Keluaran 1:22

1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “All sons ¹  that are born you must throw ²  into the river, but all daughters you may let live.” ³ 

Keluaran 2:13

2:13 When he went out ⁴  the next day, ⁵  there were ⁶  two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong, ⁷  “Why are you attacking ⁸  your fellow Hebrew?” ⁹ 

Keluaran 8:17

8:17 They did so; Aaron extended his hand with his staff, he struck the dust of the ground, and it became gnats on people ¹⁰  and on animals. All the dust of the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

Keluaran 8:24

8:24 The Lord did so; a ¹¹  thick ¹²  swarm of flies came into ¹³  Pharaoh’s house and into the houses ¹⁴  of his servants, and throughout the whole land of Egypt the land was ruined ¹⁵  because of the swarms of flies.

Keluaran 9:13

The Seventh Blow: Hail

9:13 ¹⁶ The Lord said ¹⁷  to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand ¹⁸  before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: “Release my people so that they may serve me!

Keluaran 9:23

9:23 When Moses extended ¹⁹  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ²⁰  sent thunder ²¹  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ²²  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

Keluaran 10:1

The Eighth Blow: Locusts

10:1 ²³ The Lord said ²⁴  to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display ²⁵  these signs of mine before him, ²⁶ 

Keluaran 10:8

10:8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Exactly who is going with you?” ²⁷ 

Keluaran 10:13

10:13 So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord ²⁸  brought ²⁹  an east wind on the land all that day and all night. ³⁰  The morning came, ³¹  and the east wind had brought up ³²  the locusts!

Keluaran 10:19

10:19 and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, ³³  and it picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. ³⁴  Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.

Keluaran 12:31

12:31 Pharaoh ³⁵  summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out ³⁶  from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! ³⁷ 

Keluaran 15:27

15:27 Then they came to Elim, ³⁸  where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.

Keluaran 16:20

16:20 But they did not listen to Moses; some ³⁹  kept part of it until morning, and it was full ⁴⁰  of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them.

Keluaran 16:33

16:33 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put in it an omer full of manna, and place it before the Lord to be kept for generations to come.”

Keluaran 17:1

Water at Massa and Meribah

17:1 ⁴¹ The whole community ⁴²  of the Israelites traveled on their journey ⁴³  from the Desert of Sin according to the Lord’s instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. ⁴⁴  Now ⁴⁵  there was no water for the people to drink. ⁴⁶ 

Keluaran 17:9

17:9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our ⁴⁷  men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

Keluaran 19:2

19:2 After they journeyed ⁴⁸  from Rephidim, they came to the Desert of Sinai, and they camped in the desert; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. ⁴⁹ 

Keluaran 19:8

19:8 and all the people answered together, “All that the Lord has commanded we will do!” ⁵⁰  So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord.

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 ⁵¹  or is carried away ⁵²  without anyone seeing it, ⁵³ 

Keluaran 24:1

The Lord Ratifies the Covenant

24:1 ⁵⁴ But to Moses the Lord ⁵⁵  said, “Come up ⁵⁶  to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance. ⁵⁷ 

Keluaran 35:25

35:25 Every woman who was skilled ⁵⁸  spun with her hands and brought what she had spun, blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen,

Keluaran 40:29

40:29 He also put the altar for the burnt offering by the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

[1:22]  ¹ tn The substantive כֹּל (kol) followed by the article stresses the entirety – “all sons” or “all daughters” – even though the nouns are singular in Hebrew (see GKC 411 §127.b).

[1:22]  ² tn The form includes a pronominal suffix that reiterates the object of the verb: “every son…you will throw it.”

[1:22]  ³ tn The first imperfect has the force of a definite order, but the second, concerning the girls, could also have the nuance of permission, which may fit better. Pharaoh is simply allowing the girls to live.

[1:22]  sn Verse 22 forms a fitting climax to the chapter, in which the king continually seeks to destroy the Israelite strength. Finally, with this decree, he throws off any subtlety and commands the open extermination of Hebrew males. The verse forms a transition to the next chapter, in which Moses is saved by Pharaoh’s own daughter. These chapters show that the king’s efforts to destroy the strength of Israel – so clearly a work of God – met with failure again and again. And that failure involved the efforts of women, whom Pharaoh did not consider a threat.

[2:13]  ⁴ tn The preterite with the vav consecutive is subordinated to the main idea of the verse.

[2:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the second day” (so KJV, ASV).

[2:13]  ⁶ tn The deictic particle is used here to predicate existence, as in “here were” or “there were.” But this use of הִנֵּה (hinneh) indicates also that what he encountered was surprising or sudden – as in “Oh, look!”

