Keluaran 1:20

1:20 So God treated the midwives well, ¹  and the people multiplied and became very strong.

Keluaran 1:7

1:7 The Israelites, ²  however, ³  were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, ⁴  so that the land was filled with them.

Keluaran 11:9

11:9 The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders ⁵  may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

Keluaran 1:10

1:10 Come, let’s deal wisely ⁶  with them. Otherwise ⁷  they will continue to multiply, ⁸  and if ⁹  a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with ¹⁰  our enemies and fight against us and leave ¹¹  the country.”

Keluaran 33:21

33:21 The Lord said, “Here ¹²  is a place by me; you will station yourself ¹³  on a rock.

Keluaran 1:12

1:12 But the more the Egyptians ¹⁴  oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. ¹⁵  As a result the Egyptians loathed ¹⁶  the Israelites,

Keluaran 19:19

19:19 When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, ¹⁷  Moses was speaking ¹⁸  and God was answering him with a voice. ¹⁹ 

Keluaran 23:30

23:30 Little by little ²⁰  I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.

Keluaran 1:13

1:13 and they ²¹  made the Israelites serve rigorously. ²² 

Keluaran 11:3

11:3 (Now the Lord granted the people favor with ²³  the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, respected by Pharaoh’s servants and by the Egyptian people.) ²⁴ 

Keluaran 30:24

30:24 and twelve and a half pounds of cassia, all weighed ²⁵  according to the sanctuary shekel, and four quarts ²⁶  of olive oil.

Keluaran 5:9

5:9 Make the work harder ²⁷  for the men so they will keep at it ²⁸  and pay no attention to lying words!” ²⁹ 

Keluaran 7:3

7:3 But I will harden ³⁰  Pharaoh’s heart, and although I will multiply ³¹  my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt,

Keluaran 9:34

9:34 When Pharaoh saw ³²  that the rain and hail and thunder ceased, he sinned again: ³³  both he and his servants hardened ³⁴  their hearts.

Keluaran 30:35

30:35 and make it into an incense, ³⁵  a perfume, ³⁶  the work of a perfumer. It is to be finely ground, ³⁷  and pure and sacred.

Keluaran 23:29

23:29 I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals ³⁸  multiply against you.

Keluaran 36:3

36:3 and they received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to do ³⁹  the work for the service of the sanctuary, and they still continued to bring him a freewill offering each morning. ⁴⁰ 

[1:20]  ¹ tn The verb וַיֵּיטֶב (vayyetev) is the Hiphil preterite of יָטַב (yatav). In this stem the word means “to cause good, treat well, treat favorably.” The vav (ו) consecutive shows that this favor from God was a result of their fearing and obeying him.

[1:7]  ² tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[1:7]  ³ tn The disjunctive vav marks a contrast with the note about the deaths of the first generation.

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Using מְאֹד (mÿ’od) twice intensifies the idea of their becoming strong (see GKC 431-32 §133.k).

[1:7]  sn The text is clearly going out of its way to say that the people of Israel flourished in Egypt. The verbs פָּרָה (parah, “be fruitful”), שָׁרַץ (sharats, “swarm, teem”), רָבָה (ravah, “multiply”), and עָצַם (’atsam, “be strong, mighty”) form a literary link to the creation account in Genesis. The text describes Israel’s prosperity in the terms of God’s original command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, to show that their prosperity was by divine blessing and in compliance with the will of God. The commission for the creation to fill the earth and subdue it would now begin to materialize through the seed of Abraham.

[11:9]  ⁵ sn The thought is essentially the same as in Exod 7:3-4, but the wonders, or portents, here refer to what is yet to be done in Egypt.

[1:10]  ⁶ tn The verb is the Hitpael cohortative of חָכַם (khakam, “to be wise”). This verb has the idea of acting shrewdly, dealing wisely. The basic idea in the word group is that of skill. So a skillful decision is required to prevent the Israelites from multiplying any more.

[1:10]  sn Pharaoh’s speech invites evaluation. How wise did his plans prove to be?

[1:10]  ⁷ tn The word פֶּן (pen) expresses fear or precaution and can also be translated “lest” or “else” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 75-76, §461).

[1:10]  ⁸ tn The verb can be translated simply “will multiply,” but since Pharaoh has already indicated that he is aware they were doing that, the nuance here must mean to multiply all the more, or to continue to multiply. Cf. NIV “will become even more numerous.”

[1:10]  ⁹ tn The words וְהָיָה כִּי (vÿhayah ki) introduce a conditional clause – “if” (see GKC 335 §112.y).

[1:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and [lest] he [Israel] also be joined to.”

[1:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and go up from.” All the verbs coming after the particle פֶּן (pen, “otherwise, lest” in v. 10) have the same force and are therefore parallel. These are the fears of the Egyptians. This explains why a shrewd policy of population control was required. They wanted to keep Israel enslaved; they did not want them to become too numerous and escape.

[33:21]  ¹² tn The deictic particle is used here simply to call attention to a place of God’s knowing and choosing.

[33:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “and you will,” or interpretively, “where you will.”

[1:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:12]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfect tenses in this verse are customary uses, expressing continual action in past time (see GKC 315 §107.e). For other examples of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) with כֵּן (ken) expressing a comparison (“just as…so”) see Gen 41:13; Judg 1:7; Isa 31:4.

