Parshat Bo #1:

The first pasuk in parshat Bo (Shemot 10:1) states:

וַיֹּאמֶר ה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, בֹּא אֶל-פַּרְעֹה: כִּי-אֲנִי הִכְבַּדְתִּי אֶת-לִבּוֹ, וְאֶת-לֵב עֲבָדָיו, לְמַעַן שִׁתִי אֹתֹתַי אֵלֶּה, בְּקִרְבּוֹ.
"And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Go in unto Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these My signs in the midst of them;"

It is strange that Pharoah's servants are mentioned (as they generally are not), and that here not only Pharoah but his servants harden their hearts. Ibn Ezra suggests this is so that they will soften their hearts by the upcoming plague of locusts. This would be in Shemot 10:7:

וַיֹּאמְרוּ עַבְדֵי פַרְעֹה אֵלָיו, עַד-מָתַי יִהְיֶה זֶה לָנוּ לְמוֹקֵשׁ--שַׁלַּח אֶת-הָאֲנָשִׁים, וְיַעַבְדוּ אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם; הֲטֶרֶם תֵּדַע, כִּי אָבְדָה מִצְרָיִם.
"And Pharaoh's servants said unto him: 'How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God, knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?'"

I would say that while it is important to mention hardening of the heart of the servants to provide contrast, the servants still must harden their hearts from something. That is, it must be a reaction to or a recovery from the previous plague that struck Egypt. And so we see in Shemot 9:14 that the plague was on Pharoah and his servants plus the general nation:

כִּי בַּפַּעַם הַזֹּאת, אֲנִי שֹׁלֵחַ אֶת-כָּל-מַגֵּפֹתַי אֶל-לִבְּךָ, וּבַעֲבָדֶיךָ, וּבְעַמֶּךָ--בַּעֲבוּר תֵּדַע, כִּי אֵין כָּמֹנִי בְּכָל-הָאָרֶץ.
"For I will this time send all My plagues upon thy person, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like Me in all the earth."

Note that the translation is "your person" for אֶל-לִבְּךָ where literally it means your heart. Further it is followed by וּבַעֲבָדֶיךָ, such that we could render "in your servants' hearts," which could be a foreshadowing of the current pasuk we are examining, or else explicitly stating that the precious plague was to affect the servants hears, and yet they hardened their hearts.

It was also up to the servants to listen to Moshe's words or not, as in 9:20-21:
הַיָּרֵא אֶת-דְּבַר יְהוָה, מֵעַבְדֵי פַּרְעֹה--הֵנִיס אֶת-עֲבָדָיו וְאֶת-מִקְנֵהוּ, אֶל-הַבָּתִּים.
וַאֲשֶׁר לֹא-שָׂם לִבּוֹ, אֶל-דְּבַר יְהוָה--וַיַּעֲזֹב אֶת-עֲבָדָיו וְאֶת-מִקְנֵהוּ, בַּשָּׂדֶה.
" He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses;
and he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field."

Also curious is the last word of the pasuk. Again, we are considering the pasuk:

וַיֹּאמֶר ה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, בֹּא אֶל-פַּרְעֹה: כִּי-אֲנִי הִכְבַּדְתִּי אֶת-לִבּוֹ, וְאֶת-לֵב עֲבָדָיו, לְמַעַן שִׁתִי אֹתֹתַי אֵלֶּה, בְּקִרְבּוֹ.
"And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Go in unto Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these My signs in the midst of them;"

How can Hashem show His signs in the midst of one person? Further, if Pharaoh and his servants are mentioned, why not in *their* midst?

Onkelos translates בְּקִרְבּוֹ as ביניהון. Tg Yonatan translates it as ביניהון. Does this reflect a different girsah in the pasuk? Perhaps, but I doubt it. Ramban presumably has our pasuk and he paraphrases למען שאשית בקרבם אלה האותות.

Either they are reading what is more comfortable - what should be there, or בְּקִרְבּוֹ references a collective of Pharaoh and his servants in the singular, something I think is not grammatically impossible. I've seen scholars use similar translations, say from LXX (Septuagint), to suggest a variant reading for the pasuk, but I think this need not be proof of a variant. After all the purpose of a Targum is not to render literally but to convey the meaning, which sometimes involves divergence from an absolutely literal rendition.