Keluaran 18:23

18:23 If you do this thing, and God so commands you, ¹  then you will be able ²  to endure, ³  and all these people ⁴  will be able to go ⁵  home ⁶  satisfied.” ⁷ 

Keluaran 32:32

32:32 But now, if you will forgive their sin…, ⁸  but if not, wipe me out ⁹  from your book that you have written.” ¹⁰ 

Keluaran 33:11

33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, ¹¹  the way a person speaks ¹²  to a friend. Then Moses ¹³  would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent. ¹⁴ 

[18:23]  ¹ tn The form is a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the same nuance as the preceding imperfect in the conditional clause.

[18:23]  ² tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive now appears in the apodosis of the conditional sentence – “if you do this…then you will be able.”

[18:23]  ³ tn Heb “to stand.” B. Jacob (Exodus, 501) suggests that there might be a humorous side to this: “you could even do this standing up.”

[18:23]  ⁴ tn Literally “this people.”

[18:23]  ⁵ tn The verb is the simple imperfect, “will go,” but given the sense of the passage a potential nuance seems in order.

[18:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “his place.”

[18:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “in peace.”

[18:23]  sn See further T. D. Weinshall, “The Organizational Structure Proposed by Jethro to Moses (Ex. 18:17),” Public Administration in Israel and Abroad 12 (1972): 9-13; and H. Reviv, “The Traditions Concerning the Inception of the Legal System in Israel: Significance and Dating,” ZAW 94 (1982): 566-75.

[32:32]  ⁸ tn The apodosis is not expressed; it would be understood as “good.” It is not stated because of the intensity of the expression (the figure is aposiopesis, a sudden silence). It is also possible to take this first clause as a desire and not a conditional clause, rendering it “Oh that you would forgive!”

[32:32]  ⁹ tn The word “wipe” is a figure of speech indicating “remove me” (meaning he wants to die). The translation “blot” is traditional, but not very satisfactory, since it does not convey complete removal.

[32:32]  ¹⁰ sn The book that is referred to here should not be interpreted as the NT “book of life” which is portrayed (figuratively) as a register of all the names of the saints who are redeemed and will inherit eternal life. Here it refers to the names of those who are living and serving in this life, whose names, it was imagined, were on the roster in the heavenly courts as belonging to the chosen. Moses would rather die than live if these people are not forgiven (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 356).

[33:11]  ¹¹ tn “Face to face” is circumstantial to the action of the verb, explaining how they spoke (see GKC 489-90 §156.c). The point of this note of friendly relationship with Moses is that Moses was “at home” in this tent speaking with God. Moses would derive courage from this when he interceded for the people (B. Jacob, Exodus, 966).

[33:11]  ¹² tn The verb in this clause is a progressive imperfect.

[33:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:11]  ¹⁴ sn Moses did not live in the tent. But Joshua remained there most of the time to guard the tent, it seems, lest any of the people approach it out of curiosity.