Keluaran 7:4

7:4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. ¹  I will reach into ²  Egypt and bring out my regiments, ³  my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.

Keluaran 16:15

16:15 When ⁴  the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ⁵  “What is it?” because they did not know what it was. ⁶  Moses said to them, “It is the bread ⁷  that the Lord has given you for food. ⁸ 

Keluaran 22:7

22:7 “If a man gives his neighbor money or articles ⁹  for safekeeping, ¹⁰  and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, ¹¹  he must repay double.

Keluaran 22:14

22:14 “If a man borrows an animal ¹²  from his neighbor, and it is hurt or dies when its owner was not with it, the man who borrowed it ¹³  will surely pay.

[7:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and Pharaoh will not listen.”

[7:4]  ² tn Heb “put my hand into.” The expression is a strong anthropomorphism to depict God’s severest judgment on Egypt. The point is that neither the speeches of Moses and Aaron nor the signs that God would do will be effective. Consequently, God would deliver the blow that would destroy.

[7:4]  ³ tn See the note on this term in 6:26.

[16:15]  ⁴ tn The preterite with vav consecutive is here subordinated to the next verb as a temporal clause. The main point of the verse is what they said.

[16:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “a man to his brother.”

[16:15]  ⁶ tn The text has: מָן הוּא כִּי לאֹ יָדְעוּ מַה־הוּא (man hu’ ki lo’ yadÿ’u mah hu’). From this statement the name “manna” was given to the substance. מָן for “what” is not found in Hebrew, but appears in Syriac as a contraction of ma den, “what then?” In Aramaic and Arabic man is “what?” The word is used here apparently for the sake of etymology. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 274) follows the approach that any connections to words that actually meant “what?” are unnecessary, for it is a play on the name (whatever it may have been) and therefore related only by sound to the term being explained. This, however, presumes that a substance was known prior to this account – a point that Deuteronomy does not seem to allow. S. R. Driver says that it is not known how early the contraction came into use, but that this verse seems to reflect it (Exodus, 149). Probably one must simply accept that in the early Israelite period man meant “what?” There seems to be sufficient evidence to support this. See EA 286,5; UT 435; DNWSI 1:157.

[16:15]  ⁷ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 454-55) suggests that Moses was saying to them, “It is not manna. It is the food Yahweh has given you.” He comes to this conclusion based on the strange popular etymology from the interrogative word, noting that people do not call things “what?”

[16:15]  ⁸ sn For other views see G. Vermès, “‘He Is the Bread’ Targum Neofiti Ex. 16:15,” SJLA 8 (1975): 139-46; and G. J. Cowling, “Targum Neofiti Ex. 16:15,” AJBA (1974-75): 93-105.

[22:7]  ⁹ tn The word usually means “vessels” but can have the sense of household goods and articles. It could be anything from jewels and ornaments to weapons or pottery.

[22:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to keep.” Here “safekeeping,” that is, to keep something secure on behalf of a third party, is intended.

[22:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “found.”

[22:14]  ¹² tn Heb “if a man asks [an animal] from his neighbor” (see also Exod 12:36). The ruling here implies an animal is borrowed, and if harm comes to it when the owner is not with it, the borrower is liable. The word “animal” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[22:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who borrowed the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.