And the LORD turned a very strong west wind is quite literal and not very clear in English. New Revised Standard Version is an improvement: “The LORD changed the wind into a very strong west wind” (see also Good News Translation). In other words, the “east wind” of verse 13 was suddenly reversed. West wind is literally “wind of the sea,” which must be understood from the viewpoint of the Israelites who later settled in Canaan. For them the west wind blew in from the Mediterranean Sea. In some other languages west wind will be translated as, for example, “wind from the direction where the sun sets.”

Which lifted the locusts uses the same word translated as “brought” in verse 13. Drove them is a word that suggests a sudden thrust, so New American Bible has “hurled them,” and Revised English Bible has “swept them.” Good News Translation‘s “picked up the locusts and blew them” is another good model. The Red Sea is literally “Sea of Reeds,” as the Good News Translation note for 13.18 explains. The Hebrew Scriptures regularly use the term “The Sea of Reeds” for all occurrences of the term, while the Septuagint and the src Greek New Testamentsrc* regularly use the name “The Red Sea.” Good News Translation here translates “the Gulf of Suez,” which is the modern term for the western extension of the Red Sea separating Egypt from the Sinai peninsula. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is correct in its footnote here, which reads: traditionally, but incorrectly, “Red Sea.” Translations with Red Sea are influenced by the early Christian tradition and by the New Testament. The translator, however, should follow the Hebrew (“Sea of Reeds”), or Good News Translation (“Gulf of Suez”), unless there is a strong tradition in the receptor culture for Red Sea. If Red Sea is used, then a footnote similar to that in Good News Translation at 13.18 should be added.

Not a single locust was left, or remained, in all the country of Egypt. Country, the same word used in verse 14, means “boundary,” or “territory.” By repeating the same words used earlier, the narrator gives emphasis to the complete control of Yahweh over the entire plague.

An alternative translation model for verses 18 and 19 is:

• When Moses left the king and pleaded with the LORD to take the locusts away, the LORD caused the wind that was coming from the east to blow strongly from the west. It swept the locusts into the Sea of Reeds; not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt.

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 .