Exodus 8:29
וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי יוֹצֵא מֵֽעִמָּךְ וְהַעְתַּרְתִּי אֶל־יְהוָה וְסָר הֶעָרֹב מִפַּרְעֹה מֵעֲבָדָיו וּמֵעַמּוֹ מָחָר רַק אַל־יֹסֵף פַּרְעֹה הָתֵל לְבִלְתִּי שַׁלַּח אֶת־הָעָם לִזְבֹּחַ לַֽיהוָֽה׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֗ה הִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֜י יוֹצֵ֤א מֵֽעִמָּךְ֙ וְהַעְתַּרְתִּ֣י אֶל־יְהוָ֔ה וְסָ֣ר הֶעָרֹ֗ב מִפַּרְעֹ֛ה מֵעֲבָדָ֥יו וּמֵעַמּ֖וֹ מָחָ֑ר רַ֗ק אַל־יֹסֵ֤ף פַּרְעֹה֙ הָתֵ֔ל לְבִלְתִּי֙ שַׁלַּ֣ח אֶת־הָעָ֔ם לִזְבֹּ֖חַ לַֽיהוָֽה׃
εἶπεν δὲ Μωυσῆς ὅδε ἐγὼ ἐξελεύσομαι ἀπὸ σοῦ καὶ εὔξομαι πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ ἀπελεύσεται ἀπὸ σοῦ ἡ κυνόμυια καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν θεραπόντων σου καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ σου αὔριον· μὴ προσθῇς ἔτι, Φαραώ, ἐξαπατῆσαι τοῦ μὴ ἐξαποστείλαι τὸν λαὸν θῦσαι κυρίῳ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
At ait Moyses: Egressus a te, orabo Dominum: et recedet musca a Pharaone, et a servis suis, et a populo ejus cras: verumtamen noli ultra fallere, ut non dimittas populum sacrificare Domino.
Moisés le dijo: “En cuanto salga de aquí, voy a orar a Yehová para que mañana mismo las moscas se alejen del faraón, de sus funcionarios y de su pueblo. Pero no vuelvas a engañarnos negándote a dejar ir al pueblo a ofrecerle sacrificios a Yehová.”
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y respondió Moisés: He aquí, en saliendo yo de contigo, rogaré á Jehová que las diversas suertes de moscas se vayan de Faraón, y de sus siervos, y de su pueblo mañana; con tal que Faraón no falte más, no dejando ir al pueblo á sacrificar á Jehová.
“As soon as I leave you,” Moses said, “I will pray to the LORD, so that tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh and his officials and his people. But Pharaoh must not act deceitfully again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to the LORD.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Moses tells Pharaoh that as soon as he leaves his presence, he will pray to Yehovah, and the swarm (of insects) will depart from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people the next day. He adds a condition: Pharaoh must not continue to act deceitfully by refusing to release the people to sacrifice to Yehovah.
Key words
- yotze ("about to go out", H3318) — qal participle, expressing an action about to happen ("I am [about to be] going out"), giving immediacy to Moses' departure rather than a simple future.
- ha'tarti ("I will pray", H6279) — hiphil perfect with sequential force ("and I will..."), a causative stem suggesting an intensified act of entreaty/intercession directed 'el-YHWH ("to Yehovah", H0413/H3068).
- sar ("he will turn aside", H5493) — qal perfect in sequential chain, describing the swarm's removal as a consequence following Moses' prayer, not a separate independent action.
- yosef ("he repeat", H3254) — hiphil jussive ("let him not..."), third-person volitive form: the text frames the prohibition as a wish/command about Pharaoh's future conduct, not a direct second-person address.
- hatel ("to deceive", H2048) — hiphil infinitive paired with yosef, forming the idiom "let him not add to deceive," i.e., "let him not continue deceiving."
What the text says
The verse is built as a chain of sequential perfects following an initial participle: Moses first states his imminent departure using the participle yotze ("I am about to go out"), then attaches a series of verbs joined by the narrative vav — "and I will pray" (ha'tarti), "and it will turn aside" (sar) — describing his prayer and its expected effect as one continuous, cause-and-result sequence rather than isolated events.
The prohibition uses the idiom 'al-yosef... hatel ("let him not add to deceive"), a construction combining a jussive verb with an infinitive to express "let him not continue/repeat" a certain action. Grammatically, this is phrased in the third person about Pharaoh ("let Pharaoh not..."), not as a direct address to him in the second person.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew reads 'el-YHWH ("to Yehovah"), while the LXX renders this as πρὸς τὸν θεόν ("to God"), not using κύριος at this point, whereas the Vulgate keeps "Dominum" corresponding to the divine name. The LXX also shifts the prohibition into direct second-person address to Pharaoh ("μὴ προσθῇς... Φαραώ," "may you not continue... Pharaoh"), where the Hebrew yosef is a third-person jussive ("let Pharaoh not continue"). Additionally, the Hebrew 'arov ("swarm", H6157) is rendered in the LXX as κυνόμυια ("dog-fly") and in the Vulgate as "musca" ("fly," singular), showing differing specifications for the unnamed insect of the Hebrew text.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.