's throwing, rather than merely performing a generic action.

The final clause, yehi letannin ("let it become a serpent", H1961 + H8577M), uses a jussive rather than a simple future indicative. This grammatical choice presents the transformation as a willed or resulting event tied to the preceding imperative chain, rather than as an independent narrated fact. The preposition le ("into", H9005) attached to tannin marks the endpoint of a change of state — the staff moving into the category "serpent."

Differences between versions

The LXX inserts additional content not present in the Hebrew: Pharaoh's request is rendered as Δότε ἡμῖν σημεῖον ἢ τέρας ("Give us a sign or a wonder"), doubling the single Hebrew mofet into two Greek nouns. The LXX also specifies that Aaron is addressed as τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου ("your brother"), a relational detail absent in the Hebrew verse. Additionally, the LXX has the staff thrown ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ("upon the ground") and adds ἐναντίον τῶν θεραπόντων αὐτοῦ ("before his servants"), expanding the audience beyond "before Pharaoh" (lifnei-Pharʿoh, H6440G) found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate's Ostendite signa ("Show signs") also pluralizes what is singular in the Hebrew mofet. The Hebrew tannin ("serpent", H8577M) is rendered in the LXX as δράκων ("dragon/serpent"), a broader term, while the Vulgate uses colubrum ("snake").