Keluaran 2:9

2:9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child ¹  and nurse him for me, and I will pay your ²  wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.

Keluaran 4:25

4:25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, ³  and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood ⁴  to me.”

Keluaran 6:7

6:7 I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. ⁵  Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to ⁶  the Egyptians.

Keluaran 6:25

6:25 Now Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel and she bore him Phinehas.

These are the heads of the fathers’ households ⁷  of Levi according to their clans.

Keluaran 7:15

7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning when ⁸  he goes out to the water. Position yourself ⁹  to meet him by the edge of the Nile, ¹⁰  and take ¹¹  in your hand the staff ¹²  that was turned into a snake.

Keluaran 9:8

The Sixth Blow: Boils

9:8 ¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot ¹⁴  from a furnace, and have Moses throw it ¹⁵  into the air while Pharaoh is watching. ¹⁶ 

Keluaran 9:10

9:10 So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh, Moses threw it into the air, and it caused festering boils to break out on both people and animals.

Keluaran 9:24

9:24 Hail fell ¹⁷  and fire mingled ¹⁸  with the hail; the hail was so severe ¹⁹  that there had not been any like it ²⁰  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Keluaran 12:3

12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel, ‘In the tenth day of this month they each ²¹  must take a lamb ²²  for themselves according to their families ²³  – a lamb for each household. ²⁴ 

Keluaran 12:7

12:7 They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it.

Keluaran 12:21

12:21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel, and told them, “Go and select ²⁵  for yourselves a lamb or young goat ²⁶  for your families, and kill the Passover animals. ²⁷ 

Keluaran 14:11

14:11 and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? ²⁸  What in the world ²⁹  have you done to us by bringing ³⁰  us out of Egypt?

Keluaran 15:20

15:20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a hand-drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with hand-drums and with dances. ³¹ 

Keluaran 16:16

16:16 “This is what ³²  the Lord has commanded: ³³  ‘Each person is to gather ³⁴  from it what he can eat, an omer ³⁵  per person ³⁶  according to the number ³⁷  of your people; ³⁸  each one will pick it up ³⁹  for whoever lives ⁴⁰  in his tent.’”

Keluaran 16:33

16:33 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put in it an omer full of manna, and place it before the Lord to be kept for generations to come.”

Keluaran 22:11

22:11 then there will be an oath to the Lord ⁴¹  between the two of them, that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor’s goods, and its owner will accept this, and he will not have to pay.

Keluaran 24:7

24:7 He took the Book of the Covenant ⁴²  and read it aloud ⁴³  to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey ⁴⁴  all that the Lord has spoken.”

Keluaran 27:20

Offering the Oil

27:20 “You are to command the Israelites that they bring ⁴⁵  to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, so that the lamps ⁴⁶  will burn ⁴⁷  regularly. ⁴⁸ 

Keluaran 28:5

28:5 The artisans ⁴⁹  are to use ⁵⁰  the gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen.

Keluaran 29:1

The Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

29:1 ⁵¹ “Now this is what ⁵²  you are to do for them to consecrate them so that they may minister as my priests. Take a young ⁵³  bull and two rams without blemish; ⁵⁴ 

Keluaran 29:12

29:12 and take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar ⁵⁵  with your finger; all the rest of ⁵⁶  the blood you are to pour out at the base of the altar.

Keluaran 29:25-26

29:25 Then you are to take them from their hands and burn ⁵⁷  them ⁵⁸  on the altar for a burnt offering, for a soothing aroma before the Lord. It is an offering made by fire to the Lord. 29:26 You are to take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration; you are to wave it as a wave offering before the Lord, and it is to be your share.

