Keluaran 25:10

The Ark of the Covenant

25:10 ¹ “They are to make an ark ²  of acacia wood – its length is to be three feet nine inches, its width two feet three inches, and its height two feet three inches. ³ 

Keluaran 37:1

The Making of the Ark

37:1 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; its length was three feet nine inches, its width two feet three inches, and its height two feet three inches.

Keluaran 26:28

26:28 The middle bar in the center of the frames will reach from end to end. ⁴ 

Keluaran 36:33

36:33 He made the middle bar to reach from end to end in the center of the frames.

Keluaran 25:17

25:17 “You are to make an atonement lid ⁵  of pure gold; ⁶  its length is to be three feet nine inches, and its width is to be two feet three inches.

Keluaran 37:6

37:6 He made ⁷  an atonement lid of pure gold; its length was three feet nine inches, and its width was two feet three inches.

Keluaran 11:4

11:4 Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight ⁸  I will go throughout Egypt, ⁹ 

Keluaran 36:21

36:21 The length of each ¹⁰  frame was fifteen feet, the width of each ¹¹  frame was two and a quarter feet,

Keluaran 26:16

26:16 Each ¹²  frame is to be fifteen feet long, and each frame is to be two feet three inches wide,

Keluaran 27:5

27:5 You are to put it under the ledge of the altar below, so that the network will come ¹³  halfway up the altar. ¹⁴ 

Keluaran 38:4

38:4 He made a grating for the altar, a network of bronze under its ledge, halfway up from the bottom.

Keluaran 25:8

25:8 Let them make ¹⁵  for me a sanctuary, ¹⁶  so that I may live among them.

Keluaran 25:23

The Table for the Bread of the Presence

25:23 ¹⁷ “You are to make a table of acacia wood; its length is to be three feet, its width one foot six inches, and its height two feet three inches.

Keluaran 30:13

30:13 Everyone who crosses over to those who are numbered ¹⁸  is to pay this: a half shekel ¹⁹  according to the shekel of the sanctuary ²⁰  (a shekel weighs twenty gerahs). The half shekel is to be an offering ²¹  to the Lord.

Keluaran 14:22

14:22 So the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the water forming a wall ²²  for them on their right and on their left.

Keluaran 14:29

14:29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground in the middle of the sea, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

Keluaran 29:45

29:45 I will reside ²³  among the Israelites, and I will be their God,

Keluaran 3:4

3:4 When the Lord ²⁴  saw that ²⁵  he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” ²⁶  And Moses ²⁷  said, “Here I am.”

Keluaran 14:23

14:23 The Egyptians chased them and followed them into the middle of the sea – all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.

Keluaran 37:10

The Making of the Table

37:10 He made the table of acacia wood; its length was three feet, its width one foot six inches, and its height two feet three inches.

Keluaran 39:23

39:23 There was an opening in the center of the robe, like the opening of a collar, with an edge all around the opening so that it could not be torn.

Keluaran 15:8

15:8 By the blast of your nostrils ²⁸  the waters were piled up,

the flowing water stood upright like a heap, ²⁹ 

and the deep waters were solidified in the heart of the sea.

Keluaran 28:32

28:32 There is to be an opening ³⁰  in its top ³¹  in the center of it, with an edge all around the opening, the work of a weaver, ³²  like the opening of a collar, ³³  so that it cannot be torn. ³⁴ 

Keluaran 22:2

22:2 “If a thief is caught ³⁵  breaking in ³⁶  and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him. ³⁷ 

Keluaran 14:16

14:16 And as for you, ³⁸  lift up your staff and extend your hand toward the sea and divide it, so that ³⁹  the Israelites may go through the middle of the sea on dry ground.

Keluaran 14:27

14:27 So Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state ⁴⁰  when the sun began to rise. ⁴¹  Now the Egyptians were fleeing ⁴²  before it, but the Lord overthrew ⁴³  the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.

Keluaran 30:15

30:15 The rich are not to increase it, ⁴⁴  and the poor are not to pay less than the half shekel when giving ⁴⁵  the offering of the Lord, to make atonement ⁴⁶  for your lives.

Keluaran 34:12

34:12 Be careful not to make ⁴⁷  a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it become a snare ⁴⁸  among you.

Keluaran 17:7

17:7 He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, ⁴⁹  saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Keluaran 29:46

29:46 and they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the Lord their God.

Keluaran 33:3

33:3 Go up ⁵⁰  to a land flowing with milk and honey. But ⁵¹  I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you ⁵²  on the way.”

Keluaran 2:5

2:5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh ⁵³  came down to wash herself ⁵⁴  by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, ⁵⁵  and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants, ⁵⁶  took it, ⁵⁷ 

Keluaran 12:29

The Deliverance from Egypt

12:29 ⁵⁸ It happened ⁵⁹  at midnight – the Lord attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

Keluaran 3:2

3:2 The angel of the Lord ⁶⁰  appeared ⁶¹  to him in ⁶²  a flame of fire from within a bush. ⁶³  He looked ⁶⁴  – and ⁶⁵  the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! ⁶⁶ 

Keluaran 38:26

38:26 one beka per person, that is, a half shekel, ⁶⁷  according to the sanctuary shekel, for everyone who crossed over to those numbered, from twenty years old or older, ⁶⁸  603,550 in all. ⁶⁹ 

Keluaran 3:20

3:20 So I will extend my hand ⁷⁰  and strike Egypt with all my wonders ⁷¹  that I will do among them, and after that he will release you. ⁷² 

Keluaran 2:3

2:3 But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket ⁷³  for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile. ⁷⁴ 

Keluaran 15:19

15:19 For the horses of Pharaoh came with his chariots and his footmen into the sea,

and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them,

but the Israelites walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.”

Keluaran 34:9

34:9 and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord ⁷⁵  go among us, for we ⁷⁶  are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Keluaran 10:1

The Eighth Blow: Locusts

10:1 ⁷⁷ The Lord said ⁷⁸  to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display ⁷⁹  these signs of mine before him, ⁸⁰ 

Keluaran 12:31

12:31 Pharaoh ⁸¹  summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out ⁸²  from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! ⁸³ 

Keluaran 28:1

The Clothing of the Priests

28:1 ⁸⁴ “And you, bring near ⁸⁵  to you your brother Aaron and his sons with him from among the Israelites, so that they may minister as my priests ⁸⁶  – Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.

Keluaran 33:5

33:5 For ⁸⁷  the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, ⁸⁸  I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, ⁸⁹  that I may know ⁹⁰  what I should do to you.’” ⁹¹ 

Keluaran 10:2

10:2 and in order that in the hearing of your son and your grandson you may tell ⁹²  how I made fools ⁹³  of the Egyptians ⁹⁴  and about ⁹⁵  my signs that I displayed ⁹⁶  among them, so that you may know ⁹⁷  that I am the Lord.”

