Keluaran 15:17

15:17 You will bring them in ¹  and plant them in the mountain ²  of your inheritance,

in the place you made ³  for your residence, O Lord,

the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.

Keluaran 15:24

15:24 So the people murmured ⁴  against Moses, saying, “What can ⁵  we drink?”

[15:17]  ¹ tn The verb is imperfect.

[15:17]  ² sn The “mountain” and the “place” would be wherever Yahweh met with his people. It here refers to Canaan, the land promised to the patriarchs.

[15:17]  ³ tn The verb is perfect tense, referring to Yahweh’s previous choice of the holy place.

[15:24]  ⁴ tn The verb וַיִּלֹנוּ (vayyillonu) from לוּן (lun) is a much stronger word than “to grumble” or “to complain.” It is used almost exclusively in the wilderness wandering stories, to describe the rebellion of the Israelites against God (see also Ps 59:14-15). They were not merely complaining – they were questioning God’s abilities and motives. The action is something like a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

[15:24]  ⁵ tn The imperfect tense here should be given a potential nuance: “What can we drink?” since the previous verse reports that they were not able to drink the water.

[15:24]  sn It is likely that Moses used words very much like this when he prayed. The difference seems to lie in the prepositions – he cried “to” Yahweh, but the people murmured “against” Moses.