Keluaran 30:23

30:23 “Take ⁵⁹  choice spices: ⁶⁰  twelve and a half pounds ⁶¹  of free-flowing myrrh, ⁶²  half that – about six and a quarter pounds – of sweet-smelling cinnamon, six and a quarter pounds of sweet-smelling cane,

Keluaran 30:34

30:34 The Lord said to Moses: “Take ⁶³  spices, gum resin, ⁶⁴  onycha, ⁶⁵  galbanum, ⁶⁶  and pure frankincense ⁶⁷  of equal amounts ⁶⁸ 

Keluaran 32:4

32:4 He accepted the gold ⁶⁹  from them, ⁷⁰  fashioned ⁷¹  it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. ⁷²  Then they said, “These are your gods, ⁷³  O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Keluaran 35:5

35:5 ‘Take ⁷⁴  an offering for the Lord. Let everyone who has a willing heart ⁷⁵  bring ⁷⁶  an offering to the Lord: ⁷⁷  gold, silver, bronze,

Keluaran 40:9

40:9 And take ⁷⁸  the anointing oil, and anoint ⁷⁹  the tabernacle and all that is in it, and sanctify ⁸⁰  it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy.

Keluaran 40:20

40:20 He took the testimony and put it in the ark, attached the poles to the ark, and then put the atonement lid on the ark.

[2:9]  ¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperative of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh), and so is properly rendered “cause to go” or “take away.”

[2:9]  ² tn The possessive pronoun on the noun “wage” expresses the indirect object: “I will pay wages to you.”

[4:25]  ³ tn Heb “to his feet.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The LXX has “and she fell at his feet” and then “the blood of the circumcision of my son stood.” But it is clear that she caused the foreskin to touch Moses’ feet, as if the one were a substitution for the other, taking the place of the other (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 60).

[4:25]  ⁴ sn U. Cassuto explains that she was saying, “I have delivered you from death, and your return to life makes you my bridegroom a second time, this time my blood bridegroom, a bridegroom acquired through blood” (Exodus, 60-61).

[6:7]  ⁵ sn These covenant promises are being reiterated here because they are about to be fulfilled. They are addressed to the nation, not individuals, as the plural suffixes show. Yahweh was their God already, because they had been praying to him and he is acting on their behalf. When they enter into covenant with God at Sinai, then he will be the God of Israel in a new way (19:4-6; cf. Gen 17:7-8; 28:20-22; Lev 26:11-12; Jer 24:7; Ezek 11:17-20).

[6:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “from under the burdens of” (so KJV, NASB); NIV “from under the yoke of.”

[6:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “heads of the fathers” is taken as an abbreviation for the description of “households” in v. 14.

[7:15]  ⁸ tn The clause begins with הִנֵּה (hinneh); here it provides the circumstances for the instruction for Moses – he is going out to the water so go meet him. A temporal clause translation captures the connection between the clauses.

[7:15]  ⁹ tn The instruction to Moses continues with this perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive following the imperative. The verb means “to take a stand, station oneself.” It seems that Pharaoh’s going out to the water was a regular feature of his day and that Moses could be there waiting to meet him.

[7:15]  ¹⁰ sn The Nile, the source of fertility for the country, was deified by the Egyptians. There were religious festivals held to the god of the Nile, especially when the Nile was flooding. The Talmud suggests that Pharaoh in this passage went out to the Nile to make observations as a magician about its level. Others suggest he went out simply to bathe or to check the water level – but that would not change the view of the Nile that was prevalent in the land.

[7:15]  ¹¹ tn The verb תִּקַּח (tiqqakh), the Qal imperfect of לָקַח (laqakh), functions here as the imperfect of instruction, or injunction perhaps, given the word order of the clause.

[7:15]  ¹² tn The final clause begins with the noun and vav disjunctive, which singles this instruction out for special attention – “now the staff…you are to take.”

[9:8]  ¹³ sn This sixth plague, like the third, is unannounced. God instructs his servants to take handfuls of ashes from the Egyptians’ furnaces and sprinkle them heavenward in the sight of Pharaoh. These ashes would become little particles of dust that would cause boils on the Egyptians and their animals. Greta Hort, “The Plagues of Egypt,” ZAW 69 [1957]: 101-3, suggests it is skin anthrax (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:359). The lesson of this plague is that Yahweh has absolute control over the physical health of the people. Physical suffering consequent to sin comes to all regardless of their position and status. The Egyptians are helpless in the face of this, as now God begins to touch human life; greater judgments on human wickedness lie ahead.