Keluaran 4:24

4:24 Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, ⁹⁸  the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. ⁹⁹ 

Keluaran 2:13

2:13 When he went out ¹⁰⁰  the next day, ¹⁰¹  there were ¹⁰²  two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong, ¹⁰³  “Why are you attacking ¹⁰⁴  your fellow Hebrew?” ¹⁰⁵ 

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. ¹⁰⁶ 

Keluaran 18:21

18:21 But you choose ¹⁰⁷  from the people capable men, ¹⁰⁸  God-fearing, ¹⁰⁹  men of truth, ¹¹⁰  those who hate bribes, ¹¹¹  and put them over the people ¹¹²  as rulers ¹¹³  of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

Keluaran 22:28

22:28 “You must not blaspheme ¹¹⁴  God ¹¹⁵  or curse the ruler of your people.

Keluaran 30:22

Oil and Incense

30:22 ¹¹⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹¹⁷ 

Keluaran 9:24

9:24 Hail fell ¹¹⁸  and fire mingled ¹¹⁹  with the hail; the hail was so severe ¹²⁰  that there had not been any like it ¹²¹  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Keluaran 24:18

24:18 Moses went into the cloud when he went up ¹²²  the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. ¹²³ 

Keluaran 26:10

26:10 You are to make fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and fifty loops along the edge of the curtain that joins the second set.

Keluaran 39:25

39:25 They made bells of pure gold and attached the bells between the pomegranates around the hem of the robe between the pomegranates.

Keluaran 12:49

12:49 The same law will apply ¹²⁴  to the person who is native-born and to the foreigner who lives among you.”

Keluaran 26:15

26:15 “You are to make the frames ¹²⁵  for the tabernacle out of ¹²⁶  acacia wood as uprights. ¹²⁷ 

Keluaran 30:38

30:38 Whoever makes anything like it, to use as perfume, ¹²⁸  will be cut off from his people.”

Keluaran 23:25

23:25 You must serve ¹²⁹  the Lord your God, and he ¹³⁰  will bless your bread and your water, ¹³¹  and I will remove sickness from your midst.

Keluaran 25:32

25:32 Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand, ¹³²  three branches of the lampstand from one side of it and three branches of the lampstand from the other side of it. ¹³³ 

Keluaran 25:34

25:34 On the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms,

Keluaran 25:36

25:36 Their buds and their branches will be one piece, ¹³⁴  all of it one hammered piece of pure gold.

Keluaran 30:33

30:33 Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts any of it on someone not a priest ¹³⁵  will be cut off ¹³⁶  from his people.’”

Keluaran 34:10

34:10 He said, “See, I am going to make ¹³⁷  a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done ¹³⁸  in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you. ¹³⁹ 

Keluaran 7:5

7:5 Then ¹⁴⁰  the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I extend my hand ¹⁴¹  over Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.

Keluaran 8:22

8:22 But on that day I will mark off ¹⁴²  the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, ¹⁴³  so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of this land. ¹⁴⁴ 

Keluaran 12:30

12:30 Pharaoh got up ¹⁴⁵  in the night, ¹⁴⁶  along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house ¹⁴⁷  in which there was not someone dead.

Keluaran 14:28

14:28 The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea ¹⁴⁸  – not so much as one of them survived! ¹⁴⁹ 

Keluaran 16:16

16:16 “This is what ¹⁵⁰  the Lord has commanded: ¹⁵¹  ‘Each person is to gather ¹⁵²  from it what he can eat, an omer ¹⁵³  per person ¹⁵⁴  according to the number ¹⁵⁵  of your people; ¹⁵⁶  each one will pick it up ¹⁵⁷  for whoever lives ¹⁵⁸  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 21:35

21:35 If the ox of one man injures the ox of his neighbor so that it dies, then they will sell the live ox and divide its proceeds, ¹⁵⁹  and they will also divide the dead ox. ¹⁶⁰ 

Keluaran 24:16

24:16 The glory of the Lord resided ¹⁶¹  on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. ¹⁶²  On the seventh day he called to Moses from within the cloud.

Keluaran 30:23

30:23 “Take ¹⁶³  choice spices: ¹⁶⁴  twelve and a half pounds ¹⁶⁵  of free-flowing myrrh, ¹⁶⁶  half that – about six and a quarter pounds – of sweet-smelling cinnamon, six and a quarter pounds of sweet-smelling cane,

Keluaran 12:13

12:13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see ¹⁶⁷  the blood I will pass over you, ¹⁶⁸  and this plague ¹⁶⁹  will not fall on you to destroy you ¹⁷⁰  when I attack ¹⁷¹  the land of Egypt. ¹⁷² 

Keluaran 12:48

12:48 “When a foreigner lives ¹⁷³  with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, ¹⁷⁴  and then he may approach and observe it, and he will be like one who is born in the land ¹⁷⁵  – but no uncircumcised person may eat of it.

Keluaran 16:32

16:32 Moses said, “This is what ¹⁷⁶  the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept ¹⁷⁷  for generations to come, ¹⁷⁸  so that they may see ¹⁷⁹  the food I fed you in the desert when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’”

Keluaran 18:8

18:8 Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt for Israel’s sake, and all the hardship ¹⁸⁰  that had come on them ¹⁸¹  along the way, and how ¹⁸²  the Lord had delivered them.

Keluaran 23:31

23:31 I will set ¹⁸³  your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, ¹⁸⁴  for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

Keluaran 25:22

25:22 I will meet with you there, ¹⁸⁵  and ¹⁸⁶  from above the atonement lid, from between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites.

Keluaran 33:16

33:16 For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?” ¹⁸⁷ 

[25:10]  ¹ sn This section begins with the ark, the most sacred and important object of Israel’s worship. Verses 10-15 provide the instructions for it, v. 16 has the placement of the Law in it, vv. 17-21 cover the mercy lid, and v. 22 the meeting above it. The point of this item in the tabernacle is to underscore the focus: the covenant people must always have God’s holy standard before them as they draw near to worship. A study of this would focus on God’s nature (he is a God of order, precision, and perfection), on the usefulness of this item for worship, and on the typology intended.

[25:10]  ² tn The word “ark” has long been used by English translations to render אָרוֹן (’aron), the word used for the wooden “box,” or “chest,” made by Noah in which to escape the flood and by the Israelites to furnish the tabernacle.

[25:10]  ³ tn The size is two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. The size in feet and inches is estimated on the assumption that the cubit is 18 inches (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 267).

[26:28]  ⁴ sn These bars served as reinforcements to hold the upright frames together. The Hebrew term for these bars is also used of crossbars on gates (Judg 16:3; Neh 3:3).

