Text: Psalm 135:8
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 12:12
Subject: smiting firstborn in poetic retrospective
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Anchor Text: Exod 12 — The Passover
Significance: Psalm 135:8 compresses the detailed Exodus 12:12 account of the tenth plague into a single liturgical line: "He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, of both man and beast" (הִכָּה בְּכוֹרֵי מִצְרָיִם, hikkah bekhorey mitsrayim). Where Exodus 12 narrates the event as divine action in real time—"I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn"—the psalm transforms it into a hymnic recital of God's mighty acts for corporate worship. This poetic retrospective places the plague of the firstborn within a sequence of creation and conquest, framing it as evidence of the LORD's sovereignty over all gods and nations.