[9:8]  ¹⁴ tn This word פִּיחַ (piakh) is a hapax legomenon, meaning “soot”; it seems to be derived from the verb פּוּחַ (puakh, “to breathe, blow”). The “furnace” (כִּבְשָׁן, kivshan) was a special kiln for making pottery or bricks.

[9:8]  ¹⁵ tn The verb זָרַק (zaraq) means “to throw vigorously, to toss.” If Moses tosses the soot into the air, it will symbolize that the disease is falling from heaven.

[9:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “before the eyes of Pharaoh.”

[9:24]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is the common preterite וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), which is normally translated “and there was” if it is translated at all. The verb הָיָה (hayah), however, can mean “be, become, befall, fall, fall out, happen.” Here it could be simply translated “there was hail,” but the active “hail fell” fits the point of the sequence better.

[9:24]  ¹⁸ tn The form מִתְלַקַּחַת (mitlaqqakhat) is a Hitpael participle; the clause reads, “and fire taking hold of itself in the midst of the hail.” This probably refers to lightning flashing back and forth. See also Ezek 1:4. God created a great storm with flashing fire connected to it.

[9:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

[9:24]  ²⁰ tn A literal reading of the clause would be “which there was not like it in all the land of Egypt.” The relative pronoun must be joined to the resumptive pronoun: “which like it (like which) there had not been.”

[12:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “and they will take for them a man a lamb.” This is clearly a distributive, or individualizing, use of “man.”

[12:3]  ²² tn The שֶּׂה (seh) is a single head from the flock, or smaller cattle, which would include both sheep and goats.

[12:3]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “house” (also at the beginning of the following verse).

[12:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “draw out and take.” The verb has in view the need “to draw out” a lamb or goat selected from among the rest of the flock.

[12:21]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew noun is singular and can refer to either a lamb or a goat. Since English has no common word for both, the phrase “a lamb or young goat” is used in the translation.

[12:21]  ²⁷ tn The word “animals” is added to avoid giving the impression in English that the Passover festival itself is the object of “kill.”

[14:11]  ²⁸ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 396-97) notes how the speech is overly dramatic and came from a people given to using such exaggerations (Num 16:14), even using a double negative. The challenge to Moses brings a double irony. To die in the desert would be without proper burial, but in Egypt there were graves – it was a land of tombs and graves! Gesenius notes that two negatives in the sentence do not nullify each other but make the sentence all the more emphatic: “Is it because there were no graves…?” (GKC 483 §152.y).

[14:11]  ²⁹ tn The demonstrative pronoun has the enclitic use again, giving a special emphasis to the question (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[14:11]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew term לְהוֹצִּיאָנוּ (lÿhotsi’anu) is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a suffix, “to bring us out.” It is used epexegetically here, explaining the previous question.

[15:20]  ³¹ sn See J. N. Easton, “Dancing in the Old Testament,” ExpTim 86 (1975): 136-40.

[16:16]  ³² tn Heb “the thing that.”

[16:16]  ³³ tn The perfect tense could be taken as a definite past with Moses now reporting it. In this case a very recent past. But in declaring the word from Yahweh it could be instantaneous, and receive a present tense translation – “here and now he commands you.”

[16:16]  ³⁴ tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”

[16:16]  ³⁵ sn The omer is an amount mentioned only in this chapter, and its size is unknown, except by comparison with the ephah (v. 36). A number of recent English versions approximate the omer as “two quarts” (cf. NCV, CEV, NLT); TEV “two litres.”

[16:16]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for a head.”

[16:16]  ³⁷ tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[16:16]  ³⁸ tn Traditionally “souls.”

[16:16]  ³⁹ tn Heb “will take.”

[16:16]  ⁴⁰ tn “lives” has been supplied.