[2:13]  ⁷ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) is a legal term, meaning the guilty. This guilty man rejects Moses’ intervention for much the same reason Pharaoh will later (5:2) – he does not recognize his authority. Later Pharaoh will use this term to declare himself as in the wrong (9:27) and God in the right.

[2:13]  ⁸ tn This is the third use of the verb נָכָה (nakha) in the passage; here it is the Hiphil imperfect. It may be given a progressive imperfect nuance – the attack was going on when Moses tried to intervene.

[2:13]  ⁹ sn Heb “your neighbor.” The word רֵעֶךָ (re’ekha) appears again in 33:11 to describe the ease with which God and Moses conversed. The Law will have much to say about how the Israelites were to treat their “neighbors, fellow citizens” (Exod 20:16-17; 21:14, 18, 35; 22:7-11, 14, 26; cf. Luke 10:25-37).

[8:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “man,” but in the generic sense of “humans” or “people” (also in v. 18).

[8:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and there came a….”

[8:24]  ¹² tn Heb “heavy,” or “severe.”

[8:24]  ¹³ tn Here, and in the next phrase, the word “house” has to be taken as an adverbial accusative of termination.

[8:24]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text has the singular here.

[8:24]  ¹⁵ tc Concerning the connection of “the land was ruined” with the preceding, S. R. Driver (Exodus, 68) suggests reading with the LXX, Smr, and Peshitta; this would call for adding a conjunction before the last clause to make it read, “into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was…”

[8:24]  tn The Hebrew word תִּשָּׁחֵת (tishakhet) is a strong word; it is the Niphal imperfect of שָׁחַת (shakhat) and is translated “ruined.” If the classification as imperfect stands, then it would have to be something like a progressive imperfect (the land was being ruined); otherwise, it may simply be a preterite without the vav (ו) consecutive. The verb describes utter devastation. This is the verb that is used in Gen 13:10 to describe how Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Swarms of flies would disrupt life, contaminate everything, and bring disease.

[9:13]  ¹⁶ sn With the seventh plague there is more explanation of what God is doing to Pharaoh. This plague begins with an extended lesson (vv. 13-21). Rain was almost unknown in Egypt, and hail and lightning were harmless. The Egyptians were fascinated by all these, though, and looked on them as portentous. Herodotus describes how they studied such things and wrote them down (1.2.c.38). If ordinary rainstorms were ominous, what must fire and hail have been? The Egyptians had denominated fire Hephaistos, considering it to be a mighty deity (cf. Diodorus, 1.1.c.1). Porphry says that at the opening of the temple of Serapis the Egyptians worshiped with water and fire. If these connections were clearly understood, then these elements in the plague were thought to be deities that came down on their own people with death and destruction.

[9:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”

[9:13]  ¹⁸ tn Or “take your stand.”

[9:23]  ¹⁹ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next clause in view of the emphasis put on the subject, Yahweh, by the disjunctive word order of that clause.

[9:23]  ²⁰ tn By starting the clause with the subject (an example of disjunctive word order) the text is certainly stressing that Yahweh alone did this.

[9:23]  ²¹ tn The expression נָתַן קֹלֹת (natan qolot) literally means “gave voices” (also “voice”). This is a poetic expression for sending the thunder. Ps 29:3 talks about the “voice of Yahweh” – the God of glory thunders!

[9:23]  ²² sn This clause has been variously interpreted. Lightning would ordinarily accompany thunder; in this case the mention of fire could indicate that the lightning was beyond normal and that it was striking in such a way as to start fires on the ground. It could also mean that fire went along the ground from the pounding hail.

[10:1]  ²³ sn The Egyptians dreaded locusts like every other ancient civilization. They had particular gods to whom they looked for help in such catastrophes. The locust-scaring deities of Greece and Asia were probably looked to in Egypt as well (especially in view of the origins in Egypt of so many of those religious ideas). The announcement of the plague falls into the now-familiar pattern. God tells Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh but reminds Moses that he has hardened his heart. Yahweh explains that he has done this so that he might show his power, so that in turn they might declare his name from generation to generation. This point is stressed so often that it must not be minimized. God was laying the foundation of the faith for Israel – the sovereignty of Yahweh.

[10:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”

[10:1]  ²⁵ tn The verb is שִׁתִי (shiti, “I have put”); it is used here as a synonym for the verb שִׂים (sim). Yahweh placed the signs in his midst, where they will be obvious.

[10:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in his midst.”

