Keluaran 8:15

8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, ¹  he hardened ²  his heart and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted. ³ 

Keluaran 22:4

22:4 If the stolen item should in fact be found ⁴  alive in his possession, ⁵  whether it be an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he must pay back double. ⁶ 

Keluaran 23:25

23:25 You must serve ⁷  the Lord your God, and he ⁸  will bless your bread and your water, ⁹  and I will remove sickness from your midst.

[8:15]  ¹ tn The word רְוָחָה (rÿvakhah) means “respite, relief.” BDB 926 relates it to the verb רָוַח (ravakh, “to be wide, spacious”). There would be relief when there was freedom to move about.

[8:15]  ² tn וְהַכְבֵּד (vÿhakhbed) is a Hiphil infinitive absolute, functioning as a finite verb. The meaning of the word is “to make heavy,” and so stubborn, sluggish, indifferent. It summarizes his attitude and the outcome, that he refused to keep his promises.

[8:15]  ³ sn The end of the plague revealed clearly God’s absolute control over Egypt’s life and deities – all at the power of the man who prayed to God. Yahweh had made life unpleasant for the people by sending the plague, but he was also the one who could remove it. The only recourse anyone has in such trouble is to pray to the sovereign Lord God. Everyone should know that there is no one like Yahweh.

[22:4]  ⁴ tn The construction uses a Niphal infinitive absolute and a Niphal imperfect: if it should indeed be found. Gesenius says that in such conditional clauses the infinitive absolute has less emphasis, but instead emphasizes the condition on which some consequence depends (see GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[22:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “in his hand.”

[22:4]  ⁶ sn He must pay back one for what he took, and then one for the penalty – his loss as he was inflicting a loss on someone else.

[23:25]  ⁷ tn The perfect tense, masculine plural, with vav (ו) consecutive is in sequence with the preceding: do not bow down to them, but serve Yahweh. It is then the equivalent of an imperfect of instruction or injunction.

[23:25]  ⁸ tn The LXX reads “and I will bless” to make the verb conform with the speaker, Yahweh.

[23:25]  ⁹ sn On this unusual clause B. Jacob says that it is the reversal of the curse in Genesis, because the “bread and water” represent the field work and ground suitability for abundant blessing of provisions (Exodus, 734).