Keluaran 1:7

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

Keluaran 18:3

18:3 and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (for Moses ⁴  had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land”),

Keluaran 23:9

23:9 “You must not oppress ⁵  a foreigner, since you know the life ⁶  of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[1:7]  ² tn The disjunctive vav marks a contrast with the note about the deaths of the first generation.

[1:7]  ³ 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.

[18:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity (also in the following verse).

[23:9]  ⁵ tn The verb means “to crush.” S. R. Driver notes that in this context this would probably mean with an unfair judgment in the courts (Exodus, 239).

[23:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “soul, life” – “you know what it feels like.”