[25:17]  ⁵ tn The noun is כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet), translated “atonement lid” or “atonement plate.” The traditional translation “mercy-seat” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) came from Tyndale in 1530 and was also used by Luther in 1523. The noun is formed from the word “to make atonement.” The item that the Israelites should make would be more than just a lid for the ark. It would be the place where atonement was signified. The translation of “covering” is probably incorrect, for it derives from a rare use of the verb, if the same verb at all (the evidence shows “cover” is from another root with the same letters as this). The value of this place was that Yahweh sat enthroned above it, and so the ark essentially was the “footstool.” Blood was applied to the lid of the box, for that was the place of atonement (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 269-270).

[25:17]  ⁶ tn After verbs of making or producing, the accusative (like “gold” here) may be used to express the material from which something is made (see GKC 371 §117.hh).

[37:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he made.”

[11:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “about the middle of the night.”

[11:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will go out in the midst of Egypt.”

[36:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the frame.”

[36:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the one.”

[26:16]  ¹² tn Heb “the frame.”

[27:5]  ¹³ tn The verb is the verb “to be,” here the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. It is “and it will be” or “that it may be,” or here “that it may come” halfway up.

[27:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to the half of the altar.”

[25:8]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is a perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it follows in the sequence initiated by the imperative in v. 2 and continues with the force of a command.

[25:8]  ¹⁶ tn The word here is מִקְדּשׁ (miqdash), “a sanctuary” or “holy place”; cf. NLT “sacred residence.” The purpose of building it is to enable Yahweh to reside (וְשָׁכַנְתִּי, vÿshakhanti) in their midst. U. Cassuto reminds the reader that God did not need a place to dwell, but the Israelites needed a dwelling place for him, so that they would look to it and be reminded that he was in their midst (Exodus, 327).

[25:23]  ¹⁷ sn The Table of the Bread of the Presence (Tyndale’s translation, “Shewbread,” was used in KJV and influenced ASV, NAB) was to be a standing acknowledgment that Yahweh was the giver of daily bread. It was called the “presence-bread” because it was set out in his presence. The theology of this is that God provides, and the practice of this is that the people must provide for constant thanks. So if the ark speaks of communion through atonement, the table speaks of dedicatory gratitude.

[30:13]  ¹⁸ sn Each man was to pass in front of the counting officer and join those already counted on the other side.

[30:13]  ¹⁹ sn The half shekel weight of silver would be about one-fifth of an ounce (6 grams).

[30:13]  ²⁰ sn It appears that some standard is in view for the amount of a shekel weight. The sanctuary shekel is sometimes considered to be twice the value of the ordinary shekel. The “gerah,” also of uncertain meaning, was mentioned as a reference point for the ancient reader to understand the value of the required payment. It may also be that the expression meant “a sacred shekel” and looked at the purpose more – a shekel for sanctuary dues. This would mean that the standard of the shekel weight was set because it was the traditional amount of sacred dues (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 333). “Though there is no certainty, the shekel is said to weigh about 11,5 grams…Whether an official standard is meant [by ‘sanctuary shekel’] or whether the sanctuary shekel had a different weight than the ‘ordinary’ shekel is not known” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:181).

[30:13]  ²¹ tn Or “contribution” (תְּרוּמָה, tÿrumah).

[14:22]  ²² tn The clause literally reads, “and the waters [were] for them a wall.” The word order in Hebrew is disjunctive, with the vav (ו) on the noun introducing a circumstantial clause.

[14:22]  sn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 119), still trying to explain things with natural explanations, suggests that a northeast wind is to be thought of (an east wind would be directly in their face he says), such as a shallow ford might cooperate with an ebb tide in keeping a passage clear. He then quotes Dillmann about the “wall” of water: “A very summary poetical and hyperbolical (xv. 8) description of the occurrence, which at most can be pictured as the drying up of a shallow ford, on both sides of which the basin of the sea was much deeper, and remained filled with water.” There is no way to “water down” the text to fit natural explanations; the report clearly shows a miraculous work of God making a path through the sea – a path that had to be as wide as half a mile in order for the many people and their animals to cross between about 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:389). The text does not say that they actually only started across in the morning watch, however.

[29:45]  ²³ tn The verb has the root שָׁכַן (shakan), from which came the word for the dwelling place, or sanctuary, itself (מִשְׁכָּן, mishkan). It is also used for the description of “the Shekinah glory.” God is affirming that he will reside in the midst of his people.

[3:4]  ²⁴ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) is subordinated as a temporal clause to the main point of the verse, that God called to him. The language is anthropomorphic, as if God’s actions were based on his observing what Moses did.

[3:4]  ²⁵ tn The particle כִּי (ki, “that”) introduces the noun clause that functions as the direct object of the verb “saw” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 81, §490).

[3:4]  ²⁶ sn The repetition of the name in God’s call is emphatic, making the appeal direct and immediate (see also Gen 22:11; 46:2). The use of the personal name shows how specifically God directed the call and that he knew this person. The repetition may have stressed even more that it was indeed he whom the Lord wanted. It would have been an encouragement to Moses that this was in fact the Lord who was meeting him.

[3:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “And he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:8]  ²⁸ sn The phrase “the blast of your nostrils” is a bold anthropomorphic expression for the wind that came in and dried up the water.

[15:8]  ²⁹ tn The word “heap” describes the walls of water. The waters, which are naturally fluid, stood up as though they were a heap, a mound of earth. Likewise, the flowing waters deep in the ocean solidified – as though they were turned to ice (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 175).

[28:32]  ³⁰ tn Heb “mouth” or “opening” (פִּי, pi; in construct).

[28:32]  ³¹ tn The “mouth of its head” probably means its neck; it may be rendered “the opening for the head,” except the pronominal suffix would have to refer to Aaron, and that is not immediately within the context.

[28:32]  ³² tn Or “woven work” (KJV, ASV, NASB), that is, “the work of a weaver.” The expression suggests that the weaving was from the fabric edges itself and not something woven and then added to the robe. It was obviously intended to keep the opening from fraying.

[28:32]  ³³ tn The expression כְּפִי תַחְרָא (kÿfi takhra’) is difficult. It was early rendered “like the opening of a coat of mail.” It occurs only here and in the parallel 39:23. Tg. Onq. has “coat of mail.” S. R. Driver suggests “a linen corselet,” after the Greek (Exodus, 308). See J. Cohen, “A Samaritan Authentication of the Rabbinic Interpretation of kephi tahra’,” VT 24 (1974): 361-66.

[28:32]  ³⁴ tn The verb is the Niphal imperfect, here given the nuance of potential imperfect. Here it serves in a final clause (purpose/result), introduced only by the negative (see GKC 503-4 §165.a).

[22:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “found” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[22:2]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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.

[14:16]  ³⁸ tn The conjunction plus pronoun (“and you”) is emphatic – “and as for you” – before the imperative “lift up.” In contrast, v. 17 begins with “and as for me, I….”

