Keluaran 1:15

1:15 The king of Egypt said ¹  to the Hebrew midwives, ²  one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ³ 

Keluaran 1:17

1:17 But ⁴  the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. ⁵ 

Keluaran 4:3

4:3 The Lord ⁶  said, “Throw it to the ground.” So he threw it to the ground, and it became a snake, ⁷  and Moses ran from it.

Keluaran 5:13

5:13 The slave masters were pressuring ⁸  them, saying, “Complete ⁹  your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”

[1:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and the king of Egypt said.”

[1:15]  ² sn The word for “midwife” is simply the Piel participle of the verb יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth”). So these were women who assisted in the childbirth process. It seems probable that given the number of the Israelites in the passage, these two women could not have been the only Hebrew midwives, but they may have been over the midwives (Rashi). Moreover, the LXX and Vulgate do not take “Hebrew” as an adjective, but as a genitive after the construct, yielding “midwives of/over the Hebrews.” This leaves open the possibility that these women were not Hebrews. This would solve the question of how the king ever expected Hebrew midwives to kill Hebrew children. And yet, the two women have Hebrew names.

[1:15]  ³ tn Heb “who the name of the first [was] Shiphrah, and the name of the second [was] Puah.”

[1:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they [fem. pl.] feared”; the referent (the midwives) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Piel preterite of חָיָה (khaya, “to live”). The Piel often indicates a factitive nuance with stative verbs, showing the cause of the action. Here it means “let live, cause to live.” The verb is the exact opposite of Pharaoh’s command for them to kill the boys.

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:3]  ⁷ sn The details of the verse are designed to show that there was a staff that became a snake. The question is used to affirm that there truly was a staff, and then the report of Moses running from it shows it was a genuine snake. Using the serpent as a sign would have had an impact on the religious ideas of Egypt, for the sacred cobra was one of their symbols.

[5:13]  ⁸ tn Or “pressed.”

[5:13]  ⁹ tn כַּלּוּ (kallu) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of filling up the quota.