[10:8]  ²⁷ tn The question is literally “who and who are the ones going?” (מִי וָמִי הַהֹלְכִים, mi vami haholÿkhim). Pharaoh’s answer to Moses includes this rude question, which was intended to say that Pharaoh would control who went. The participle in this clause, then, refers to the future journey.

[10:13]  ²⁸ tn The clause begins וַיהוָה (va’adonay [vayhvah], “Now Yahweh….”). In contrast to a normal sequence, this beginning focuses attention on Yahweh as the subject of the verb.

[10:13]  ²⁹ tn The verb נָהַג (nahag) means “drive, conduct.” It is elsewhere used for driving sheep, leading armies, or leading in processions.

[10:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and all the night.”

[10:13]  ³¹ tn The text does not here use ordinary circumstantial clause constructions; rather, Heb “the morning was, and the east wind carried the locusts.” It clearly means “when it was morning,” but the style chosen gives a more abrupt beginning to the plague, as if the reader is in the experience – and at morning, the locusts are there!

[10:13]  ³² tn The verb here is a past perfect, indicting that the locusts had arrived before the day came.

[10:19]  ³³ tn Or perhaps “sea wind,” i.e., a wind off the Mediterranean.

[10:19]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew name here is יַם־סוּף (Yam Suf), sometimes rendered “Reed Sea” or “Sea of Reeds.” The word סוּף is a collective noun that may have derived from an Egyptian name for papyrus reeds. Many English versions have used “Red Sea,” which translates the name that ancient Greeks used: ejruqrav qalavssa (eruqra qalassa).

[10:19]  sn The name Red Sea is currently applied to the sea west of the Arabian Peninsula. The northern fingers of this body of water extend along the west and east sides of the Sinai Peninsula and are presently called the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba or the Gulf of Eilat. In ancient times the name applied to a much larger body of water, including the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf (C. Houtman, Exodus, 1:109-10). See also Num 14:25; 21:4; Deut 1:40; 2:1; Judg 11:16; 1 Kgs 9:26; Jer 49:21. The sea was deep enough to drown the entire Egyptian army later (and thus no shallow swamp land). God drives the locusts to their death in the water. He will have the same power over Egyptian soldiers, for he raised up this powerful empire for a purpose and soon will drown them in the sea. The message for the Israelites is that God will humble all who refuse to submit.

[12:31]  ³⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:31]  ³⁶ tn The urgency in Pharaoh’s words is caught by the abrupt use of the imperatives – “get up, go” (קוּמוּ צְּאוּ, qumu tsÿ’u), and “go, serve” (וּלְכוּ עִבְדוּ, ulÿkhu ’ivdu) and “take” and “leave/go” (וָלֵכוּ…קְחוּ, qÿkhu...valekhu).

[12:31]  ³⁷ tn Heb “as you have said.” The same phrase also occurs in the following verse.

[12:31]  sn It appears from this clause that Pharaoh has given up attempting to impose restrictions as he had earlier. With the severe judgment on him for his previous refusals he should now know that these people are no longer his subjects, and he is no longer sovereign. As Moses had insisted, all the Israelites would leave, and with all their possessions, to worship Yahweh.

[15:27]  ³⁸ sn Judging from the way the story is told they were not far from the oasis. But God had other plans for them, to see if they would trust him wholeheartedly and obey. They did not do very well this first time, and they will have to learn how to obey. The lesson is clear: God uses adversity to test his people’s loyalty. The response to adversity must be prayer to God, for he can turn the bitter into the sweet, the bad into the good, and the prospect of death into life.

[16:20]  ³⁹ tn Heb “men”; this usage is designed to mean “some” (see GKC 447 §138.h, n. 1).

[16:20]  ⁴⁰ tn The verb וַיָּרֻם (vayyarum) is equivalent to a passive – “it was changed” – to which “worms” is added as an accusative of result (GKC 388-89 §121.d, n. 2).

[17:1]  ⁴¹ sn This is the famous story telling how the people rebelled against Yahweh when they thirsted, saying that Moses had brought them out into the wilderness to kill them by thirst, and how Moses with the staff brought water from the rock. As a result of this the name was called Massa and Meribah because of the testing and the striving. It was a challenge to Moses’ leadership as well as a test of Yahweh’s presence. The narrative in its present form serves an important point in the argument of the book. The story turns on the gracious provision of God who can give his people water when there is none available. The narrative is structured to show how the people strove. Thus, the story intertwines God’s free flowing grace with the sad memory of Israel’s sins. The passage can be divided into three parts: the situation and the complaint (1-3), the cry and the miracle (4-6), and the commemoration by naming (7).

