Keluaran 1:8

1:8 Then a new king, ¹  who did not know about ²  Joseph, came to power ³  over Egypt.

Keluaran 5:9

5:9 Make the work harder ⁴  for the men so they will keep at it ⁵  and pay no attention to lying words!” ⁶ 

Keluaran 5:17

5:17 But Pharaoh replied, ⁷  “You are slackers! Slackers! ⁸  That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’

Keluaran 8:7

8:7 The magicians did the same ⁹  with their secret arts and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt too. ¹⁰ 

Keluaran 12:8

12:8 They will eat the meat the same night; ¹¹  they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast ¹²  and with bitter herbs.

Keluaran 12:33-34

12:33 The Egyptians were urging ¹³  the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, ¹⁴  for they were saying, “We are all dead!” 12:34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, ¹⁵  with their kneading troughs bound up in their clothing on their shoulders.

Keluaran 14:3

14:3 Pharaoh will think ¹⁶  regarding the Israelites, ‘They are wandering around confused ¹⁷  in the land – the desert has closed in on them.’ ¹⁸ 

Keluaran 14:7

14:7 He took six hundred select ¹⁹  chariots, and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, ²⁰  and officers ²¹  on all of them.

Keluaran 17:16

17:16 for he said, “For a hand was lifted up to the throne of the Lord ²²  – that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” ²³ 

Keluaran 18:11

18:11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods, for in the thing in which they dealt proudly against them he has destroyed them.” ²⁴ 

Keluaran 21:14

21:14 But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, ²⁵  you will take him even from my altar that he may die.

Keluaran 23:18

23:18 “You must not offer ²⁶  the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast; the fat of my festal sacrifice must not remain until morning. ²⁷ 

Keluaran 24:6

24:6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar. ²⁸ 

Keluaran 25:11

25:11 You are to overlay ²⁹  it with pure gold – both inside and outside you must overlay it, ³⁰  and you are to make a surrounding border ³¹  of gold over it.

Keluaran 25:14

25:14 and put the poles into the rings at the sides of the ark in order to carry the ark with them.

Keluaran 25:37

25:37 “You are to make its seven lamps, ³²  and then set ³³  its lamps up on it, so that it will give light ³⁴  to the area in front of it.

Keluaran 26:7

26:7 “You are to make curtains of goats’ hair ³⁵  for a tent over the tabernacle; ³⁶  you are to make ³⁷  eleven curtains.

Keluaran 26:12

26:12 Now the part that remains of the curtains of the tent – the half curtain that remains will hang over at the back of the tabernacle. ³⁸ 

Keluaran 27:2

27:2 You are to make its four horns ³⁹  on its four corners; its horns will be part of it, ⁴⁰  and you are to overlay it with bronze.

Keluaran 27:7

27:7 The poles are to be put ⁴¹  into the rings so that the poles will be on two sides of the altar when carrying it. ⁴² 

Keluaran 28:9

28:9 “You are to take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, ⁴³ 

Keluaran 28:22

28:22 “You are to make for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold,

Keluaran 28:24

28:24 You are to attach the two gold chains to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece;

Keluaran 28:34

28:34 The pattern is to be ⁴⁴  a gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe.

Keluaran 28:36

28:36 “You are to make a plate ⁴⁵  of pure gold and engrave on it the way a seal is engraved: ⁴⁶  “Holiness to the Lord.” ⁴⁷ 

Keluaran 29:7

29:7 You are to take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. ⁴⁸ 

Keluaran 29:15-16

29:15 “You are to take one ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head, 29:16 and you are to kill the ram and take its blood and splash it all around on the altar.

Keluaran 29:19

29:19 “You are to take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head,

Keluaran 29:38

29:38 “Now this is what you are to prepare ⁴⁹  on the altar every day continually: two lambs a year old.

Keluaran 30:7

30:7 Aaron is to burn sweet incense ⁵⁰  on it morning by morning; when he attends ⁵¹  to the lamps he is to burn incense. ⁵² 

Keluaran 30:14

30:14 Everyone who crosses over to those numbered, from twenty years old and up, is to pay an offering to the Lord.

Keluaran 30:33

30:33 Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts any of it on someone not a priest ⁵³  will be cut off ⁵⁴  from his people.’”

Keluaran 32:16

32:16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

Keluaran 32:35

32:35 And the Lord sent a plague on the people because they had made the calf ⁵⁵  – the one Aaron made. ⁵⁶ 

Keluaran 33:4

33:4 When the people heard this troubling word ⁵⁷  they mourned; ⁵⁸  no one put on his ornaments.