[14:16]  ³⁹ tn The imperfect (or jussive) with the vav (ו) is sequential, coming after the series of imperatives instructing Moses to divide the sea; the form then gives the purpose (or result) of the activity – “that they may go.”

[14:27]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew term לְאֵיתָנוֹ (lÿ’etano) means “to its place,” or better, “to its perennial state.” The point is that the sea here had a normal level, and now when the Egyptians were in the sea on the dry ground the water would return to that level.

[14:27]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “at the turning of the morning”; NASB, NIV, TEV, CEV “at daybreak.”

[14:27]  ⁴² tn The clause begins with the disjunctive vav (ו) on the noun, signaling either a circumstantial clause or a new beginning. It could be rendered, “Although the Egyptians…Yahweh…” or “as the Egyptians….”

[14:27]  ⁴³ tn The verb means “shake out” or “shaking off.” It has the significance of “throw downward.” See Neh 5:13 or Job 38:13.

[30:15]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “pay more.”

[30:15]  ⁴⁵ tn The form is לָתֵת (latet), the Qal infinitive construct with the lamed preposition. The infinitive here is explaining the preceding verbs. They are not to increase or diminish the amount “in paying the offering.” The construction approximates a temporal clause.

[30:15]  ⁴⁶ tn This infinitive construct (לְכַפֵּר, lÿkhapper) provides the purpose of the giving the offering – to atone.

[34:12]  ⁴⁷ tn The exact expression is “take heed to yourself lest you make.” It is the second use of this verb in the duties, now in the Niphal stem. To take heed to yourself means to watch yourself, be sure not to do something. Here, if they failed to do this, they would end up making entangling treaties.

[34:12]  ⁴⁸ sn A snare would be a trap, an allurement to ruin. See Exod 23:33.

[17:7]  ⁴⁹ sn The name Massah (מַסָּה, massah) means “Proving”; it is derived from the verb “test, prove, try.” And the name Meribah (מְרִיבָה, mÿrivah) means “Strife”; it is related to the verb “to strive, quarrel, contend.” The choice of these names for the place would serve to remind Israel for all time of this failure with God. God wanted this and all subsequent generations to know how unbelief challenges God. And yet, he gave them water. So in spite of their failure, he remained faithful to his promises. The incident became proverbial, for it is the warning in Ps 95:7-8, which is quoted in Heb 3:15: “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness. There your fathers tested me and tried me, and they saw my works for forty years.” The lesson is clear enough: to persist in this kind of unbelief could only result in the loss of divine blessing. Or, to put it another way, if they refused to believe in the power of God, they would wander powerless in the wilderness. They had every reason to believe, but they did not. (Note that this does not mean they are unbelievers, only that they would not take God at his word.)

[33:3]  ⁵⁰ tn This verse seems to be a continuation of the command to “go up” since it begins with “to a land….” The intervening clauses are therefore parenthetical or relative. But the translation is made simpler by supplying the verb.

[33:3]  ⁵¹ tn This is a strong adversative here, “but.”

[33:3]  ⁵² tn The clause is “lest I consume you.” It would go with the decision not to accompany them: “I will not go up with you…lest I consume (destroy) you in the way.” The verse is saying that because of the people’s bent to rebellion, Yahweh would not remain in their midst as he had formerly said he would do. Their lives would be at risk if he did.

[2:5]  ⁵³ sn It is impossible, perhaps, to identify with certainty who this person was. For those who have taken a view that Rameses was the pharaoh, there were numerous daughters for Rameses. She is named Tharmuth in Jub. 47:5; Josephus spells it Thermouthis (Ant. 2.9.5 [2.224]), but Eusebius has Merris (Praep. Ev. ix. 27). E. H. Merrill (Kingdom of Priests, 60) makes a reasonable case for her identification as the famous Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I. She would have been there about the time of Moses’ birth, and the general picture of her from history shows her to be the kind of princess with enough courage to countermand a decree of her father.

[2:5]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “bathe.”

[2:5]  ⁵⁵ sn A disjunctive vav initiates here a circumstantial clause. The picture is one of a royal entourage coming down to the edge of a tributary of the river, and while the princess was bathing, her female attendants were walking along the edge of the water out of the way of the princess. They may not have witnessed the discovery or the discussion.

[2:5]  ⁵⁶ tn The word here is אָמָה (’amah), which means “female slave.” The word translated “attendants” earlier in the verse is נַעֲרֹת (na’arot, “young women”), possibly referring here to an assortment of servants and companions.

[2:5]  ⁵⁷ tn The verb is preterite, third person feminine singular, with a pronominal suffix, from לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”). The form says literally “and she took it,” and retains the princess as the subject of the verb.

[12:29]  ⁵⁸ sn The next section records the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and so becomes the turning point of the book. Verses 28 and 29 could be included in the exposition of the previous section as the culmination of that part. The message might highlight God’s requirement for deliverance from bondage through the application of the blood of the sacrifice, God’s instruction for the memorial of deliverance through the purging of corruption, and the compliance of those who believed the message. But these verses also form the beginning of this next section (and so could be used transitionally). This unit includes the judgment on Egypt (29-30), the exodus from Egypt (31-39) and the historical summation and report (40-42).

[12:29]  ⁵⁹ tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), often translated “and it came to pass.” Here it could be left untranslated: “In the middle of the night Yahweh attacked.” The word order of the next and main clause furthers the emphasis by means of the vav disjunctive on the divine name preceding the verb. The combination of these initial and disjunctive elements helps to convey the suddenness of the attack, while its thoroughness is stressed by the repetition of “firstborn” in the rest of the verse, the merism (“from the firstborn of Pharaoh…to the firstborn of the captive”), and the mention of cattle.

[3:2]  ⁶⁰ sn The designation “the angel of the Lord” (Heb “the angel of Yahweh”) occurred in Genesis already (16:7-13; 21:17; 22:11-18). There is some ambiguity in the expression, but it seems often to be interchangeable with God’s name itself, indicating that it refers to the Lord.

[3:2]  ⁶¹ tn The verb וַיֵּרָא (vayyera’) is the Niphal preterite of the verb “to see.” For similar examples of רָאָה (ra’ah) in Niphal where the subject “appears,” that is, allows himself to be seen, or presents himself, see Gen 12:7; 35:9; 46:29; Exod 6:3; and 23:17. B. Jacob notes that God appears in this way only to individuals and never to masses of people; it is his glory that appears to the masses (Exodus, 49).

[3:2]  ⁶² tn Gesenius rightly classifies this as a bet (ב) essentiae (GKC 379 §119.i); it would then indicate that Yahweh appeared to Moses “as a flame.”

