The standard Exodus text says God promised one final plague against Egypt. The Targum Jonathan transforms this announcement into something far more personal and humiliating for Pharaoh.
In the biblical account (Exodus 11:1), God simply tells Moses that after the last plague, Pharaoh will let Israel go. The Targum adds a striking detail: "when he releases, there shall be to himself an end: driving, he will drive you forth from hence." Pharaoh will not just permit the Israelites to leave. He will desperately chase them out of his own country, reversing the entire power dynamic between enslaver and enslaved.
The Targum also specifies that Moses told Pharaoh, "At this hour of the following night will I be revealed in the midst of the Mizraee." Where the Hebrew Bible has God "going out" through Egypt, the Aramaic translation uses the language of divine revelation. God does not merely act in Egypt. He makes Himself visible there, turning the plague into a theophany.
Even the detail about dogs is sharpened. The Hebrew says no dog would bark against any Israelite. The Targum says "a dog shall not harm by lifting up his tongue against either man or beast." This is not just silence. It is supernatural restraint imposed on nature itself, demonstrating that God's control extends even to animals.
Most significantly, the Targum says God "strengthened the design of Pharaoh's heart" rather than simply hardening it. This Aramaic phrasing implies God reinforced a plan Pharaoh already had, making the theological problem of divine hardening somewhat less troubling. Pharaoh's stubbornness was his own design. God merely gave it strength.
And the Lord spake unto Mosheh, Yet one stroke will I bring upon Pharoh and upon the Mizraee, which shall be greater than all, and afterward will he send you hence: when he releases, there shall be to himself an end: driving, he will drive you forth from hence.
Speak now in the hearing of the people, That every man shall demand from his Mizraite friend, and every woman of her Mizraite friend, vessels of silver and vessels of gold.
And the Lord gave the people favour before the Mizraee; also the man Mosheh was very great in the land of Mizraim before the servants of Pharoh and before his people.
And Mosheh spake (or, had spoken) to Pharoh, Thus saith the Lord, At this hour of the following night will I be revealed in the midst of the Mizraee,
and every firstborn in the land of Mizraim shall die: from the firstborn of Pharoh who should sit upon the throne of his kingdom, unto the firstborn son of the humblest mother in Mizraim who grindeth behind the mills, and all the firstborn of cattle.
And there will be a great cry in all the land of Mizraim, because like the plague of this night there hath not been, and like the plague of this night there never will be one.
But any of the children of Israel a dog shall not harm by lifting up his tongue against either man or beast ; that they may know that the Lord maketh distinction between the Mizraites and the sons of Israel.
And thou shalt send down all thy servants to me, coming and beseeching me, saying, Go forth, thou and all the people who are with thee; and afterwards I will go. And he went out from Pharoh in great anger.
But the Lord said to Mosheh, Pharoh will not hearken to you ; that I may multiply My wonders in the land of Mizraim.
And Mosheh and Aharon did all these wonders before Pharoh; and the Lord strengthened the design of Pharoh's heart, and he would not release the sons of Israel from his land.