Keluaran 33:22

33:22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and will cover ⁵⁹  you with my hand ⁶⁰  while I pass by. ⁶¹ 

Keluaran 34:25

34:25 “You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with yeast; the sacrifice from the feast of Passover must not remain until the following morning. ⁶² 

Keluaran 36:14

36:14 He made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains. ⁶³ 

Keluaran 37:5

37:5 and put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark in order to carry the ark.

Keluaran 38:2

38:2 He made its horns on its four corners; its horns were part of it, ⁶⁴  and he overlaid it with bronze.

Keluaran 39:15

39:15 They made for the breastpiece braided chains like cords of pure gold,

Keluaran 39:24

39:24 They made pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and twisted linen ⁶⁵  around the hem of the robe.

Keluaran 40:3

40:3 You are to place the ark of the testimony in it and shield the ark with the special curtain.

Keluaran 40:22-24

40:22 And he put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain. 40:23 And he set the bread in order on it ⁶⁶  before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

40:24 And he put the lampstand in the tent of meeting opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle.

Keluaran 40:27

40:27 and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Keluaran 40:36

40:36 But when the cloud was lifted up ⁶⁷  from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out ⁶⁸  on all their journeys;

[1:8]  ¹ sn It would be difficult to identify who this “new king” might be, since the chronology of ancient Israel and Egypt is continually debated. Scholars who take the numbers in the Bible more or less at face value would place the time of Jacob’s going down to Egypt in about 1876 b.c. This would put Joseph’s experience in the period prior to the Hyksos control of Egypt (1720-1570’s), and everything in the narrative about Joseph points to a native Egyptian setting and not a Hyksos one. Joseph’s death, then, would have been around 1806 b.c., just a few years prior to the end of the 12th Dynasty of Egypt. This marked the end of the mighty Middle Kingdom of Egypt. The relationship between the Hyksos (also Semites) and the Israelites may have been amicable, and the Hyksos then might very well be the enemies that the Egyptians feared in Exodus 1:10. It makes good sense to see the new king who did not know Joseph as either the founder (Amosis, 1570-1546) or an early king of the powerful 18th Dynasty (like Thutmose I). Egypt under this new leadership drove out the Hyksos and reestablished Egyptian sovereignty. The new rulers certainly would have been concerned about an increasing Semite population in their territory (see E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 49-55).

[1:8]  ² tn The relative clause comes last in the verse in Hebrew. It simply clarifies that the new king had no knowledge about Joseph. It also introduces a major theme in the early portion of Exodus, as a later Pharaoh will claim not to know who Yahweh is. The Lord, however, will work to make sure that Pharaoh and all Egypt will know that he is the true God.

[1:8]  ³ tn Heb “arose.”

[5:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “let the work be heavy.”

[5:9]  ⁵ tn The text has וְיַעֲשׂוּ־בָהּ (vÿya’asu-vah, “and let them work in it”) or the like. The jussive forms part of the king’s decree that the men not only be required to work harder but be doing it: “Let them be occupied in it.”

[5:9]  sn For a discussion of this whole section, see K. A. Kitchen, “From the Brickfields of Egypt,” TynBul 27 (1976): 137-47.

[5:9]  ⁶ sn The words of Moses are here called “lying words” (דִבְרֵי־שָׁקֶר, divre-shaqer). Here is the main reason, then, for Pharaoh’s new policy. He wanted to discredit Moses. So the words that Moses spoke Pharaoh calls false and lying words. The world was saying that God’s words were vain and deceptive because they were calling people to a higher order. In a short time God would reveal that they were true words.

[5:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “And he said.”

[5:17]  ⁸ tn Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים (nirpim) is derived from the verb רָפָה (rafah), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.”

[8:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “thus, so.”

[8:7]  ¹⁰ sn In these first two plagues the fact that the Egyptians could and did duplicate them is ironic. By duplicating the experience, they added to the misery of Egypt. One wonders why they did not use their skills to rid the land of the pests instead, and the implication of course is that they could not.

[12:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “this night.”

[12:8]  ¹² sn Bread made without yeast could be baked quickly, not requiring time for the use of a leavening ingredient to make the dough rise. In Deut 16:3 the unleavened cakes are called “the bread of affliction,” which alludes to the alarm and haste of the Israelites. In later Judaism and in the writings of Paul, leaven came to be a symbol of evil or corruption, and so “unleavened bread” – bread made without yeast – was interpreted to be a picture of purity or freedom from corruption or defilement (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 90-91).

