הכתב והקבלה — כחצת הלילה אני יוצא בתוך מצרים

Q — 'אני יוצא בתוך מצרים' is theologically awkward (Hashem doesn't physically leave anywhere). Onkelos translates 'מתגלי' to avoid hagshamah; Ibn Ezra reads 'אני' as 'My decree.' HaKtav offers a third path.

A — HaKtav VeHaKabbalah re-parses both words. 'אני' is *not* the first-person pronoun but a noun from the root אנה — mourning, wailing — as in 'תַּאֲנִיָּה וַאֲנִיָּה' (Yeshayahu 29:2, Eichah 2:5). And 'יוצא' is not 'go out' but 'come into being, be generated,' as in 'מה' יצא הדבר' (Bereshit 24:50). The verse therefore reads: 'At midnight, *wailing shall arise* in Mitzrayim' — a perfect introduction to the description that follows ('והיתה צעקה גדלה'). The theological awkwardness vanishes because there is no first-person verb of motion at all. The whole line is a forecast of grief, not a description of God's location.