[1:12]  sn Nothing in the oppression caused this, of course. Rather, the blessing of God (Gen 12:1-3) was on Israel in spite of the efforts of Egypt to hinder it. According to Gen 15 God had foretold that there would be this period of oppression (עָנָה [’anah] in Gen 15:13). In other words, God had decreed and predicted both their becoming a great nation and the oppression to show that he could fulfill his promise to Abraham in spite of the bondage.

[1:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they felt a loathing before/because of”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:19]  ¹⁷ tn The active participle הוֹלֵךְ (holekh) is used to add the idea of “continually” to the action of the sentence; here the trumpet became very loud – continually. See GKC 344 §113.u.

[19:19]  ¹⁸ tn The two verbs here (“spoke” and “answered”) are imperfect tenses; they emphasize repeated action but in past time. The customary imperfect usually is translated “would” or “used to” do the action, but here continuous action in past time is meant. S. R. Driver translates it “kept speaking” and “kept answering” (Exodus, 172).

[19:19]  ¹⁹ tn The text simply has בְּקוֹל (bÿqol); it could mean “with a voice” or it could mean “in thunder” since “voice” was used in v. 16 for thunder. In this context it would be natural to say that the repeated thunderings were the voice of God – but how is that an answer? Deut 4:12 says that the people heard the sound of words. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 232-33) rightly comments, “He was answering him with a loud voice so that it was possible for Moses to hear His words clearly in the midst of the storm.” He then draws a parallel from Ugaritic where it tells that one of the gods was speaking in a loud voice.

[23:30]  ²⁰ tn The repetition expresses an exceptional or super-fine quality (see GKC 396 §123.e).

[1:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “the Egyptians.” For stylistic reasons this has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation.

[1:13]  ²² tn Heb “with rigor, oppression.”

[11:3]  ²³ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[11:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh and in the eyes of the people.” In the translation the word “Egyptian” has been supplied to clarify that the Egyptians and not the Israelites are meant here.

[11:3]  sn The presence of this clause about Moses, which is parenthetical in nature, further indicates why the Egyptians gave rather willingly to the Israelites. They were impressed by Moses’ miracles and his power with Pharaoh. Moses was great in stature – powerful and influential.

[30:24]  ²⁵ tn The words “all weighed” are added for clarity in English.

[30:24]  ²⁶ tn Or “a hin.” A hin of oil is estimated at around one gallon (J. Durham, Exodus [WBC], 3:406).

[5:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “let the work be heavy.”

[5:9]  ²⁸ tn The text has וְיַעֲשׂוּ־בָהּ (vÿya’asu-vah, “and let them work in it”) or the like. The jussive forms part of the king’s decree that the men not only be required to work harder but be doing it: “Let them be occupied in it.”

[5:9]  sn For a discussion of this whole section, see K. A. Kitchen, “From the Brickfields of Egypt,” TynBul 27 (1976): 137-47.

[5:9]  ²⁹ sn The words of Moses are here called “lying words” (דִבְרֵי־שָׁקֶר, divre-shaqer). Here is the main reason, then, for Pharaoh’s new policy. He wanted to discredit Moses. So the words that Moses spoke Pharaoh calls false and lying words. The world was saying that God’s words were vain and deceptive because they were calling people to a higher order. In a short time God would reveal that they were true words.

[7:3]  ³⁰ tn The clause begins with the emphatic use of the pronoun and a disjunctive vav (ו) expressing the contrast “But as for me, I will harden.” They will speak, but God will harden.

[7:3]  sn The imperfect tense of the verb קָשָׁה (qasha) is found only here in these “hardening passages.” The verb (here the Hiphil for “I will harden”) summarizes Pharaoh’s resistance to what God would be doing through Moses – he would stubbornly resist and refuse to submit; he would be resolved in his opposition. See R. R. Wilson, “The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart,” CBQ 41 (1979): 18-36.

[7:3]  ³¹ tn The form beginning the second half of the verse is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, הִרְבֵּיתִי (hirbeti). It could be translated as a simple future in sequence after the imperfect preceding it, but the logical connection is not obvious. Since it carries the force of an imperfect due to the sequence, it may be subordinated as a temporal clause to the next clause that begins in v. 4. That maintains the flow of the argument.

[9:34]  ³² tn The clause beginning with the preterite and vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next, and main clause – that he hardened his heart again.

[9:34]  ³³ tn The construction is another verbal hendiadys: וַיֹּסֶף לַחֲטֹּא (vayyosef lakhatto’), literally rendered “and he added to sin.” The infinitive construct becomes the main verb, and the Hiphil preterite becomes adverbial. The text is clearly interpreting as sin the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and his refusal to release Israel. At the least this means that the plagues are his fault, but the expression probably means more than this – he was disobeying Yahweh God.

[9:34]  ³⁴ tn This phrase translates the Hebrew word כָּבֵד (kaved); see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53.

[30:35]  ³⁵ tn This is an accusative of result or product.

[30:35]  ³⁶ tn The word is in apposition to “incense,” further defining the kind of incense that is to be made.

[30:35]  ³⁷ tn The word מְמֻלָּח (mÿmullakh), a passive participle, is usually taken to mean “salted.” Since there is no meaning like that for the Pual form, the word probably should be taken as “mixed,” as in Rashi and Tg. Onq. Seasoning with salt would work if it were food, but since it is not food, if it means “salted” it would be a symbol of what was sound and whole for the covenant. Some have thought that it would have helped the incense burn quickly with more smoke.

[23:29]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the beast of the field.”

[36:3]  ³⁹ tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive “to do it” comes after “sanctuary”; it makes a smoother rendering in English to move it forward, rather than reading “brought for the work.”

[36:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “in the morning, in the morning.”