[22:11]  ⁴¹ tn The construct relationship שְׁבֻעַת יְהוָה (shÿvu’at yÿhvah, “the oath of Yahweh”) would require a genitive of indirect object, “an oath [to] Yahweh.” U. Cassuto suggests that it means “an oath by Yahweh” (Exodus, 287). The person to whom the animal was entrusted would take a solemn oath to Yahweh that he did not appropriate the animal for himself, and then his word would be accepted.

[24:7]  ⁴² tn The noun “book” would be the scroll just written containing the laws of chaps. 20-23. On the basis of this scroll the covenant would be concluded here. The reading of this book would assure the people that it was the same that they had agreed to earlier. But now their statement of willingness to obey would be more binding, because their promise would be confirmed by a covenant of blood.

[24:7]  ⁴³ tn Heb “read it in the ears of.”

[24:7]  ⁴⁴ tn A second verb is now added to the people’s response, and it is clearly an imperfect and not a cohortative, lending support for the choice of desiderative imperfect in these commitments – “we want to obey.” This was their compliance with the covenant.

[27:20]  ⁴⁵ tn The form is the imperfect tense with the vav showing a sequence with the first verb: “you will command…that they take.” The verb “take, receive” is used here as before for receiving an offering and bringing it to the sanctuary.

[27:20]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “lamp,” which must be a collective singular here.

[27:20]  ⁴⁷ tn The verb is unusual; it is the Hiphil infinitive construct of עָלָה (’alah), with the sense here of “to set up” to burn, or “to fix on” as in Exod 25:37, or “to kindle” (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 370).

[27:20]  ⁴⁸ sn The word can mean “continually,” but in this context, as well as in the passages on the sacrifices, “regularly” is better, since each morning things were cleaned and restored.

[28:5]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and they.” The word “artisans” is supplied as the referent of the pronoun, a connection that is clearer in Hebrew than in English.

[28:5]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “receive” or “take.”

[29:1]  ⁵¹ sn Chap. 29 is a rather long, involved discussion of the consecration of Aaron the priest. It is similar to the ordination service in Lev 8. In fact, the execution of what is instructed here is narrated there. But these instructions must have been formulated after or in conjunction with Lev 1-7, for they presuppose a knowledge of the sacrifices. The bulk of the chapter is the consecration of the priests: 1-35. It has the preparation (1-3), washing (4), investiture and anointing (5-9), sin offering (10-14), burnt offering (15-18), installation peace offering (19-26, 31-34), other offerings’ rulings (27-30), and the duration of the ritual (35). Then there is the consecration of the altar (36-37), and the oblations (38-46). There are many possibilities for the study and exposition of this material. The whole chapter is the consecration of tabernacle, altar, people, and most of all the priests. God was beginning the holy operations with sacral ritual. So the overall message would be: Everyone who ministers, everyone who worships, and everything they use in the presence of Yahweh, must be set apart to God by the cleansing, enabling, and sanctifying work of God.

[29:1]  ⁵² tn Heb “the thing.”

[29:1]  ⁵³ tn Literally: “take one bull, a ‘son’ of the herd.”

[29:1]  ⁵⁴ tn The word תָּמִים (tamim) means “perfect.” The animals could not have diseases or be crippled or blind (see Mal 1). The requirement was designed to ensure that the people would give the best they had to Yahweh. The typology pointed to the sinless Messiah who would fulfill all these sacrifices in his one sacrifice on the cross.

[29:12]  ⁵⁵ sn This act seems to have signified the efficacious nature of the blood, since the horns represented power. This is part of the ritual of the sin offering for laity, because before the priests become priests they are treated as laity. The offering is better described as a purification offering rather than a sin offering, because it was offered, according to Leviticus, for both sins and impurities. Moreover, it was offered primarily to purify the sanctuary so that the once-defiled or sinful person could enter (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB]).

[29:12]  ⁵⁶ tn The phrase “rest of” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[29:25]  ⁵⁷ tn “turn to sweet smoke.”

