Bénédicte Lemmelijn, «The Phrase Mynb)bw Myc(bw in Exod 7,19», Vol. 80 (1999) 264-268

Offering the enumeration of all the places in which the water turns into blood, Exod 7,19 concludes with the formula Mynb)bw Myc(bw. It’s meaning is dubious and difficult to understand. However, a meticulous comparison of the usage of this formula in Exod 7,19 with its functioning in other parts of the Old Testament demonstrates that Mynb)bw Myc(bw in Exod 7,19 refers to the Egyptian gods or idols.

In the so-called ‘Plague Narrative’ (Exod 7–11) and already in the very first plague (Exod 7,14-25) which relates the story of water turning into blood, the reader is confronted with a strange expression. Its meaning is dubious and difficult to understand. Offering the enumeration of all the places in which the water changes its colour, Exod 7,19 concludes with the formula Mynb)bw Myc(bw. These words can be literally translated as, ‘in the wood and in the stones’, which in the Septuagint text has e!n te toi=j cu/loij kai_ e)n toi=j li/qoij as its translation equivalent.

        Ever since historical-critical exegesis has tried to explain this expression, several solutions have come to the fore¹. The classical solution that scholars have often proposed is to translate it by, ‘vessels of wood and vessels of stone’, in other words, as a reference to the recipients in which water was kept². The discussion on the material as well as the nature and the use of these vessels is sometimes very historicizing³. An alternative explanation translates the expression Mynb)bw Myc(bw as, ‘in the trees and in the stones’, or understands it in a more derived way as, ‘the