And Pharaoh sent is natural in Hebrew but too literal in English, for it does not indicate whom he sent (so also 9.19 and 27). He obviously “sent men to investigate” (New International Version), so New English Bible has “Pharaoh inquired.” The causative form may be more suitable, as in New Jerusalem Bible “Pharaoh had enquiries made.” Good News Translation‘s “The king asked what had happened” may be misunderstood to suggest that he had never been warned, which would mean that Moses had not carried out Yahweh’s instructions in verse 1. Another model is “the king sent people to find out what happened, and when they told him that….”

And behold calls attention to what follows, which in this case was the surprising news that proved that what Moses had said was true. Good News Translation omits behold as archaic in English, but many languages can handle it quite naturally. In some languages an ideophone or vocal expression will be natural here. (Jerusalem Bible has “Pharaoh had inquiries made, but it was true.”) Not one … was dead is said with emphasis, so New Jerusalem Bible has “not a single beast had died.” The cattle of the Israelites refers to all the livestock or “animals of the Israelites.” This probably included donkeys, cows, oxen, sheep, and goats, but not horses or camels. (See the discussion on cattle at verse 3.)

But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened is literally “and the heart of Pharaoh was heavy.” This means, of course, that “he was stubborn.” (But see the comment at 4.21 and 7.13.) And he did not let the people go is literally “and he did not send the people.” The same verb, “send,” is used in the first part of the verse. Here it reflects the demand of Moses in verse 1 to “let my people go.” The people, of course, are the Israelites. One may therefore translate “he did not release the Israelites.” Good News Translation has “would not” in order to show the king’s continuing stubbornness. Contemporary English Version has “he was still too stubborn to let the people go.”

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 .