[12:33]  ¹³ tn The verb used here (חָזַק, khazaq) is the same verb used for Pharaoh’s heart being hardened. It conveys the idea of their being resolved or insistent in this – they were not going to change.

[12:33]  ¹⁴ tn The phrase uses two construct infinitives in a hendiadys, the first infinitive becoming the modifier.

[12:34]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfect tense after the adverb טֶרֶם (terem) is to be treated as a preterite: “before it was leavened,” or “before the yeast was added.” See GKC 314-15 §107.c.

[14:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and Pharaoh will say.”

[14:3]  ¹⁷ sn The word translated “wandering around confused” indicates that Pharaoh thought the Israelites would be so perplexed and confused that they would not know which way to turn in order to escape – and they would never dream of crossing the sea (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 115).

[14:3]  ¹⁸ tn The expression has also been translated “the desert has shut [the way] for them,” and more freely “[the Israelites are] hemmed in by the desert.”

[14:7]  ¹⁹ tn The passive participle of the verb “to choose” means that these were “choice” or superb chariots.

[14:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “every chariot of Egypt.” After the mention of the best chariots, the meaning of this description is “all the other chariots.”

[14:7]  ²¹ tn The word שָׁלִשִׁם (shalishim) means “officers” or some special kind of military personnel. At one time it was taken to mean a “three man chariot,” but the pictures of Egyptian chariots only show two in a chariot. It may mean officers near the king, “men of the third rank” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 394). So the chariots and the crew represented the elite. See the old view by A. E. Cowley that linked it to a Hittite word (“A Hittite Word in Hebrew,” JTS 21 [1920]: 326), and the more recent work by P. C. Craigie connecting it to Egyptian “commander” (“An Egyptian Expression in the Song of the Sea: Exodus XV.4,” VT 20 [1970]: 85).

[17:16]  ²² tn The line here is very difficult. The Hebrew text has כִּי־יָד עַל־כֵּס יָהּ (ki yad ’al kes yah, “for a hand on the throne of Yah”). If the word is “throne” (and it is not usually spelled like this), then it would mean Moses’ hand was extended to the throne of God, showing either intercession or source of power. It could not be turned to mean that the hand of Yah was taking an oath to destroy the Amalekites. The LXX took the same letters, but apparently saw the last four (כסיה) as a verbal form; it reads “with a secret hand.” Most scholars have simply assumed that the text is wrong, and כֵּס should be emended to נֵס (nes) to fit the name, for this is the pattern of naming in the OT with popular etymologies – some motif of the name must be found in the sentiment. This would then read, “My hand on the banner of Yah.” It would be an expression signifying that the banner, the staff of God, should ever be ready at hand when the Israelites fight the Amalekites again.

[17:16]  ²³ sn The message of this short narrative, then, concerns the power of God to protect his people. The account includes the difficulty, the victory, and the commemoration. The victory must be retained in memory by the commemoration. So the expositional idea could focus on that: The people of God must recognize (both for engaging in warfare and for praise afterward) that victory comes only with the power of God. In the NT the issue is even more urgent, because the warfare is spiritual – believers do not wrestle against flesh and blood. So only God’s power will bring victory.

[18:11]  ²⁴ tn The end of this sentence seems not to have been finished, or it is very elliptical. In the present translation the phrase “he has destroyed them” is supplied. Others take the last prepositional phrase to be the completion and supply only a verb: “[he was] above them.” U. Cassuto (Exodus, 216) takes the word “gods” to be the subject of the verb “act proudly,” giving the sense of “precisely (כִּי, ki) in respect of these things of which the gods of Egypt boasted – He is greater than they (עֲלֵיהֶם, ‘alehem).” He suggests rendering the clause, “excelling them in the very things to which they laid claim.”

[21:14]  ²⁵ tn The word עָרְמָה (’ormah) is problematic. It could mean with prior intent, which would be connected with the word in Prov 8:5, 12 which means “understanding” (or “prudence” – fully aware of the way things are). It could be connected also to an Arabic word for “enemy” which would indicate this was done with malice or evil intentions (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 270). The use here seems parallel to the one in Josh 9:4, an instance involving intentionality and clever deception.

[23:18]  ²⁶ tn The verb is תִּזְבַּח (tizbbakh), an imperfect tense from the same root as the genitive that qualifies the accusative “blood”: “you will not sacrifice the blood of my sacrifice.” The verb means “to slaughter”; since one cannot slaughter blood, a more general translation is required here. But if the genitive is explained as “my blood-sacrifice” (a genitive of specification; like “the evil of your doings” in Isa 1:16), then a translation of sacrifice would work (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 304).

