Keluaran 34:18-23

34:18 “You must keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days ¹  you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you; do this ²  at the appointed time of the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.

34:19 “Every firstborn of the womb ³  belongs to me, even every firstborn ⁴  of your cattle that is a male, ⁵  whether ox or sheep. 34:20 Now the firstling ⁶  of a donkey you may redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then break its neck. ⁷  You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons.

“No one will appear before me empty-handed. ⁸ 

34:21 “On six days ⁹  you may labor, but on the seventh day you must rest; ¹⁰  even at the time of plowing and of harvest ¹¹  you are to rest. ¹² 

34:22 “You must observe ¹³  the Feast of Weeks – the firstfruits of the harvest of wheat – and the Feast of Ingathering at the end ¹⁴  of the year. 34:23 At three times ¹⁵  in the year all your men ¹⁶  must appear before the Lord God, ¹⁷  the God of Israel.

[34:18]  ¹ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

[34:18]  ² tn The words “do this” have been supplied.

[34:19]  ³ tn Heb “everything that opens the womb.”

[34:19]  ⁴ tn Here too: everything that “opens [the womb].”

[34:19]  ⁵ tn The verb basically means “that drops a male.” The verb is feminine, referring to the cattle.

[34:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the one that opens [the womb of] the donkey.”

[34:20]  ⁷ sn See G. Brin, “The Firstling of Unclean Animals,” JQR 68 (1971): 1-15.

[34:20]  ⁸ tn The form is the adverb “empty.”

[34:21]  ⁹ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

[34:21]  ¹⁰ tn Or “cease” (i.e., from the labors).

[34:21]  ¹¹ sn See M. Dahood, “Vocative lamed in Exodus 2,4 and Merismus in 34,21,” Bib 62 (1981): 413-15.

[34:21]  ¹² tn The imperfect tense expresses injunction or instruction.

[34:22]  ¹³ tn The imperfect tense means “you will do”; it is followed by the preposition with a suffix to express the ethical dative to stress the subject.

[34:22]  ¹⁴ tn The expression is “the turn of the year,” which is parallel to “the going out of the year,” and means the end of the agricultural season.

[34:23]  ¹⁵ tn “Three times” is an adverbial accusative.

[34:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all your males.”

[34:23]  ¹⁷ tn Here the divine name reads in Hebrew הָאָדֹן יְהוָה (ha’adon yÿhvah), which if rendered according to the traditional scheme of “Lord” for “Yahweh” would result in “Lord Lord.” A number of English versions therefore render this phrase “Lord God,” and that convention has been followed here.

[34:23]  sn The title “Lord” is included here before the divine name (translated “God” here; see Exod 23:17), perhaps to form a contrast with Baal (which means “lord” as well) and to show the sovereignty of Yahweh. But the distinct designation “the God of Israel” is certainly the point of the renewed covenant relationship.