Keluaran 4:18

The Return of Moses

4:18 ¹ So Moses went back ²  to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return ³  to my relatives ⁴  in Egypt and see ⁵  if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

Keluaran 7:19

7:19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over Egypt’s waters – over their rivers, over their canals, ⁶  over their ponds, and over all their reservoirs ⁷  – so that it becomes ⁸  blood.’ There will be blood everywhere in ⁹  the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers.”

Keluaran 8:3

8:3 The Nile will swarm ¹⁰  with frogs, and they will come up and go into your house, in your bedroom, and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading troughs. ¹¹ 

Keluaran 14:5

14:5 When it was reported ¹²  to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, ¹³  the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and the king and his servants said, ¹⁴  “What in the world have we done? ¹⁵  For we have released the people of Israel ¹⁶  from serving us!”

Keluaran 16:3

16:3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died ¹⁷  by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by ¹⁸  the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, ¹⁹  for you have brought us out into this desert to kill ²⁰  this whole assembly with hunger!”

Keluaran 19:13

19:13 No hand will touch him ²¹  – but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; ²²  he must not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast they may ²³  go up on the mountain.”

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. ²⁴  The curtain will make a division for you between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. ²⁵ 

Keluaran 27:9

The Courtyard

27:9 “You are to make the courtyard ²⁶  of the tabernacle. For the south side ²⁷  there are to be hangings ²⁸  for the courtyard of fine twisted linen, one hundred fifty feet long for one side, ²⁹ 

Keluaran 28:15

28:15 “You are to make a breastpiece for use in making decisions, ³⁰  the work of an artistic designer; you are to make it in the same fashion as the ephod; you are to make it of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twisted linen.

[4:18]  ¹ sn This last section of the chapter reports Moses’ compliance with the commission. It has four parts: the decision to return (18-20), the instruction (21-23), the confrontation with Yahweh (24-26), and the presentation with Aaron (27-31).

[4:18]  ² tn The two verbs form a verbal hendiadys, the second verb becoming adverbial in the translation: “and he went and he returned” becomes “and he went back.”

[4:18]  ³ tn There is a sequence here with the two cohortative forms: אֵלְכָה נָּא וְאָשׁוּבָה (’elÿkhah nna’ vÿ’ashuva) – “let me go in order that I may return.”

[4:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:18]  ⁵ tn This verb is parallel to the preceding cohortative and so also expresses purpose: “let me go that I may return…and that I may see.”

[7:19]  ⁶ tn Or “irrigation rivers” of the Nile.

[7:19]  ⁷ sn The Hebrew term means “gathering,” i.e., wherever they gathered or collected waters, notably cisterns and reservoirs. This would naturally lead to the inclusion of both wooden and stone vessels – down to the smallest gatherings.

[7:19]  ⁸ tn The imperfect tense with vav (ו) after the imperative indicates the purpose or result: “in order that they [the waters] be[come] blood.”

[7:19]  ⁹ tn Or “in all.”

[8:3]  ¹⁰ sn The choice of this verb שָׁרַץ (sharats) recalls its use in the creation account (Gen 1:20). The water would be swarming with frogs in abundance. There is a hint here of this being a creative work of God as well.

[8:3]  ¹¹ sn This verse lists places the frogs will go. The first three are for Pharaoh personally – they are going to touch his private life. Then the text mentions the servants and the people. Mention of the ovens and kneading bowls (or troughs) of the people indicates that food would be contaminated and that it would be impossible even to eat a meal in peace.

[14:5]  ¹² tn Heb “and it was told.” The present translation uses “reported,” since this involves information given to a superior.

[14:5]  ¹³ tn The verb must be given a past perfect translation because the fleeing occurred before the telling.

[14:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and they said.” The referent (the king and his servants) is supplied for clarity.

[14:5]  ¹⁵ tn The question literally is “What is this we have done?” The demonstrative pronoun is used as an enclitic particle for emphasis (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[14:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “released Israel.” By metonymy the name of the nation is used collectively for the people who constitute it (the Israelites).

[16:3]  ¹⁷ tn The text reads: מִי־יִתֵּן מוּתֵנוּ (mi-yitten mutenu, “who will give our dying”) meaning “If only we had died.” מוּתֵנוּ is the Qal infinitive construct with the suffix. This is one way that Hebrew expresses the optative with an infinitive construct. See R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 91-92, §547.

[16:3]  ¹⁸ tn The form is a Qal infinitive construct used in a temporal clause, and the verb “when we ate” has the same structure.

[16:3]  ¹⁹ sn That the complaint leading up to the manna is unjustified can be seen from the record itself. They left Egypt with flocks and herds and very much cattle, and about 45 days later they are complaining that they are without food. Moses reminded them later that they lacked nothing (Deut 3:7; for the whole sermon on this passage, see 8:1-20). Moreover, the complaint is absurd because the food of work gangs was far more meager than they recall. The complaint was really against Moses. They crave the eating of meat and of bread and so God will meet that need; he will send bread from heaven and quail as well.

[16:3]  ²⁰ tn לְהָמִית (lÿhamit) is the Hiphil infinitive construct showing purpose. The people do not trust the intentions or the plan of their leaders and charge Moses with bringing everyone out to kill them.

[19:13]  ²¹ sn There is some ambiguity here. The clause either means that no man will touch the mountain, so that if there is someone who is to be put to death he must be stoned or shot since they could not go into the mountain region to get him, or, it may mean no one is to touch the culprit who went in to the region of the mountain.

[19:13]  ²² tn Heb “a man.”

[19:13]  ²³ tn The nuance here is permissive imperfect, “they may go up.” The ram’s horn would sound the blast to announce that the revelation period was over and it was permitted then to ascend the mountain.

[26:33]  ²⁴ tn The traditional expression is “within the veil,” literally “into the house (or area) of the (special) curtain.”

[26:33]  ²⁵ tn Or “the Holy of Holies.”

[27:9]  ²⁶ tn Or “enclosure” (TEV).

[27:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “south side southward.”

[27:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “curtains.”

[27:9]  ²⁹ sn The entire courtyard of 150 feet by 75 feet was to be enclosed by a curtain wall held up with posts in bases. All these hangings were kept in place by a cord and tent pegs.

[28:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a breastpiece of decision” (חֹשֶׁן מִשְׁפָּט, khoshen mishpat; so NAB). The first word, rendered “breastpiece,” is of uncertain etymology. This item was made of material similar to the ephod. It had four rows of three gems on it, bearing the names of the tribes. In it were the urim and thummim. J. P. Hyatt refers to a similar object found in the Egyptian reliefs, including even the twisted gold chains used to hang it from the priest (Exodus [NCBC], 282).