[29:25]  ⁵⁸ tn “them” has been supplied.

[30:23]  ⁵⁹ tn The construction uses the imperative “take,” but before it is the independent pronoun to add emphasis to it. After the imperative is the ethical dative (lit. “to you”) to stress the task to Moses as a personal responsibility: “and you, take to yourself.”

[30:23]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “spices head.” This must mean the chief spices, or perhaps the top spice, meaning fine spices or choice spices. See Song 4:14; Ezek 27:22.

[30:23]  ⁶¹ tn Or “500 shekels.” Verse 24 specifies that the sanctuary shekel was the unit for weighing the spices. The total of 1500 shekels for the four spices is estimated at between 77 and 100 pounds, or 17 to 22 kilograms, depending on how much a shekel weighed (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:576).

[30:23]  ⁶² sn Myrrh is an aromatic substance that flows from the bark of certain trees in Arabia and Africa and then hardens. “The hardened globules of the gum appear also to have been ground into a powder that would have been easy to store and would have been poured from a container” (J. Durham, Exodus [WBC], 3:406).

[30:34]  ⁶³ tn The construction is “take to you,” which could be left in that literal sense, but more likely the suffix is an ethical dative, stressing the subject of the imperative.

[30:34]  ⁶⁴ sn This is from a word that means “to drip”; the spice is a balsam that drips from a resinous tree.

[30:34]  ⁶⁵ sn This may be a plant, or it may be from a species of mollusks; it is mentioned in Ugaritic and Akkadian; it gives a pungent odor when burnt.

[30:34]  ⁶⁶ sn This is a gum from plants of the genus Ferula; it has an unpleasant odor, but when mixed with others is pleasant.

[30:34]  ⁶⁷ tn The word “spice is repeated here, suggesting that the first three formed half of the ingredient and this spice the other half – but this is conjecture (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 400).

[30:34]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “of each part there will be an equal part.”

[32:4]  ⁶⁹ tn Here “the gold” has been supplied.

[32:4]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “from their hand.”

[32:4]  ⁷¹ tn The verb looks similar to יָצַר (yatsar), “to form, fashion” by a plan or a design. That is the verb used in Gen 2:7 for Yahweh God forming the man from the dust of the ground. If it is here, it is the reverse, a human – the dust of the ground – trying to form a god or gods. The active participle of this verb in Hebrew is “the potter.” A related noun is the word יֵצֶּר (yetser), “evil inclination,” the wicked designs or intent of the human heart (Gen 6:5). But see the discussion by B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 555-56) on a different reading, one that links the root to a hollow verb meaning “to cast out of metal” (as in 1 Kgs 7:15).

[32:4]  ⁷² sn The word means a “young bull” and need not be translated as “calf” (although “calf” has become the traditional rendering in English). The word could describe an animal three years old. Aaron probably made an inner structure of wood and then, after melting down the gold, plated it. The verb “molten” does not need to imply that the image was solid gold; the word is used in Isa 30:22 for gold plating. So it was a young bull calf that was overlaid with gold, and the gold was fashioned with the stylus.

[32:4]  ⁷³ tn The word could be singular here and earlier; here it would then be “this is your god, O Israel.” However, the use of “these” indicates more than one god was meant by the image. But their statement and their statue, although they do not use the holy name, violate the first two commandments.

[35:5]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “from with you.”

[35:5]  ⁷⁵ tn “Heart” is a genitive of specification, clarifying in what way they might be “willing.” The heart refers to their will, their choices.

[35:5]  ⁷⁶ tn The verb has a suffix that is the direct object, but the suffixed object is qualified by the second accusative: “let him bring it, an offering.”

[35:5]  ⁷⁷ tn The phrase is literally “the offering of Yahweh”; it could be a simple possessive, “Yahweh’s offering,” but a genitive that indicates the indirect object is more appropriate.

[40:9]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “you will take” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “and you will anoint” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “and you will sanctify” (perfect with vav, ו).