[23:18]  ²⁷ sn See N. Snaith, “Exodus 23:18 and 34:25,” JTS 20 (1969): 533-34; see also M. Haran, “The Passover Sacrifice,” Studies in the Religion of Ancient Israel (VTSup), 86-116.

[24:6]  ²⁸ sn The people and Yahweh through this will be united by blood, for half was spattered on the altar and the other half spattered on/toward the people (v. 8).

[25:11]  ²⁹ tn The verbs throughout here are perfect tenses with the vav (ו) consecutives. They are equal to the imperfect tense of instruction and/or injunction.

[25:11]  ³⁰ tn Here the verb is an imperfect tense; for the perfect sequence to work the verb would have to be at the front of the clause.

[25:11]  ³¹ tn The word זֵר (zer) is used only in Exodus and seems to describe something on the order of a crown molding, an ornamental border running at the top of the chest on all four sides. There is no indication of its appearance or function.

[25:37]  ³² tn The word for “lamps” is from the same root as the lampstand, of course. The word is נֵרוֹת (nerot). This probably refers to the small saucer-like pottery lamps that are made very simply with the rim pinched over to form a place to lay the wick. The bowl is then filled with olive oil as fuel.

[25:37]  ³³ tn The translation “set up on” is from the Hebrew verb “bring up.” The construction is impersonal, “and he will bring up,” meaning “one will bring up.” It may mean that people were to fix the lamps on to the shaft and the branches, rather than cause the light to go up (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 277).

[25:37]  ³⁴ tn This is a Hiphil perfect with vav consecutive, from אוֹר (’or, “light”), and in the causative, “to light, give light.”

[26:7]  ³⁵ sn This chapter will show that there were two sets of curtains and two sets of coverings that went over the wood building to make the tabernacle or dwelling place. The curtains of fine linen described above could be seen only by the priests from inside. Above that was the curtain of goats’ hair. Then over that were the coverings, an inner covering of rams’ skins dyed red and an outer covering of hides of fine leather. The movement is from the inside to the outside because it is God’s dwelling place; the approach of the worshiper would be the opposite. The pure linen represented the righteousness of God, guarded by the embroidered cherubim; the curtain of goats’ hair was a reminder of sin through the daily sin offering of a goat; the covering of rams’ skins dyed red was a reminder of the sacrifice and the priestly ministry set apart by blood, and the outer covering marked the separation between God and the world. These are the interpretations set forth by Kaiser; others vary, but not greatly (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:459).

[26:7]  ³⁶ sn This curtain will serve “for a tent over the tabernacle,” as a dwelling place.

[26:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “you will make them”

[26:12]  ³⁸ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 353) cites b. Shabbat 98b which says, “What did the tabernacle resemble? A woman walking on the street with her train trailing behind her.” In the expression “the half of the curtain that remains,” the verb agrees in gender with the genitive near it.

[27:2]  ³⁹ sn The horns of the altar were indispensable – they were the most sacred part. Blood was put on them; fugitives could cling to them, and the priests would grab the horns of the little altar when making intercessory prayer. They signified power, as horns on an animal did in the wild (and so the word was used for kings as well). The horns may also represent the sacrificial animals killed on the altar.

[27:2]  ⁴⁰ sn The text, as before, uses the prepositional phrase “from it” or “part of it” to say that the horns will be part of the altar – of the same piece as the altar. They were not to be made separately and then attached, but made at the end of the boards used to build the altar (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 363).

[27:7]  ⁴¹ tn The verb is a Hophal perfect with vav consecutive: וְהוּבָא (vÿhuva’, “and it will be brought”). The particle אֶת (’et) here introduces the subject of the passive verb (see a similar use in 21:28, “and its flesh will not be eaten”).

[27:7]  ⁴² tn The construction is the infinitive construct with bet (ב) preposition: “in carrying it.” Here the meaning must be that the poles are not left in the rings, but only put into the rings when they carried it.

[28:9]  ⁴³ 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.

[28:34]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “the pattern is to be” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[28:36]  ⁴⁵ tn The word צִּיץ (tsits) seems to mean “a shining thing” and so here a plate of metal. It originally meant “flower,” but they could not write on a flower. So it must have the sense of something worn openly, visible, and shining. The Rabbinic tradition says it was two fingers wide and stretched from ear to ear, but this is an attempt to give details that the Law does not give (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 818).