[3:2]  ⁶³ sn Fire frequently accompanies the revelation of Yahweh in Exodus as he delivers Israel, guides her, and purifies her. The description here is unique, calling attention to the manifestation as a flame of fire from within the bush. Philo was the first to interpret the bush as Israel, suffering under the persecution of Egypt but never consumed. The Bible leaves the interpretation open. However, in this revelation the fire is coming from within the bush, not from outside, and it represents the Lord who will deliver his people from persecution. See further E. Levine, “The Evolving Symbolism of the Burning Bush,” Dor le Dor 8 (1979): 185-93.

[3:2]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “And he saw.”

[3:2]  ⁶⁵ tn The text again uses the deictic particle with vav, וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), traditionally rendered “and behold.” The particle goes with the intense gaze, the outstretched arm, the raised eyebrow – excitement and intense interest: “look, over there.” It draws the reader into the immediate experience of the subject.

[3:2]  ⁶⁶ tn The construction uses the suffixed negative אֵינֶנּוּ (’enennu) to convey the subject of the passive verb: “It was not” consumed. This was the amazing thing, for nothing would burn faster in the desert than a thornbush on fire.

[38:26]  ⁶⁷ sn The weight would be about half an ounce.

[38:26]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “upward.”

[38:26]  ⁶⁹ tn The phrase “in all” has been supplied.

[3:20]  ⁷⁰ sn The outstretched arm is a bold anthropomorphism. It describes the power of God. The Egyptians will later admit that the plagues were by the hand of God (Exod 8:19).

[3:20]  ⁷¹ tn The word נִפְלְאֹתַי (niflÿ’otay) does not specify what the intervention will be. As the text unfolds it will be clear that the plagues are intended. Signs and portents could refer to things people might do, but “wonders” only God could do. The root refers to that which is extraordinary, surpassing, amazing, difficult to comprehend. See Isa 9:6; Gen 18:14; Ps 139:6.

[3:20]  ⁷² sn The two uses of the root שָׁלָח (shalakh) in this verse contribute to its force. When the Lord “sends” (Qal) his hand, Pharaoh will “send” (Piel) the Israelites out of Egypt.

[2:3]  ⁷³ sn See on the meaning of this basket C. Cohen, “Hebrew tbh: Proposed Etymologies,” JANESCU 9 (1972): 36-51. This term is used elsewhere only to refer to the ark of Noah. It may be connected to the Egyptian word for “chest.”

[2:3]  ⁷⁴ sn The circumstances of the saving of the child Moses have prompted several attempts by scholars to compare the material to the Sargon myth. See R. F. Johnson, IDB 3:440-50; for the text see L. W. King, Chronicles concerning Early Babylonian Kings, 2:87-90. Those who see the narrative using the Sargon story’s pattern would be saying that the account presents Moses in imagery common to the ancient world’s expectations of extraordinary achievement and deliverance. In the Sargon story the infant’s mother set him adrift in a basket in a river; he was loved by the gods and destined for greatness. Saying Israel used this to invent the account in Exodus would undermine its reliability. But there are other difficulties with the Sargon comparison, not the least of which is the fact that the meaning and function of the Sargon story are unclear. Second, there is no outside threat to the child Sargon. The account simply shows how a child was exposed, rescued, nurtured, and became king (see B. S. Childs, Exodus [OTL], 8-12). Third, other details do not fit: Moses’ father is known, Sargon’s is not; Moses is never abandoned, since he is never out of the care of his parents, and the finder is a princess and not a goddess. Moreover, without knowing the precise function and meaning of the Sargon story, it is almost impossible to explain its use as a pattern for the biblical account. By itself, the idea of a mother putting a child by the river if she wants him to be found would have been fairly sensible, for that is where the women of the town would be washing their clothes or bathing. If someone wanted to be sure the infant was discovered by a sympathetic woman, there would be no better setting (see R. A. Cole, Exodus [TOTC], 57). While there need not be a special genre of storytelling here, it is possible that Exodus 2 might have drawn on some of the motifs and forms of the other account to describe the actual event in the sparing of Moses – if they knew of it. If so it would show that Moses was cast in the form of the greats of the past.

[34:9]  ⁷⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[34:9]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”

[10:1]  ⁷⁷ sn The Egyptians dreaded locusts like every other ancient civilization. They had particular gods to whom they looked for help in such catastrophes. The locust-scaring deities of Greece and Asia were probably looked to in Egypt as well (especially in view of the origins in Egypt of so many of those religious ideas). The announcement of the plague falls into the now-familiar pattern. God tells Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh but reminds Moses that he has hardened his heart. Yahweh explains that he has done this so that he might show his power, so that in turn they might declare his name from generation to generation. This point is stressed so often that it must not be minimized. God was laying the foundation of the faith for Israel – the sovereignty of Yahweh.

[10:1]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”

[10:1]  ⁷⁹ tn The verb is שִׁתִי (shiti, “I have put”); it is used here as a synonym for the verb שִׂים (sim). Yahweh placed the signs in his midst, where they will be obvious.

[10:1]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “in his midst.”

[12:31]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:31]  ⁸² tn The urgency in Pharaoh’s words is caught by the abrupt use of the imperatives – “get up, go” (קוּמוּ צְּאוּ, qumu tsÿ’u), and “go, serve” (וּלְכוּ עִבְדוּ, ulÿkhu ’ivdu) and “take” and “leave/go” (וָלֵכוּ…קְחוּ, qÿkhu...valekhu).

[12:31]  ⁸³ tn Heb “as you have said.” The same phrase also occurs in the following verse.

[12:31]  sn It appears from this clause that Pharaoh has given up attempting to impose restrictions as he had earlier. With the severe judgment on him for his previous refusals he should now know that these people are no longer his subjects, and he is no longer sovereign. As Moses had insisted, all the Israelites would leave, and with all their possessions, to worship Yahweh.

[28:1]  ⁸⁴ sn Some modern scholars find this and the next chapter too elaborate for the wilderness experience. To most of them this reflects the later Zadokite priesthood of the writer’s (P’s) day that was referred to Mosaic legislation for authentication. But there is no compelling reason why this should be late; it is put late because it is assumed to be P, and that is assumed to be late. But both assumptions are unwarranted. This lengthy chapter could be divided this way: instructions for preparing the garments (1-5), details of the apparel (6-39), and a warning against deviating from these (40-43). The subject matter of the first part is that God requires that his chosen ministers reflect his holy nature; the point of the second part is that God requires his ministers to be prepared to fulfill the tasks of the ministry, and the subject matter of the third part is that God warns all his ministers to safeguard the holiness of their service.

[28:1]  ⁸⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperative of the root קָרַב (qarav, “to draw near”). In the present stem the word has religious significance, namely, to present something to God, like an offering.

[28:1]  ⁸⁶ tn This entire clause is a translation of the Hebrew לְכַהֲנוֹ־לִי (lÿkhahano-li, “that he might be a priest to me”), but the form is unusual. The word means “to be a priest” or “to act as a priest.” The etymology of the word for priest, כֹּהֵן (kohen), is uncertain.

