Exodus 8:12

Summary

The verse narrates two consecutive actions: Moses and Aaron leave Pharaoh's presence, and then Moses cries out to Yehovah concerning the frogs that had been set upon Pharaoh. The verse forms a narrative bridge between the plague's imposition and its removal.

Key words

• va-yetze ("and he went out", H3318G) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive) marking the first event in the sequence.
• va-yitz'ak ("and he cried out", H6817) — qal narrative form, marking the second sequential event; the same verb pattern used elsewhere for urgent appeal.
• devar ("matter of", H1697M) — masculine singular construct noun, linking to ha-tzfarde'im to form the phrase "the matter of the frogs."
• asher ("which/that", H0834A) — relative particle opening a subordinate clause describing the frogs.
• sam ("he had appointed/set", H7760A) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular; the perfect aspect indicates an action already completed prior to the main narrative sequence.

What the text says

The verse is built on two narrative verbs joined by the vav-consecutive construction: va-yetze ("and he went out") and va-yitz'ak ("and he cried out"). This grammatical chain presents the actions as sequential and tightly connected — the exit from Pharaoh's presence is immediately followed by the outcry to Yehovah, with no intervening narrative material.

The phrase devar ha-tzfarde'im ("the matter of the frogs") uses a construct chain, a common Hebrew method for expressing "of" relationships without a separate preposition. This is followed by a relative clause introduced by asher, which specifies what happened to the frogs: they were sam ("appointed" or "set"), a qal perfect verb indicating completed prior action. The Hebrew text does not explicitly name the subject of sam within this clause — the verb is simply third-person masculine singular, requiring the reader to supply the subject from the broader narrative context.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew relative clause asher-sam le-Far'oh ("which he had appointed for Pharaoh") leaves the subject of sam grammatically implicit. The LXX renders this with ὡς ἐτάξατο Φαραώ ("as he appointed against Pharaoh"), using ὡς ("as") rather than a strict relative pronoun, but likewise leaves the subject unnamed. The Vulgate's quam condixerat Pharaoni ("which he had appointed to Pharaoh") mirrors the same grammatical ambiguity. The BSB translation resolves this ambiguity by inserting "He" explicitly ("the frogs that He had brought against Pharaoh"), making the subject clear where the Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate all leave it implicit. The SBLIBRE version shifts the sense further, rendering the clause as Moses requesting Yehovah "quitara las ranas" ("would remove the frogs"), which reflects the surrounding narrative context rather than a direct rendering of sam ("appointed/set").