Keluaran 7:16

7:16 Tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, ¹  “Release my people, that they may serve me ²  in the desert!” But until now ³  you have not listened. ⁴ 

Keluaran 21:19

21:19 and then ⁵  if he gets up and walks about ⁶  outside on his staff, then the one who struck him is innocent, except he must pay ⁷  for the injured person’s ⁸  loss of time ⁹  and see to it that he is fully healed.

Keluaran 23:31

23:31 I will set ¹⁰  your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, ¹¹  for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

[7:16]  ¹ tn The form לֵאמֹר (le’mor) is the Qal infinitive construct with the lamed (ל) preposition. It is used so often epexegetically that it has achieved idiomatic status – “saying” (if translated at all). But here it would make better sense to take it as a purpose infinitive. God sent him to say these words.

[7:16]  ² tn The imperfect tense with the vav (וְיַעַבְדֻנִי, vÿya’avduni) following the imperative is in volitive sequence, showing the purpose – “that they may serve me.” The word “serve” (עָבַד, ’avad) is a general term to include religious observance and obedience.

[7:16]  ³ tn The final עַד־כֹּה (’ad-koh, “until now”) narrows the use of the perfect tense to the present perfect: “you have not listened.” That verb, however, involves more than than mere audition. It has the idea of responding to, hearkening, and in some places obeying; here “you have not complied” might catch the point of what Moses is saying, while “listen” helps to maintain the connection with other uses of the verb.

[7:16]  ⁴ tn Or “complied” (שָׁמַעְתָּ, shama’ta).

[21:19]  ⁵ tn “and then” has been supplied.

[21:19]  ⁶ tn The verb is a Hitpael perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it follows the sequence of the imperfect before it – “if he gets up and walks about.” This is proof of recovery.

[21:19]  ⁷ tn The imperfect tense carries a nuance of obligatory imperfect because this is binding on the one who hit him.

[21:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the injured person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:19]  ⁹ tn The word appears to be the infinitive from the verb “to sit” with a meaning of “his sitting down”; some suggest it is from the verb “to rest” with a meaning “cease.” In either case the point in the context must mean compensation is due for the time he was down.

[23:31]  ¹⁰ tn The form is a perfect tense with vav consecutive.

[23:31]  ¹¹ 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.