[33:5]  ⁸⁷ tn The verse simply begins “And Yahweh said.” But it is clearly meant to be explanatory for the preceding action of the people.

[33:5]  ⁸⁸ tn The construction is formed with a simple imperfect in the first half and a perfect tense with vav (ו) in the second half. Heb “[in] one moment I will go up in your midst and I will destroy you.” The verse is certainly not intended to say that God was about to destroy them. That, plus the fact that he has announced he will not go in their midst, leads most commentators to take this as a conditional clause: “If I were to do such and such, then….”

[33:5]  ⁸⁹ tn The Hebrew text also has “from on you.”

[33:5]  ⁹⁰ tn The form is the cohortative with a vav (ו) following the imperative; it therefore expresses the purpose or result: “strip off…that I may know.” The call to remove the ornaments must have been perceived as a call to show true repentance for what had happened. If they repented, then God would know how to deal with them.

[33:5]  ⁹¹ tn This last clause begins with the interrogative “what,” but it is used here as an indirect interrogative. It introduces a noun clause, the object of the verb “know.”

[10:2]  ⁹² tn The expression is unusual: תְּסַפֵּר בְּאָזְנֵי (tÿsapper bÿ’ozne, “[that] you may declare in the ears of”). The clause explains an additional reason for God’s hardening the heart of Pharaoh, namely, so that the Israelites can tell their children of God’s great wonders. The expression is highly poetic and intense – like Ps 44:1, which says, “we have heard with our ears.” The emphasis would be on the clear teaching, orally, from one generation to another.

[10:2]  ⁹³ tn The verb הִתְעַלַּלְתִּי (hit’allalti) is a bold anthropomorphism. The word means to occupy oneself at another’s expense, to toy with someone, which may be paraphrased with “mock.” The whole point is that God is shaming and disgracing Egypt, making them look foolish in their arrogance and stubbornness (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:366-67). Some prefer to translate it as “I have dealt ruthlessly” with Egypt (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 123).

[10:2]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “of Egypt.” The place is put by metonymy for the inhabitants.

[10:2]  ⁹⁵ tn The word “about” is supplied to clarify this as another object of the verb “declare.”

[10:2]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “put” or “placed.”

[10:2]  ⁹⁷ tn The form is the perfect tense with vav consecutive, וִידַעְתֶּם (vida’tem, “and that you might know”). This provides another purpose for God’s dealings with Egypt in the way that he was doing. The form is equal to the imperfect tense with vav (ו) prefixed; it thus parallels the imperfect that began v. 2 – “that you might tell.”

[4:24]  ⁹⁸ tn Or “at a lodging place” or “at an inn.”

[4:24]  ⁹⁹ sn The next section (vv. 24-26) records a rather strange story. God had said that if Pharaoh would not comply he would kill his son – but now God was ready to kill Moses, the representative of Israel, God’s own son. Apparently, one would reconstruct that on the journey Moses fell seriously ill, but his wife, learning the cause of the illness, saved his life by circumcising her son and casting the foreskin at Moses’ feet (indicating that it was symbolically Moses’ foreskin). The point is that this son of Abraham had not complied with the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. No one, according to Exod 12:40-51, would take part in the Passover-exodus who had not complied. So how could the one who was going to lead God’s people not comply? The bold anthropomorphisms and the location at the border invite comparisons with Gen 32, the Angel wrestling with Jacob. In both cases there is a brush with death that could not be forgotten. See also, W. Dumbrell, “Exodus 4:24-25: A Textual Re-examination,” HTR 65 (1972): 285-90; T. C. Butler, “An Anti-Moses Tradition,” JSOT 12 (1979): 9-15; and L. Kaplan, “And the Lord Sought to Kill Him,” HAR 5 (1981): 65-74.

[2:13]  ¹⁰⁰ tn The preterite with the vav consecutive is subordinated to the main idea of the verse.

[2:13]  ¹⁰¹ tn Heb “the second day” (so KJV, ASV).

[2:13]  ¹⁰² tn The deictic particle is used here to predicate existence, as in “here were” or “there were.” But this use of הִנֵּה (hinneh) indicates also that what he encountered was surprising or sudden – as in “Oh, look!”

[2:13]  ¹⁰³ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) is a legal term, meaning the guilty. This guilty man rejects Moses’ intervention for much the same reason Pharaoh will later (5:2) – he does not recognize his authority. Later Pharaoh will use this term to declare himself as in the wrong (9:27) and God in the right.

[2:13]  ¹⁰⁴ tn This is the third use of the verb נָכָה (nakha) in the passage; here it is the Hiphil imperfect. It may be given a progressive imperfect nuance – the attack was going on when Moses tried to intervene.

[2:13]  ¹⁰⁵ sn Heb “your neighbor.” The word רֵעֶךָ (re’ekha) appears again in 33:11 to describe the ease with which God and Moses conversed. The Law will have much to say about how the Israelites were to treat their “neighbors, fellow citizens” (Exod 20:16-17; 21:14, 18, 35; 22:7-11, 14, 26; cf. Luke 10:25-37).

[26:12]  ¹⁰⁶ 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.

[18:21]  ¹⁰⁷ tn The construction uses the independent pronoun for emphasis, and then the imperfect tense “see” (חָזָה, khazah) – “and you will see from all….” Both in Hebrew and Ugaritic expressions of “seeing” are used in the sense of choosing (Gen 41:33). See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 220.

[18:21]  ¹⁰⁸ tn The expression is אַנְשֵׁי־חַיִל (’anshe khayil, “capable men”). The attributive genitive is the word used in expressions like “mighty man of valor.” The word describes these men as respected, influential, powerful people, those looked up to by the community as leaders, and those who will have the needs of the community in mind.

[18:21]  ¹⁰⁹ tn The description “fearers of God” uses an objective genitive. It describes them as devout, worshipful, obedient servants of God.

[18:21]  ¹¹⁰ tn The expression “men of truth” (אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת, ’anshe ’emet) indicates that these men must be seekers of truth, who know that the task of a judge is to give true judgment (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 220). The word “truth” includes the ideas of faithfulness or reliability, as well as factuality itself. It could be understood to mean “truthful men,” men whose word is reliable and true.

[18:21]  ¹¹¹ tn Heb “haters of bribes.” Here is another objective genitive, one that refers to unjust gain. To hate unjust gain is to reject and refuse it. Their decisions will not be swayed by greed.

[18:21]  ¹¹² tn Heb “over them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:21]  ¹¹³ sn It is not clear how this structure would work in a judicial setting. The language of “captains of thousands,” etc., is used more for military ranks. There must have been more detailed instruction involved here, for each Israelite would have come under four leaders with this arrangement, and perhaps difficult cases would be sent to the next level. But since the task of these men would also involve instruction and guidance, the breakdown would be very useful. Deut 1:9, 13 suggest that the choice of these people was not simply Moses’ alone.