[28:36]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “the engravings of a seal”; this phrase is an adverbial accusative of manner.

[28:36]  ⁴⁷ sn The engraving was a perpetual reminder of the holiness that was due the Lord (Heb “Yahweh”), that all the clothing, the furnishings, and the activities were to come under that description. This corresponded to the symbolism for the whole nation of binding the law between the eyes. It was to be a perpetual reminder of commitment.

[29:7]  ⁴⁸ sn The act of anointing was meant to set him apart for this holy service within the house of Yahweh. The psalms indicate that no oil was spared in this ritual, for it ran down his beard and to the hem of his garment. Oil of anointing was used for all major offices (giving the label with the passive adjective “mashiah” (or “messiah”) to anyone anointed. In the further revelation of Scripture, the oil came to signify the enablement as well as the setting apart, and often the Holy Spirit came on the person at the anointing with oil. The olive oil was a symbol of the Spirit in the OT as well (Zech 4:4-6). And in the NT “anointing” signifies empowerment by the Holy Spirit for service.

[29:38]  ⁴⁹ tn The verb is “you will do,” “you will make.” It clearly refers to offering the animals on the altar, but may emphasize all the preparation that was involved in the process.

[30:7]  ⁵⁰ tn The text uses a cognate accusative (“incense”) with the verb “to burn” or “to make into incense/sweet smoke.” Then, the noun “sweet spices” is added in apposition to clarify the incense as sweet.

[30:7]  ⁵¹ tn The Hebrew is בְּהֵיטִיבוֹ (bÿhetivo), a Hiphil infinitive construct serving in a temporal clause. The Hebrew verb means “to make good” and so in this context “to fix” or “to dress.” This refers to cleansing and trimming the lamps.

[30:7]  ⁵² sn The point of the little golden altar of incense is normally for intercessory prayer, and then at the Day of Atonement for blood applied atonement. The instructions for making it show that God wanted his people to make a place for prayer. The instructions for its use show that God expects that the requests of his people will be pleasing to him.

[30:33]  ⁵³ tn Heb “a stranger,” meaning someone not ordained a priest.

[30:33]  ⁵⁴ sn The rabbinic interpretation of this is that it is a penalty imposed by heaven, that the life will be cut short and the person could die childless.

[32:35]  ⁵⁵ tn The verse is difficult because of the double reference to the making of the calf. The NJPS’s translation tries to reconcile the two by reading “for what they did with the calf that Aaron had made.” B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 557) explains in some detail why this is not a good translation based on syntactical grounds; he opts for the conclusion that the last three words are a clumsy secondary addition. It seems preferable to take the view that both are true, Aaron is singled out for his obvious lead in the sin, but the people sinned by instigating the whole thing.

[32:35]  ⁵⁶ sn Most commentators have difficulty with this verse. W. C. Kaiser says the strict chronology is not always kept, and so the plague here may very well refer to the killing of the three thousand (“Exodus,” EBC 2:481).

[33:4]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “bad news” (NAB, NCV).

[33:4]  ⁵⁸ sn The people would rather have risked divine discipline than to go without Yahweh in their midst. So they mourned, and they took off the ornaments. Such had been used in making the golden calf, and so because of their association with all of that they were to be removed as a sign of remorse.

[33:22]  ⁵⁹ sn Note the use in Exod 40:3, “and you will screen the ark with the curtain.” The glory is covered, veiled from being seen.

[33:22]  ⁶⁰ tn The circumstantial clause is simply, “my hand [being] over you.” This protecting hand of Yahweh represents a fairly common theme in the Bible.

[33:22]  ⁶¹ tn The construction has a preposition with an infinitive construct and a suffix: “while [or until] I pass by” (Heb “in the passing by of me”).

[34:25]  ⁶² sn See M. Haran, “The Passover Sacrifice,” Studies in the Religion of Ancient Israel (VTSup), 86-116.

[36:14]  ⁶³ tn Heb “eleven curtains he made them.”

[38:2]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “its horns were from it,” meaning from the same piece.

[39:24]  ⁶⁵ tn The word is simply “twined” or “twisted.” It may refer to the twisted linen that so frequently is found in these lists; or, it may refer to the yarn twisted. The LXX reads “fine twined linen.” This is not found in the text of Exod 28:33, except in Smr and LXX.

[40:23]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb uses a cognate accusative construction, “he arranged the arrangement.”

[40:36]  ⁶⁷ tn The construction uses the Niphal infinitive construct to form the temporal clause.

[40:36]  ⁶⁸ tn The imperfect tense in this context describes a customary action.