Exodus 10:10 - On the “dependents” label

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation.)

Carol Meyers points out that טַף is often used in an abstract sense, meaning “dependent,” and that its rendering can have gender implications: “Women are usually part of that collective term … and thus are often invisible in translations that render the term [as] ‘children’” (Women in Scripture, 2000, p. 223, citing the article on טַף in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament; emphasis added). She could also have cited the standard lexica BDB (addenda, p. 1124) or HALOT (p. 378).

Examples of the usage of טַף that includes women in its scope: Gen 43:8; 47:24; 50:21; Exod 12:37; Num 32:24; 2 Sam 15:22.

The abstract sense indeed fits this verse’s context: Moses has not otherwise mentioned adult women—yet they are in view, given that their social role included the tending of what he does mention: the “sons and daughters” and the “flocks and herds.”

(Alternatively, one could posit that women are included only implicitly: טַף has a specific denotation as “little ones,” and then it simply goes without saying that women are present. However, I follow the lexicographers and lexicologists in their judgment. On the denotation of טַף, see further my comment at Num 31:9.)

As for rendering into English, the NJPS “children” is misleading; it obscures the fact that women are likewise in view. The revised rendering employs a broader term that includes women in its scope.