Keluaran 16:3

16:3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died ¹  by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by ²  the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, ³  for you have brought us out into this desert to kill ⁴  this whole assembly with hunger!”

Keluaran 17:3

17:3 But the people were very thirsty ⁵  there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world ⁶  did you bring us up out of Egypt – to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” ⁷ 

Keluaran 20:25

20:25 If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it ⁸  of stones shaped with tools, ⁹  for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it. ¹⁰ 

Keluaran 23:15

23:15 You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days ¹¹  you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time ¹²  you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before ¹³  me empty-handed.

Keluaran 31:14

31:14 So you must keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. Everyone who defiles it ¹⁴  must surely be put to death; indeed, ¹⁵  if anyone does ¹⁶  any ¹⁷  work on it, then that person will be cut off from among his ¹⁸  people.

Keluaran 33:19

33:19 And the Lord ¹⁹  said, “I will make all my goodness ²⁰  pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name ²¹  before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” ²² 

Keluaran 38:18

38:18 The curtain ²³  for the gate of the courtyard was of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer. It was thirty feet long, and like the hangings in the courtyard, it was seven and a half feet high,

[16:3]  ¹ tn The text reads: מִי־יִתֵּן מוּתֵנוּ (mi-yitten mutenu, “who will give our dying”) meaning “If only we had died.” מוּתֵנוּ is the Qal infinitive construct with the suffix. This is one way that Hebrew expresses the optative with an infinitive construct. See R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 91-92, §547.

[16:3]  ² tn The form is a Qal infinitive construct used in a temporal clause, and the verb “when we ate” has the same structure.

[16:3]  ³ sn That the complaint leading up to the manna is unjustified can be seen from the record itself. They left Egypt with flocks and herds and very much cattle, and about 45 days later they are complaining that they are without food. Moses reminded them later that they lacked nothing (Deut 3:7; for the whole sermon on this passage, see 8:1-20). Moreover, the complaint is absurd because the food of work gangs was far more meager than they recall. The complaint was really against Moses. They crave the eating of meat and of bread and so God will meet that need; he will send bread from heaven and quail as well.

[16:3]  ⁴ tn לְהָמִית (lÿhamit) is the Hiphil infinitive construct showing purpose. The people do not trust the intentions or the plan of their leaders and charge Moses with bringing everyone out to kill them.

[17:3]  ⁵ tn The verbs and the pronouns in this verse are in the singular because “the people” is singular in form.

[17:3]  ⁶ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used as the enclitic form for special emphasis in the question; it literally says, “why is this you have brought us up?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[17:3]  ⁷ sn Their words deny God the credit for bringing them out of Egypt, impugn the integrity of Moses and God by accusing them of bringing the people out here to die, and show a lack of faith in God’s ability to provide for them.

[20:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “them” referring to the stones.

[20:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “of hewn stones.” Gesenius classifies this as an adverbial accusative – “you shall not build them (the stones of the altar) as hewn stones.” The remoter accusative is in apposition to the nearer (GKC 372 §117.kk).

[20:25]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive. It forms the apodosis in a conditional clause: “if you lift up your tool on it…you have defiled it.”

[23:15]  ¹¹ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

[23:15]  ¹² tn Heb “in it.”

[23:15]  ¹³ tn The verb is a Niphal imperfect; the nuance of permission works well here – no one is permitted to appear before God empty (Heb “and they will not appear before me empty”).

[31:14]  ¹⁴ tn This clause is all from one word, a Piel plural participle with a third, feminine suffix: מְחַלְלֶיהָ (mÿkhalleha, “defilers of it”). This form serves as the subject of the sentence. The word חָלַל (khalal) is the antonym of קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be holy”). It means “common, profane,” and in the Piel stem “make common, profane” or “defile.” Treating the Sabbath like an ordinary day would profane it, make it common.

[31:14]  ¹⁵ tn This is the asseverative use of כִּי (ki) meaning “surely, indeed,” for it restates the point just made (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).

[31:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the one who does.”

[31:14]  ¹⁷ tn “any” has been supplied.

[31:14]  ¹⁸ tn Literally “her” (a feminine pronoun agreeing with “soul/life,” which is grammatically feminine).

[33:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:19]  ²⁰ sn The word “goodness” refers to the divine appearance in summary fashion.

[33:19]  ²¹ tn The expression “make proclamation in the name of Yahweh” (here a perfect tense with vav [ו] consecutive for future) means to declare, reveal, or otherwise make proclamation of who Yahweh is. The “name of Yahweh” (rendered “the name of the Lord” throughout) refers to his divine attributes revealed to his people, either in word or deed. What will be focused on first will be his grace and compassion.

[33:19]  ²² sn God declares his mercy and grace in similar terms to his earlier self-revelation (“I am that I am”): “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” In other words, the grace and mercy of God are bound up in his own will. Obviously, in this passage the recipients of that favor are the penitent Israelites who were forgiven through Moses’ intercession. The two words are at the heart of God’s dealings with people. The first is חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”). It means to grant favor or grace to someone, grace meaning unmerited favor. All of God’s dealings are gracious, but especially in forgiving sins and granting salvation it is critical. Parallel to this is רָחַם (rakham), a word that means “show compassion, tender mercy.” It is a word that is related to the noun “womb,” the connection being in providing care and protection for that which is helpless and dependent – a motherly quality. In both of these constructions the verbs simply express what God will do, without explaining why. See further, J. R. Lundbom, “God’s Use of the Idem per idem to Terminate Debate,” HTR 71 (1978): 193-201; and J. Piper, “Prolegomena to Understanding Romans 9:14-15: An Interpretation of Exodus 33:19,” JETS 22 (1979): 203-16.

[38:18]  ²³ tn This word is different from the word for hangings; it has more of the idea of a screen, shielding or securing the area.