Keluaran 4:19

4:19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back ¹  to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ² 

Keluaran 5:15

5:15 ³ The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why are you treating ⁴  your servants this way?

Keluaran 5:18

5:18 So now, get back to work! ⁵  You will not be given straw, but you must still produce ⁶  your quota ⁷  of bricks!”

Keluaran 8:25

8:25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” ⁸ 

Keluaran 9:4

9:4 But the Lord will distinguish ⁹  between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing ¹⁰  will die of all that the Israelites have.”’” ¹¹ 

Keluaran 12:33

12:33 The Egyptians were urging ¹²  the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, ¹³  for they were saying, “We are all dead!”

Keluaran 21:16

21:16 “Whoever kidnaps someone ¹⁴  and sells him, ¹⁵  or is caught still holding him, ¹⁶  must surely be put to death.

Keluaran 21:20-21

21:20 “If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she ¹⁷  dies as a result of the blow, ¹⁸  he will surely be punished. ¹⁹  21:21 However, if the injured servant ²⁰  survives one or two days, the owner ²¹  will not be punished, for he has suffered the loss. ²² 

Keluaran 21:26-27

21:26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it, ²³  he will let the servant ²⁴  go free ²⁵  as compensation for the eye. 21:27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or his female servant, he will let the servant ²⁶  go free as compensation for the tooth.

Keluaran 22:26

22:26 If you do take ²⁷  the garment of your neighbor in pledge, you must return it to him by the time the sun goes down, ²⁸ 

Keluaran 31:15

31:15 Six days ²⁹  work may be done, ³⁰  but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, ³¹  holy to the Lord; anyone who does work on the Sabbath day must surely be put to death.

Keluaran 34:13

34:13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. ³² 

Keluaran 34:23

34:23 At three times ³³  in the year all your men ³⁴  must appear before the Lord God, ³⁵  the God of Israel.

[4:19]  ¹ tn The text has two imperatives, “Go, return”; if these are interpreted as a hendiadys (as in the translation), then the second is adverbial.

[4:19]  ² sn The text clearly stated that Pharaoh sought to kill Moses; so this seems to be a reference to Pharaoh’s death shortly before Moses’ return. Moses was forty years in Midian. In the 18th dynasty, only Pharaoh Thutmose III had a reign of the right length (1504-1450 b.c.) to fit this period of Moses’ life. This would place Moses’ returning to Egypt near 1450 b.c., in the beginning of the reign of Amenhotep II, whom most conservatives identify as the pharaoh of the exodus. Rameses II, of course, had a very long reign (1304-1236). But if he were the one from whom Moses fled, then he could not be the pharaoh of the exodus, but his son would be – and that puts the date of the exodus after 1236, a date too late for anyone. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 62.

[5:15]  ³ sn The last section of this event tells the effect of the oppression on Israel, first on the people (15-19) and then on Moses and Aaron (20-21). The immediate reaction of Israel was to cry to Pharaoh – something they would learn should be directed to God. When Pharaoh rebuffed them harshly, they turned bitterly against their leaders.

[5:15]  ⁴ tn The imperfect tense should be classified here with the progressive imperfect nuance, because the harsh treatment was a present reality.

[5:18]  ⁵ tn The text has two imperatives: “go, work.” They may be used together to convey one complex idea (so a use of hendiadys): “go back to work.”

[5:18]  ⁶ tn The imperfect תִּתֵּנּוּ (tittennu) is here taken as an obligatory imperfect: “you must give” or “you must produce.”

[5:18]  ⁷ sn B. Jacob is amazed at the wealth of this tyrant’s vocabulary in describing the work of others. Here, תֹכֶן (tokhen) is another word for “quota” of bricks, the fifth word used to describe their duty (Exodus, 137).

[8:25]  ⁸ sn After the plague is inflicted on the land, then Pharaoh makes an appeal. So there is the familiar confrontation (vv. 25-29). Pharaoh’s words to Moses are an advancement on his previous words. Now he uses imperatives: “Go, sacrifice to your God.” But he restricts it to “in the [this] land.” This is a subtle attempt to keep them as a subjugated people and prevent their absolute allegiance to their God. This offered compromise would destroy the point of the exodus – to leave Egypt and find a new allegiance under the Lord.

