Keluaran 3:15

3:15 God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord ¹  – the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you. This is my name ²  forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’ ³ 

Keluaran 4:9

4:9 And if ⁴  they do not believe even these two signs or listen to you, ⁵  then take ⁶  some water from the Nile and pour it out on the dry ground. The water you take out of the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” ⁷ 

Keluaran 8:20

The Fourth Blow: Flies

8:20 ⁸ The Lord ⁹  said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Release my people that they may serve me!

Keluaran 12:27

12:27 then you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice ¹⁰  of the Lord’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck ¹¹  Egypt and delivered our households.’” The people bowed down low ¹²  to the ground,

Keluaran 18:21-22

18:21 But you choose ¹³  from the people capable men, ¹⁴  God-fearing, ¹⁵  men of truth, ¹⁶  those who hate bribes, ¹⁷  and put them over the people ¹⁸  as rulers ¹⁹  of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 18:22 They will judge ²⁰  the people under normal circumstances, ²¹  and every difficult case ²²  they will bring to you, but every small case ²³  they themselves will judge, so that ²⁴  you may make it easier for yourself, ²⁵  and they will bear the burden ²⁶  with you.

Keluaran 26:33

26:33 You are to hang this curtain under the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there behind the curtain. ²⁷  The curtain will make a division for you between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. ²⁸ 

Keluaran 29:20

29:20 and you are to kill the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, ²⁹  and then splash the blood all around on the altar.

Keluaran 29:22

29:22 “You are to take from the ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe ³⁰  of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and the right thigh – for it is the ram for consecration ³¹  –

Keluaran 30:36

30:36 You are to beat some of it very fine and put some of it before the ark of the testimony in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you; it is to be most holy to you.

Keluaran 35:10

35:10 Every skilled person ³²  among you is to come and make all that the Lord has commanded:

[3:15]  ¹ sn Heb “Yahweh,” traditionally rendered “the Lord.” First the verb “I AM” was used (v. 14) in place of the name to indicate its meaning and to remind Moses of God’s promise to be with him (v. 12). Now in v. 15 the actual name is used for clear identification: “Yahweh…has sent me.” This is the name that the patriarchs invoked and proclaimed in the land of Canaan.

[3:15]  ² sn The words “name” and “memorial” are at the heart of the two parallel clauses that form a poetic pair. The Hebrew word “remembrance” is a poetical synonym for “name” (cf. Job 18:17; Ps 135:13; Prov 10:7; Isa 26:8) and conveys the idea that the nature or character of the person is to be remembered and praised (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 24).

[3:15]  ³ tn The repetition of “generation” in this expression serves as a periphrasis for the superlative: “to the remotest generation” (GKC 432 §133.l).

[4:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it will be if.”

[4:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “listen to your voice.”

[4:9]  ⁶ tn The verb form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; it functions then as the equivalent of the imperfect tense – here as an imperfect of instruction.

[4:9]  ⁷ sn This is a powerful sign, for the Nile was always known as the source of life in Egypt, but now it will become the evidence of death. So the three signs were alike, each consisting of life and death. They would clearly anticipate the struggle with Egypt through the plagues. The point is clear that in the face of the possibility that people might not believe, the servants of God must offer clear proof of the power of God as they deliver the message of God. The rest is up to God.

[8:20]  ⁸ sn The announcement of the fourth plague parallels that of the first plague. Now there will be flies, likely dogflies. Egypt has always suffered from flies, more so in the summer than in the winter. But the flies the plague describes involve something greater than any normal season for flies. The main point that can be stressed in this plague comes by tracing the development of the plagues in their sequence. Now, with the flies, it becomes clear that God can inflict suffering on some people and preserve others – a preview of the coming judgment that will punish Egypt but set Israel free. God is fully able to keep the dog-fly in the land of the Egyptians and save his people from these judgments.

[8:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “And Yahweh said.”

[12:27]  ¹⁰ sn This expression “the sacrifice of Yahweh’s Passover” occurs only here. The word זֶבַח (zevakh) means “slaughtering” and so a blood sacrifice. The fact that this word is used in Lev 3 for the peace offering has linked the Passover as a kind of peace offering, and both the Passover and the peace offerings were eaten as communal meals.

[12:27]  ¹¹ tn The verb means “to strike, smite, plague”; it is the same verb that has been used throughout this section (נָגַף, nagaf). Here the construction is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause.

[12:27]  ¹² tn The two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “and the people bowed down and they worshiped.” The words are synonymous, and so one is taken as the adverb for the other.

[18:21]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn The description “fearers of God” uses an objective genitive. It describes them as devout, worshipful, obedient servants of God.

[18:21]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “over them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:21]  ¹⁹ 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.

[18:22]  ²⁰ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, making it equivalent to the imperfect of instruction in the preceding verse.

[18:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “in every time,” meaning “in all normal cases” or “under normal circumstances.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[18:22]  ²² tn Heb “great thing.”

[18:22]  ²³ tn Heb “thing.”

[18:22]  ²⁴ tn The vav here shows the result or the purpose of the instructions given.

[18:22]  ²⁵ tn The expression וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ (vÿhaqel me’aleykha) means literally “and make it light off yourself.” The word plays against the word for “heavy” used earlier – since it was a heavy or burdensome task, Moses must lighten the load.

[18:22]  ²⁶ tn Here “the burden” has been supplied.

[26:33]  ²⁷ tn The traditional expression is “within the veil,” literally “into the house (or area) of the (special) curtain.”

[26:33]  ²⁸ tn Or “the Holy of Holies.”

[29:20]  ²⁹ sn By this ritual the priests were set apart completely to the service of God. The ear represented the organ of hearing (as in “ears you have dug” in Ps 40 or “awakens my ear” in Isa 50), and this had to be set apart to God so that they could hear the Word of God. The thumb and the hand represented the instrument to be used for all ministry, and so everything that they “put their hand to” had to be dedicated to God and appropriate for his service. The toe set the foot apart to God, meaning that the walk of the priest had to be consecrated – where he went, how he conducted himself, what life he lived, all belonged to God now.

[29:22]  ³⁰ tn S. R. Driver suggests that this is the appendix or an appendix, both here and in v. 13 (Exodus, 320). “The surplus, the appendage of liver, found with cow, sheep, or goat, but not with humans: Lobus caudatus” (HALOT 453 s.v. יֹתֶרֶת).

[29:22]  ³¹ tn Heb “filling.”

[35:10]  ³² tn Heb “wise of heart”; here also “heart” would be a genitive of specification, showing that there were those who could make skillful decisions.