[22:28]  ¹¹⁴ tn The two verbs in this verse are synonyms: קָלַל (qalal) means “to treat lightly, curse,” and אָרַר (’arar) means “to curse.”

[22:28]  ¹¹⁵ tn The word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is “gods” or “God.” If taken as the simple plural, it could refer to the human judges, as it has in the section of laws; this would match the parallelism in the verse. If it was taken to refer to God, then the idea of cursing God would be more along the line of blasphemy. B. Jacob says that the word refers to functioning judges, and that would indirectly mean God, for they represented the religious authority, and the prince the civil authority (Exodus, 708).

[30:22]  ¹¹⁶ sn The chapter ends with these two sections. The oil (22-33) is the mark of consecration, and the incense (34-38) is a mark of pleasing service, especially in prayer. So the essence of the message of the chapter is that the servants of God must be set apart by the Spirit for ministry and must be pleasing to God in the ministry.

[30:22]  ¹¹⁷ tn Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.”

[9:24]  ¹¹⁸ 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]  ¹¹⁹ 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]  ¹²⁰ tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

[9:24]  ¹²¹ 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.”

[24:18]  ¹²² tn The verb is a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive; here, the second clause, is subordinated to the first preterite, because it seems that the entering into the cloud is the dominant point in this section of the chapter.

[24:18]  ¹²³ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 750) offers this description of some of the mystery involved in Moses’ ascending into the cloud: Moses ascended into the presence of God, but remained on earth. He did not rise to heaven – the ground remained firmly under his feet. But he clearly was brought into God’s presence; he was like a heavenly servant before God’s throne, like the angels, and he consumed neither bread nor water. The purpose of his being there was to become familiar with all God’s demands and purposes. He would receive the tablets of stone and all the instructions for the tabernacle that was to be built (beginning in chap. 25). He would not descend until the sin of the golden calf.

[12:49]  ¹²⁴ tn Heb “one law will be to.”

[26:15]  ¹²⁵ tn There is debate whether the word הַקְּרָשִׁים (haqqÿrashim) means “boards” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB) or “frames” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV) or “planks” (see Ezek 27:6) or “beams,” given the size of them. The literature on this includes M. Haran, “The Priestly Image of the Tabernacle,” HUCA 36 (1965): 192; B. A. Levine, “The Description of the Tabernacle Texts of the Pentateuch,” JAOS 85 (1965): 307-18; J. Morgenstern, “The Ark, the Ephod, and the Tent,” HUCA 17 (1942/43): 153-265; 18 (1943/44): 1-52.

[26:15]  ¹²⁶ tn “Wood” is an adverbial accusative.

[26:15]  ¹²⁷ tn The plural participle “standing” refers to how these items will be situated; they will be vertical rather than horizontal (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 354).

[30:38]  ¹²⁸ tn Or to smell it, to use for the maker’s own pleasure.

[23:25]  ¹²⁹ 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]  ¹³⁰ tn The LXX reads “and I will bless” to make the verb conform with the speaker, Yahweh.

[23:25]  ¹³¹ 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).

[25:32]  ¹³² tn Heb “from the sides of it.”

[25:32]  ¹³³ tn Heb “from the second side.”

[25:36]  ¹³⁴ tn Heb “will be from it.”

[30:33]  ¹³⁵ tn Heb “a stranger,” meaning someone not ordained a priest.

[30:33]  ¹³⁶ 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.

[34:10]  ¹³⁷ tn Here again is a use of the futur instans participle; the deictic particle plus the pronoun precedes the participle, showing what is about to happen.

[34:10]  ¹³⁸ tn The verb here is בָּרָא (bara’, “to create”). The choice of this verb is to stress that these wonders would be supernaturally performed, for the verb is used only with God as the subject.

[34:10]  ¹³⁹ sn The idea is that God will be doing awesome things in dealing with them, i.e., to fulfill his program.

[7:5]  ¹⁴⁰ tn The emphasis on sequence is clear because the form is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive.

[7:5]  sn The use of the verb “to know” (יָדַע, yada’) underscores what was said with regard to 6:3. By the time the actual exodus took place, the Egyptians would have “known” the name Yahweh, probably hearing it more than they wished. But they will know – experience the truth of it – when Yahweh defeats them.

[7:5]  ¹⁴¹ sn This is another anthropomorphism, parallel to the preceding. If God were to “put” (נָתַן, natan), “extend” (נָטָה, nata), or “reach out” (שָׁלַח, shalakh) his hand against them, they would be destroyed. Contrast Exod 24:11.

[8:22]  ¹⁴² tn Or “distinguish.” וְהִפְלֵיתִי (vÿhifleti) is the Hiphil perfect of פָּלָה (palah). The verb in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” God was going to keep the flies away from Goshen – he was setting that apart. The Greek text assumed that the word was from פָּלֵא (pale’), and translated it something like “I will marvelously glorify.”

[8:22]  ¹⁴³ tn The relative clause modifies the land of Goshen as the place “in which my people are dwelling.” But the normal word for “dwelling” is not used here. Instead, עֹמֵד (’omed) is used, which literally means “standing.” The land on which Israel stood was spared the flies and the hail.

[8:22]  ¹⁴⁴ tn Or “of the earth” (KJV, ASV, NAB).

[12:30]  ¹⁴⁵ tn Heb “arose,” the verb קוּם (qum) in this context certainly must describe a less ceremonial act. The entire country woke up in terror because of the deaths.

[12:30]  ¹⁴⁶ tn The noun is an adverbial accusative of time – “in the night” or “at night.”

[12:30]  ¹⁴⁷ sn Or so it seemed. One need not push this description to complete literalness. The reference would be limited to houses that actually had firstborn people or animals. In a society in which households might include more than one generation of humans and animals, however, the presence of a firstborn human or animal would be the rule rather than the exception.

[14:28]  ¹⁴⁸ tn Heb “that was coming after them into the sea.” The referent of “them” (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:28]  ¹⁴⁹ tn Heb “not was left among them as much as one.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵⁰ tn Heb “the thing that.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵¹ 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]  ¹⁵² tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵³ 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]  ¹⁵⁴ tn Heb “for a head.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵⁵ tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[16:16]  ¹⁵⁶ tn Traditionally “souls.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵⁷ tn Heb “will take.”

[16:16]  ¹⁵⁸ tn “lives” has been supplied.

[21:35]  ¹⁵⁹ tn Literally “its silver” or “silver for it.”

[21:35]  ¹⁶⁰ tn Heb “divide the dead.” The noun “ox” has been supplied.