[9:4]  ⁹ tn The verb פָּלָה (palah) in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” See also Exod 8:22 (18 HT); 11:7; 33:16.

[9:4]  ¹⁰ tn There is a wordplay in this section. A pestilence – דֶּבֶר (dever) – will fall on Egypt’s cattle, but no thing – דָּבָר (davar) – belonging to Israel would die. It was perhaps for this reason that the verb was changed in v. 1 from “say” to “speak” (דִּבֶּר, dibber). See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 111.

[9:4]  ¹¹ tn The lamed preposition indicates possession: “all that was to the Israelites” means “all that the Israelites had.”

[12:33]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn The phrase uses two construct infinitives in a hendiadys, the first infinitive becoming the modifier.

[21:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a stealer of a man,” thus “anyone stealing a man.”

[21:16]  ¹⁵ sn The implication is that it would be an Israelite citizen who was kidnapped and sold to a foreign tribe or country (like Joseph). There was always a market for slaves. The crime would be in forcibly taking the individual away from his home and religion and putting him into bondage or death.

[21:16]  ¹⁶ tn Literally “and he is found in his hand” (KJV and ASV both similar), being not yet sold.

[21:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “so that he”; the words “or she” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “under his hand.”

[21:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “will be avenged” (how is not specified).

[21:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “if he”; the referent (the servant struck and injured in the previous verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the injured servant) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[21:21]  ²² tn This last clause is a free paraphrase of the Hebrew, “for he is his money” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “his property.” It seems that if the slave survives a couple of days, it is probable that the master was punishing him and not intending to kill him. If he then dies, there is no penalty other than that the owner loses the slave who is his property – he suffers the loss.

[21:26]  ²³ tn The form וְשִׁחֲתָהּ (vÿshikhatah) is the Piel perfect with the vav (ל) consecutive, rendered “and destroys it.” The verb is a strong one, meaning “to ruin, completely destroy.”

[21:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the male or female servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:26]  ²⁵ sn Interestingly, the verb used here for “let him go” is the same verb throughout the first part of the book for “release” of the Israelites from slavery. Here, an Israelite will have to release the injured slave.

[21:27]  ²⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the male or female servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:26]  ²⁷ tn The construction again uses the infinitive absolute with the verb in the conditional clause to stress the condition.

[22:26]  ²⁸ tn The clause uses the preposition, the infinitive construct, and the noun that is the subjective genitive – “at the going in of the sun.”

[31:15]  ²⁹ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time, indicating that work may be done for six days out of the week.

[31:15]  ³⁰ tn The form is a Niphal imperfect; it has the nuance of permission in this sentence, for the sentence is simply saying that the six days are work days – that is when work may be done.

[31:15]  ³¹ tn The expression is שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbat shabbaton), “a Sabbath of entire rest,” or better, “a sabbath of complete desisting” (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 404). The second noun, the modifying genitive, is an abstract noun. The repetition provides the superlative idea that complete rest is the order of the day.

[34:13]  ³² tn Or “images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “their Asherah idols.”

[34:13]  sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

[34:23]  ³³ tn “Three times” is an adverbial accusative.

[34:23]  ³⁴ tn Heb “all your males.”

[34:23]  ³⁵ tn Here the divine name reads in Hebrew הָאָדֹן יְהוָה (ha’adon yÿhvah), which if rendered according to the traditional scheme of “Lord” for “Yahweh” would result in “Lord Lord.” A number of English versions therefore render this phrase “Lord God,” and that convention has been followed here.

[34:23]  sn The title “Lord” is included here before the divine name (translated “God” here; see Exod 23:17), perhaps to form a contrast with Baal (which means “lord” as well) and to show the sovereignty of Yahweh. But the distinct designation “the God of Israel” is certainly the point of the renewed covenant relationship.