Keluaran 6:14-16

The Ancestry of the Deliverer

6:14 ¹ These are the heads of their fathers’ households: ² 

The sons ³  of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans ⁴  of Reuben.

6:15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.

6:16 Now these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their records: ⁵  Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. (The length of Levi’s life was 137 years.)

Keluaran 21:3

21:3 If he came ⁶  in by himself ⁷  he will go out by himself; if he had ⁸  a wife when he came in, then his wife will go out with him.

Keluaran 21:28

Laws about Animals

21:28 ⁹ “If an ox ¹⁰  gores a man or a woman so that either dies, ¹¹  then the ox must surely ¹²  be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted.

Keluaran 22:2-3

22:2 “If a thief is caught ¹³  breaking in ¹⁴  and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him. ¹⁵  22:3 If the sun has risen on him, then there is blood guilt for him. A thief ¹⁶  must surely make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he will be sold for his theft.

Keluaran 22:8

22:8 If the thief is not caught, ¹⁷  then the owner of the house will be brought before the judges ¹⁸  to see ¹⁹  whether he has laid ²⁰  his hand on his neighbor’s goods.

Keluaran 22:10

22:10 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep, and it dies or is hurt ²¹  or is carried away ²²  without anyone seeing it, ²³ 

Keluaran 29:27

29:27 You are to sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution, ²⁴  which were waved and lifted up as a contribution from the ram of consecration, from what belongs to Aaron and to his sons.

Keluaran 30:2

30:2 Its length is to be a foot and a half ²⁵  and its width a foot and a half; it will be square. Its height is to be three feet, ²⁶  with its horns of one piece with it. ²⁷ 

Keluaran 34:19

34:19 “Every firstborn of the womb ²⁸  belongs to me, even every firstborn ²⁹  of your cattle that is a male, ³⁰  whether ox or sheep.

Keluaran 38:8

38:8 He made the large basin of bronze and its pedestal of bronze from the mirrors of the women who served ³¹  at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Keluaran 38:17

38:17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks of the posts and their bands were silver, their tops were overlaid with silver, and all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands. ³² 

[6:14]  ¹ sn This list of names shows that Moses and Aaron are in the line of Levi that came to the priesthood. It helps to identify them and authenticate them as spokesmen for God within the larger history of Israel. As N. M. Sarna observes, “Because a genealogy inherently symbolizes vigor and continuity, its presence here also injects a reassuring note into the otherwise despondent mood” (Exodus [JPSTC], 33).

[6:14]  ² tn The expression is literally “the house of their fathers.” This expression means that the household or family descended from a single ancestor. It usually indicates a subdivision of a tribe, that is, a clan, or the subdivision of a clan, that is, a family. Here it refers to a clan (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 46).

[6:14]  ³ tn Or “descendants.”

[6:14]  ⁴ tn Or “families,” and so throughout the genealogy.

[6:16]  ⁵ tn Or “generations.”

[21:3]  ⁶ tn The tense is imperfect, but in the conditional clause it clearly refers to action that is anterior to the action in the next clause. Heb “if he comes in single, he goes out single,” that is, “if he came in single, he will go out single.”

[21:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “with his back” meaning “alone.”

[21:3]  ⁸ tn The phrase says, “if he was the possessor of a wife”; the noun בַּעַל (ba’al) can mean “possessor” or “husband.” If there was a wife, she shared his fortunes or his servitude; if he entered with her, she would accompany him when he left.

[21:28]  ⁹ sn The point that this section of the laws makes is that one must ensure the safety of others by controlling the circumstances.

[21:28]  ¹⁰ tn Traditionally “ox,” but “bull” would also be suitable. The term may refer to one of any variety of large cattle.

[21:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he dies”; KJV “that they die”; NAB, NASB “to death.”

[21:28]  ¹² tn The text uses סָקוֹל יִסָּקֵל (saqol yissaqel), a Qal infinitive absolute with a Niphal imperfect. The infinitive intensifies the imperfect, which here has an obligatory nuance or is a future of instruction.

[22:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “found” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[22:2]  ¹⁴ tn The word בַּמַּחְתֶּרֶת (bammakhteret) means “digging through” the walls of a house (usually made of mud bricks). The verb is used only a few times and has the meaning of dig in (as into houses) or row hard (as in Jonah 1:13).

[22:2]  ¹⁵ tn The text has “there is not to him bloods.” When the word “blood” is put in the plural, it refers to bloodshed, or the price of blood that is shed, i.e., blood guiltiness.

[22:2]  sn This law focuses on what is reasonable defense against burglary. If someone killed a thief who was breaking in during the night, he was not charged because he would not have known it was just a thief, but if it happened during the day, he was guilty of a crime, on the assumption that in daylight the thief posed no threat to the homeowner’s life and could be stopped and made to pay restitution.

[22:3]  ¹⁶ tn The words “a thief” have been added for clarification. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 224) thinks that these lines are out of order, since some of them deal with killing the thief and then others with the thief making restitution, but rearranging the clauses is not a necessary way to bring clarity to the paragraph. The idea here would be that any thief caught alive would pay restitution.

[22:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “found.”

[22:8]  ¹⁸ tn Here again the word used is “the gods,” meaning the judges who made the assessments and decisions. In addition to other works, see J. R. Vannoy, “The Use of the Word ha’elohim in Exodus 21:6 and 22:7,8,” The Law and the Prophets, 225-41.

[22:8]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase “to see” has been supplied.

[22:8]  ²⁰ tn The line says “if he has not stretched out his hand.” This could be the oath formula, but the construction here would be unusual, or it could be taken as “whether” (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:438). U. Cassuto (Exodus, 286) does not think the wording can possibly fit an oath; nevertheless, an oath would be involved before God (as he takes it instead of “judges”) – if the man swore, his word would be accepted, but if he would not swear, he would be guilty.

[22:10]  ²¹ tn The form is a Niphal participle from the verb “to break” – “is broken,” which means harmed, maimed, or hurt in any way.

[22:10]  ²² tn This verb is frequently used with the meaning “to take captive.” The idea here then is that raiders or robbers have carried off the animal.

[22:10]  ²³ tn Heb “there is no one seeing.”

[29:27]  ²⁴ sn These are the two special priestly offerings: the wave offering (from the verb “to wave”) and the “presentation offering” (older English: heave offering; from a verb “to be high,” in Hiphil meaning “to lift up,” an item separated from the offering, a contribution). The two are then clarified with two corresponding relative clauses containing two Hophals: “which was waved and which was presented.” In making sacrifices, the breast and the thigh belong to the priests.

[30:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a cubit.”

[30:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “two cubits.”

[30:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “its horns from it.”

[34:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “everything that opens the womb.”

[34:19]  ²⁹ tn Here too: everything that “opens [the womb].”

[34:19]  ³⁰ tn The verb basically means “that drops a male.” The verb is feminine, referring to the cattle.

[38:8]  ³¹ sn The word for “serve” is not the ordinary one. It means “to serve in a host,” especially in a war. It appears that women were organized into bands and served at the tent of meeting. S. R. Driver thinks that this meant “no doubt” washing, cleaning, or repairing (Exodus, 391). But there is no hint of that (see 1 Sam 2:22; and see Ps 68:11 [12 Hebrew text]). They seem to have had more to do than what Driver said.

[38:17]  ³² tn Heb “they were banded with silver.”