[24:16]  ¹⁶¹ sn The verb is וַיִּשְׁכֹּן (vayyishkon, “and dwelt, abode”). From this is derived the epithet “the Shekinah Glory,” the dwelling or abiding glory. The “glory of Yahweh” was a display visible at a distance, clearly in view of the Israelites. To them it was like a consuming fire in the midst of the cloud that covered the mountain. That fire indicated that Yahweh wished to accept their sacrifice, as if it were a pleasant aroma to him, as Leviticus would say. This “appearance” indicated that the phenomena represented a shimmer of the likeness of his glory (B. Jacob, Exodus, 749). The verb, according to U. Cassuto (Exodus, 316), also gives an inkling of the next section of the book, the building of the “tabernacle,” the dwelling place, the מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan). The vision of the glory of Yahweh confirmed the authority of the revelation of the Law given to Israel. This chapter is the climax of God’s bringing people into covenant with himself, the completion of his revelation to them, a completion that is authenticated with the miraculous. It ends with the mediator going up in the clouds to be with God, and the people down below eagerly awaiting his return. The message of the whole chapter could be worded this way: Those whom God sanctifies by the blood of the covenant and instructs by the book of the covenant may enjoy fellowship with him and anticipate a far more glorious fellowship. So too in the NT the commandments and teachings of Jesus are confirmed by his miraculous deeds and by his glorious manifestation on the Mount of the Transfiguration, where a few who represented the disciples would see his glory and be able to teach others. The people of the new covenant have been brought into fellowship with God through the blood of the covenant; they wait eagerly for his return from heaven in the clouds.

[24:16]  ¹⁶² tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

[30:23]  ¹⁶³ 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]  ¹⁶⁴ 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]  ¹⁶⁵ 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]  ¹⁶⁶ 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).

[12:13]  ¹⁶⁷ tn Both of the verbs for seeing and passing over are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutives: וּפָסַחְתִּי…וְרָאִיתִי (vÿra’iti...ufasakhti); the first of these parallel verb forms is subordinated to the second as a temporal clause. See Gesenius’s description of perfect consecutives in the protasis and apodosis (GKC 494 §159.g).

[12:13]  ¹⁶⁸ tn The meaning of the verb is supplied in part from the near context of seeing the sign and omitting to destroy, as well as the verb at the start of verse 12 “pass through, by, over.” Isa 31:5 says, “Just as birds hover over a nest, so the Lord who commands armies will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it; as he passes over he will rescue it.” The word does not occur enough times to enable one to delineate a clear meaning. It is probably not the same word as “to limp” found in 1 Kgs 18:21, 26, unless there is a highly developed category of meaning there.

[12:13]  ¹⁶⁹ tn The word “plague” (נֶגֶף, negef) is literally “a blow” or “a striking.” It usually describes a calamity or affliction given to those who have aroused God’s anger, as in Exod 30:12; Num 8:19; 16:46, 47; Josh 22:17 (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 92-93).

[12:13]  ¹⁷⁰ tn Heb “for destruction.” The form מַשְׁחִית (mashkhit) is the Hiphil participle of שָׁחַת (shakhat). The word itself is a harsh term; it was used to describe Yahweh’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 13:10).

[12:13]  ¹⁷¹ tn בְּהַכֹּתִי (bÿhakkoti) is the Hiphil infinitive construct from נָכָה (nakhah), with a preposition prefixed and a pronominal suffix added to serve as the subjective genitive – the subject of this temporal clause. It is also used in 12:12.

[12:13]  ¹⁷² sn For additional discussions, see W. H. Elder, “The Passover,” RevExp 74 (1977): 511-22; E. Nutz, “The Passover,” BV 12 (1978): 23-28; H. M. Kamsler, “The Blood Covenant in the Bible,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 94-98; A. Rodriguez, Substitution in the Hebrew Cultus; B. Ramm, “The Theology of the Book of Exodus: A Reflection on Exodus 12:12,” SwJT 20 (1977): 59-68; and M. Gilula, “The Smiting of the First-Born: An Egyptian Myth?” TA 4 (1977): 94-85.

[12:48]  ¹⁷³ tn Both the participle “foreigner” and the verb “lives” are from the verb גּוּר (gur), which means “to sojourn, to dwell as an alien.” This reference is to a foreigner who settles in the land. He is the protected foreigner; when he comes to another area where he does not have his clan to protect him, he must come under the protection of the Law, or the people. If the “resident alien” is circumcised, he may participate in the Passover (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 104).

[12:48]  ¹⁷⁴ tn The infinitive absolute functions as the finite verb here, and “every male” could be either the object or the subject (see GKC 347 §113.gg and 387 §121.a).

[12:48]  ¹⁷⁵ tn אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh) refers to the native-born individual, the native Israelite as opposed to the “stranger, alien” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 104); see also W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, 127, 210.

[16:32]  ¹⁷⁶ tn Heb “This is the thing that.”

[16:32]  ¹⁷⁷ tn Heb “for keeping.”

[16:32]  ¹⁷⁸ tn Heb “according to your generations” (see Exod 12:14).

[16:32]  ¹⁷⁹ tn In this construction after the particle expressing purpose or result, the imperfect tense has the nuance of final imperfect, equal to a subjunctive in the classical languages.

[18:8]  ¹⁸⁰ tn A rare word, “weariness” of the hardships.

[18:8]  ¹⁸¹ tn Heb “found them.”

[18:8]  ¹⁸² tn Here “how” has been supplied.

[23:31]  ¹⁸³ tn The form is a perfect tense with vav consecutive.

[23:31]  ¹⁸⁴ tn In the Hebrew Bible “the River” usually refers to the Euphrates (cf. NASB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT). There is some thought that it refers to a river Nahr el Kebir between Lebanon and Syria. See further W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:447; and G. W. Buchanan, The Consequences of the Covenant (NovTSup), 91-100.

[25:22]  ¹⁸⁵ sn Here then is the main point of the ark of the covenant, and the main point of all worship – meeting with God through atonement. The text makes it clear that here God would meet with Moses (“you” is singular) and then he would speak to the people – he is the mediator of the covenant. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 272) makes the point that the verb here is not the word that means “to meet by chance” (as in Exod 3:18), but “to meet” by appointment for a purpose (וְנוֹעַדְתִּי, vÿno’adti). The parallel in the NT is Jesus Christ and his work. The theology is that the Law condemns people as guilty of sin, but the sacrifice of Christ makes atonement. So he is the “place of propitiation (Rom 3:25) who gains communion with the Father for sinners. A major point that could be made from this section is this: At the center of worship must be the atoning work of Christ – a perpetual reminder of God’s righteous standard (the testimony in the ark) and God’s gracious provision (the atonement lid).

[25:22]  ¹⁸⁶ tn The verb is placed here in the text: “and I will speak”; it has been moved in this translation to be closer to the direct object clause.

[33:16]  ¹⁸⁷ sn See W. Brueggemann, “The Crisis and Promise of Presence in Israel,” HBT 1 (1979): 47-86; and N. M. Waldman, “God’s Ways – A Comparative Note,” JQR 70 (1979): 67-70.