And Pharaoh rose up simply means that he “got up” (New International Version). In the night can also mean “during the night” (New International Version), or even “before night was over” (Revised English Bible). Good News Translation suggests that all of them “were awakened,” but not necessarily by the great cry. Such an interpretation is possible only if the conjunction and (waw) in the second clause is understood as “because” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), but this has little basis. No doubt some of them “were awakened” by the cry, but more likely the great cry arose after they rose up and discovered what had happened. Rose up in some languages will be expressed as “awoke,” or even “awoke from sleep.”

He … all his servants … all the Egyptians includes everyone except the Israelites, namely, “the king, his officials, and all the other Egyptians” (Good News Translation). And there was a great cry in Egypt is identical with 11.6, except that the “will be” becomes was. So one may translate “and all the Egyptians started wailing loudly, because….” For clearly has the sense of “because” (New English Bible). The final two clauses, there was not a house and where one was not dead, make a double negative, which may be stated positively, “In every house there was a dead person.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• During that night the king, his officials, and everyone else in Egypt woke up. They all began to wail loudly, because in every house someone had died.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .