Keluaran 1:16

1:16 ¹  “When you assist ²  the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: ³  If it is a son, kill him, ⁴  but if it is a daughter, she may live.” ⁵ 

Keluaran 12:3

12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel, ‘In the tenth day of this month they each ⁶  must take a lamb ⁷  for themselves according to their families ⁸  – a lamb for each household. ⁹ 

Keluaran 12:11

12:11 This is how you are to eat it – dressed to travel, ¹⁰  your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. ¹¹ 

Keluaran 21:18

21:18 “If men fight, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist and he does not die, but must remain in bed, ¹² 

Keluaran 22:2

22:2 “If a thief is caught ¹³  breaking in ¹⁴  and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him. ¹⁵ 

Keluaran 25:35

25:35 with a bud under the first ¹⁶  two branches from it, and a bud under the next ¹⁷  two branches from it, and a bud under the third ¹⁸  two branches from it, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand.

Keluaran 26:31

26:31 “You are to make a special curtain ¹⁹  of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen; it is to be made ²⁰  with cherubim, the work of an artistic designer.

Keluaran 28:9

28:9 “You are to take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, ²¹ 

Keluaran 28:25

28:25 the other ²²  two ends of the two chains you will attach to the two settings and then attach them ²³  to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front of it.

Keluaran 28:33

28:33 You are to make pomegranates ²⁴  of blue, purple, and scarlet all around its hem ²⁵  and bells of gold between them all around.

Keluaran 28:41

28:41 “You are to clothe them – your brother Aaron and his sons with him – and anoint them ²⁶  and ordain them ²⁷  and set them apart as holy, ²⁸  so that they may minister as my priests.

Keluaran 29:27

29:27 You are to sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution, ²⁹  which were waved and lifted up as a contribution from the ram of consecration, from what belongs to Aaron and to his sons.

Keluaran 29:42

29:42 “This will be a regular ³⁰  burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet ³¹  with you to speak to you there.

Keluaran 34:22

34:22 “You must observe ³²  the Feast of Weeks – the firstfruits of the harvest of wheat – and the Feast of Ingathering at the end ³³  of the year.

Keluaran 40:9

40:9 And take ³⁴  the anointing oil, and anoint ³⁵  the tabernacle and all that is in it, and sanctify ³⁶  it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy.

[1:16]  ¹ tn The verse starts with the verb that began the last verse; to read it again seems redundant. Some versions render it “spoke” in v. 15 and “said” in v. 16. In effect, Pharaoh has been delayed from speaking while the midwives are named.

[1:16]  ² tn The form is the Piel infinitive construct serving in an adverbial clause of time. This clause lays the foundation for the next verb, the Qal perfect with a vav consecutive: “when you assist…then you will observe.” The latter carries an instructional nuance (= the imperfect of instruction), “you are to observe.”

[1:16]  ³ tn Heb “at the birthstool” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV), but since this particular item is not especially well known today, the present translation simply states “at the delivery.” Cf. NIV “delivery stool.”

[1:16]  ⁴ sn The instructions must have been temporary or selective, otherwise the decree from the king would have ended the slave population of Hebrews. It is also possible that the king did not think through this, but simply took steps to limit the population growth. The narrative is not interested in supplying details, only in portraying the king as a wicked fool bent on destroying Israel.

[1:16]  ⁵ tn The last form וָחָיָה (vakhaya) in the verse is unusual; rather than behaving as a III-Hey form, it is written as a geminate but without the daghesh forte in pause (GKC 218 §76.i). In the conditional clause, following the parallel instruction (“kill him”), this form should be rendered “she may live” or “let her live.”

[12:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they will take for them a man a lamb.” This is clearly a distributive, or individualizing, use of “man.”

[12:3]  ⁷ tn The שֶּׂה (seh) is a single head from the flock, or smaller cattle, which would include both sheep and goats.

[12:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “according to the house of their fathers.” The expression “house of the father” is a common expression for a family.

[12:3]  sn The Passover was to be a domestic institution. Each lamb was to be shared by family members.

[12:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “house” (also at the beginning of the following verse).

[12:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your loins girded.”

[12:11]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of פֶּסַח (pesakh) is debated. (1) Some have tried to connect it to the Hebrew verb with the same radicals that means “to halt, leap, limp, stumble.” See 1 Kgs 18:26 where the word describes the priests of Baal hopping around the altar; also the crippled child in 2 Sam 4:4. (2) Others connect it to the Akkadian passahu, which means “to appease, make soft, placate”; or (3) an Egyptian word to commemorate the harvest (see J. B. Segal, The Hebrew Passover, 95-100). The verb occurs in Isa 31:5 with the connotation of “to protect”; B. S. Childs suggests that this was already influenced by the exodus tradition (Exodus [OTL], 183, n. 11). Whatever links there may or may not have been that show an etymology, in Exod 12 it is describing Yahweh’s passing over or through.

[21:18]  ¹² tn Heb “falls to bed.”

[22:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “found” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[22:2]  ¹⁴ tn The word בַּמַּחְתֶּרֶת (bammakhteret) means “digging through” the walls of a house (usually made of mud bricks). The verb is used only a few times and has the meaning of dig in (as into houses) or row hard (as in Jonah 1:13).

[22:2]  ¹⁵ tn The text has “there is not to him bloods.” When the word “blood” is put in the plural, it refers to bloodshed, or the price of blood that is shed, i.e., blood guiltiness.

[22:2]  sn This law focuses on what is reasonable defense against burglary. If someone killed a thief who was breaking in during the night, he was not charged because he would not have known it was just a thief, but if it happened during the day, he was guilty of a crime, on the assumption that in daylight the thief posed no threat to the homeowner’s life and could be stopped and made to pay restitution.

[25:35]  ¹⁶ tn For clarity the phrase “the first” has been supplied.

[25:35]  ¹⁷ tn For clarity the phrase “the next” has been supplied.

[25:35]  ¹⁸ tn For clarity the phrase “the third” has been supplied.

[26:31]  ¹⁹ tn Although translated “curtain” (traditionally “veil,” so ASV, NAB, NASB) this is a different word from the one used earlier of the tent curtains, so “special curtain” is used. The word פָרֹכֶת (farokhet) seems to be connected with a verb that means “to shut off” and was used with a shrine. This curtain would form a barrier in the approach to God (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 289).

[26:31]  ²⁰ tn The verb is the third masculine singular form, but no subject is expressed. It could be translated “one will make” or as a passive. The verb means “to make,” but probably has the sense of embroidering both here and in v. 1.

[28:9]  ²¹ tn Although this is normally translated “Israelites,” here a more literal translation is clearer because it refers to the names of the twelve tribes – the actual sons of Israel.

[28:25]  ²² tn Here “the other” has been supplied.

[28:25]  ²³ tn Here “them” has been supplied.

[28:33]  ²⁴ sn This must mean round balls of yarn that looked like pomegranates. The fruit was very common in the land, but there is no indication of the reason for its choice here. Pomegranates are found in decorative schemes in Ugarit, probably as signs of fertility. It may be that here they represent the blessing of God on Israel in the land. The bells that are between them possibly have the intent of drawing God’s attention as the priest moves and the bells jingle (anthropomorphic, to be sure), or that the people would know that the priest was still alive and moving inside. Some have suggested that the pomegranate may have recalled the forbidden fruit eaten in the garden (the gems already have referred to the garden), the reason for the priest entering for atonement, and the bells would divert the eye (of God) to remind him of the need. This is possible but far from supportable, since nothing is said of the reason, nor is the fruit in the garden identified.

[28:33]  ²⁵ tn The text repeats the idea: “you will make for its hem…all around its hem.”

[28:41]  ²⁶ sn The instructions in this verse anticipate chap. 29, as well as the ordination ceremony described in Lev 8 and 9. The anointing of Aaron is specifically required in the Law, for he is to be the High Priest. The expression “ordain them” might also be translated as “install them” or “consecrate them”; it literally reads “and fill their hands,” an expression for the consecration offering for priesthood in Lev 8:33. The final instruction to sanctify them will involve the ritual of the atoning sacrifices to make the priests acceptable in the sanctuary.

[28:41]  ²⁷ tn Heb “fill their hand.” As a result of this installation ceremony they will be officially designated for the work. It seems likely that the concept derives from the notion of putting the priestly responsibilities under their control (i.e., “filling their hands” with work). See note on the phrase “ordained seven days” in Lev 8:33.

[28:41]  ²⁸ tn Traditionally “sanctify them” (KJV, ASV).

[29:27]  ²⁹ sn These are the two special priestly offerings: the wave offering (from the verb “to wave”) and the “presentation offering” (older English: heave offering; from a verb “to be high,” in Hiphil meaning “to lift up,” an item separated from the offering, a contribution). The two are then clarified with two corresponding relative clauses containing two Hophals: “which was waved and which was presented.” In making sacrifices, the breast and the thigh belong to the priests.

[29:42]  ³⁰ tn The translation has “regular” instead of “continually,” because they will be preparing this twice a day.

[29:42]  ³¹ tn The relative clause identifies the place in front of the Tent as the place that Yahweh would meet Moses. The main verb of the clause is אִוָּעֵד (’ivva’ed), a Niphal imperfect of the verb יָעַד (ya’ad), the verb that is cognate to the name “tent of meeting” – hence the name. This clause leads into the next four verses.

[34:22]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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.

[40:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “you will take” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and you will anoint” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and you will sanctify” (perfect with vav, ו).