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Moses then said, “Thus says the Lord: About midnight I will go forth through Egypt.(A) (B)Every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave-girl who is at the handmill,[a] as well as all the firstborn of the animals. Then there will be loud wailing throughout the land of Egypt, such as has never been, nor will ever be again.

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Footnotes

  1. 11:5 Handmill: two pieces of stone were used to grind grain. A smaller upper stone was moved back and forth over a larger stationary stone. This menial work was done by slaves and captives.

So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight(A) I will go throughout Egypt.(B) Every firstborn(C) son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill,(D) and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing(E) throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.

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while the Egyptians buried those whom the Lord had struck down, every firstborn; on their gods, too, the Lord executed judgments.(A)

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who were burying all their firstborn,(A) whom the Lord had struck down among them; for the Lord had brought judgment(B) on their gods.(C)

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51 He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,(A)
    the first fruits of their vigor in the tents of Ham.

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51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,(A)
    the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.(B)

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36 He struck down every firstborn in the land,
    the first fruits of all their vigor.

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36 Then he struck down all the firstborn(A) in their land,
    the firstfruits of all their manhood.

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III

10 Who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,(A)
    for his mercy endures forever;

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10 to him who struck down the firstborn(A) of Egypt
His love endures forever.

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10 But the discordant cry of their enemies echoed back,
    and the piteous wail of mourning for children was borne to them.(A)
11 And the slave was smitten with the same retribution as the master;
    even the commoner suffered the same as the king.(B)
12 And all alike by one common form of death
    had countless dead;
For the living were not even sufficient for the burial,
    since at a single instant their most valued offspring had been destroyed.(C)
13 For though they disbelieved at every turn on account of sorceries,
    at the destruction of the firstborn they acknowledged that this people[a] was God’s son.(D)
14 [b]For when peaceful stillness encompassed everything
    and the night in its swift course was half spent,
15 Your all-powerful word from heaven’s royal throne
    leapt into the doomed land,(E)
16     a fierce warrior bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree,
And alighted, and filled every place with death,
    and touched heaven, while standing upon the earth.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 18:13 People: the Israelites (cf. Ex 4:22).
  2. 18:14–16 These verses attribute to the personified “word” the actions of the Lord mentioned in Ex 12:13–17 (note the role of the “destroyer” in Ex 12:23 and compare Wis 18:22, 25).
'Wisdom 18:10-16' not found for the version: New International Version.