[17:1]  ⁴² tn Or “congregation” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[17:1]  ⁴³ tn The text says that they journeyed “according to their journeyings.” Since the verb form (and therefore the derived noun) essentially means to pull up the tent pegs and move along, this verse would be saying that they traveled by stages, or, from place to place.

[17:1]  ⁴⁴ sn The location is a bit of a problem. Exod 19:1-2 suggests that it is near Sinai, whereas it is normally located near Kadesh in the north. Without any details provided, M. Noth concludes that two versions came together (Exodus [OTL], 138). S. R. Driver says that the writer wrote not knowing that they were 24 miles apart (Exodus, 157). Critics have long been bothered by this passage because of the two names given at the same place. If two sources had been brought together, it is not possible now to identify them. But Noth insisted that if there were two names there were two different locations. The names Massah and Meribah occur alone in Scripture (Deut 9:22, and Num 20:1 for examples), but together in Ps 95 and in Deut 33:8. But none of these passages is a clarification of the difficulty. Most critics would argue that Massah was a secondary element that was introduced into this account, because Exod 17 focuses on Meribah. From that starting point they can diverge greatly on the interpretation, usually having something to do with a water test. But although Num 20 is parallel in several ways, there are major differences: 1) it takes place 40 years later than this, 2) the name Kadesh is joined to the name Meribah there, and 3) Moses is punished there. One must conclude that if an event could occur twice in similar ways (complaint about water would be a good candidate for such), then there is no reason a similar name could not be given.

[17:1]  ⁴⁵ tn The disjunctive vav introduces a parenthetical clause that is essential for this passage – there was no water.

[17:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Here the construction uses a genitive after the infinitive construct for the subject: “there was no water for the drinking of the people” (GKC 353-54 §115.c).

[17:9]  ⁴⁷ tn This could be rendered literally “choose men for us.” But the lamed (ל) preposition probably indicates possession, “our men,” and the fact that Joshua was to choose from Israel, as well as the fact that there is no article on “men,” indicates he was to select some to fight.

[19:2]  ⁴⁸ tn The form is a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, “and they journeyed.” It is here subordinated to the next clause as a temporal clause. But since the action of this temporal clause preceded the actions recorded in v. 1, a translation of “after” will keep the sequence in order. Verse 2 adds details to the summary in v. 1.

[19:2]  ⁴⁹ sn The mountain is Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, the place where God had met and called Moses and had promised that they would be here to worship him. If this mountain is Jebel Musa, the traditional site of Sinai, then the plain in front of it would be Er-Rahah, about a mile and a half long by half a mile wide, fronting the mountain on the NW side (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 169). The plain itself is about 5000 feet above sea level. A mountain on the west side of the Arabian Peninsula has also been suggested as a possible site.

[19:8]  ⁵⁰ tn The verb is an imperfect. The people are not being presumptuous in stating their compliance – there are several options open for the interpretation of this tense. It may be classified as having a desiderative nuance: “we are willing to do” or, “we will do.”

[22:10]  ⁵¹ 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]  ⁵² 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]  ⁵³ tn Heb “there is no one seeing.”

[24:1]  ⁵⁴ sn Exod 24 is the high point of the book in many ways, but most importantly, here Yahweh makes a covenant with the people – the Sinaitic Covenant. The unit not only serves to record the event in Israel’s becoming a nation, but it provides a paradigm of the worship of God’s covenant people – entering into the presence of the glory of Yahweh. See additionally W. A. Maier, “The Analysis of Exodus 24 According to Modern Literary, Form, and Redaction Critical Methodology,” Springfielder 37 (1973): 35-52. The passage may be divided into four parts for exposition: vv. 1-2, the call for worship; vv. 3-8, the consecration of the worshipers; vv. 9-11, the confirmation of the covenant; and vv. 12-18, the communication with Yahweh.

[24:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “And he;” the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:1]  ⁵⁶ sn They were to come up to the Lord after they had made the preparations that are found in vv. 3-8.

[24:1]  ⁵⁷ sn These seventy-four people were to go up the mountain to a certain point. Then they were to prostrate themselves and worship Yahweh as Moses went further up into the presence of Yahweh. Moses occupies the lofty position of mediator (as Christ in the NT), for he alone ascends “to Yahweh” while everyone waits for his return. The emphasis of “bowing down” and that from “far off” stresses again the ominous presence that was on the mountain. This was the holy God – only the designated mediator could draw near to him.

[35:25]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “wisdom of heart,” which means that they were skilled and could make all the right choices about the work.