Keluaran 11:7

11:7 But against any of the Israelites not even a dog will bark ¹  against either people or animals, ²  so that you may know that the Lord distinguishes ³  between Egypt and Israel.’

Keluaran 12:11

12:11 This is how you are to eat it – dressed to travel, ⁴  your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. ⁵ 

Keluaran 13:16

13:16 It will be for a sign on your hand and for frontlets ⁶  on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” ⁷ 

Keluaran 19:21

19:21 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and solemnly warn ⁸  the people, lest they force their way through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish. ⁹ 

Keluaran 20:7

20:7 “You shall not take ¹⁰  the name of the Lord your God in vain, ¹¹  for the Lord will not hold guiltless ¹²  anyone who takes his name in vain.

[11:7]  ¹ tn Or perhaps “growl”; Heb “not a dog will sharpen his tongue.” The expression is unusual, but it must indicate that not only would no harm come to the Israelites, but that no unfriendly threat would come against them either – not even so much as a dog barking. It is possible this is to be related to the watchdog (see F. C. Fensham, “Remarks on Keret 114^b – 136^a,” JNSL 11 [1983]: 75).

[11:7]  ² tn Heb “against man or beast.”

[11:7]  ³ tn The verb פָּלָה (palah) in Hiphil means “to set apart, make separate, make distinct.” See also Exod 8:22 (18 HT); 9:4; 33:16.

[12:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “your loins girded.”

[12:11]  ⁵ tn The meaning of פֶּסַח (pesakh) is debated. (1) Some have tried to connect it to the Hebrew verb with the same radicals that means “to halt, leap, limp, stumble.” See 1 Kgs 18:26 where the word describes the priests of Baal hopping around the altar; also the crippled child in 2 Sam 4:4. (2) Others connect it to the Akkadian passahu, which means “to appease, make soft, placate”; or (3) an Egyptian word to commemorate the harvest (see J. B. Segal, The Hebrew Passover, 95-100). The verb occurs in Isa 31:5 with the connotation of “to protect”; B. S. Childs suggests that this was already influenced by the exodus tradition (Exodus [OTL], 183, n. 11). Whatever links there may or may not have been that show an etymology, in Exod 12 it is describing Yahweh’s passing over or through.

[13:16]  ⁶ tn The word is טוֹטָפֹת (totafot, “frontlets”). The etymology is uncertain, but the word denotes a sign or an object placed on the forehead (see m. Shabbat 6:1). The Gemara interprets it as a band that goes from ear to ear. In the Targum to 2 Sam 1:10 it is an armlet worn by Saul (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 110). These bands may have resembled the Egyptian practice of wearing as amulets “forms of words written on folds of papyrus tightly rolled up and sewn in linen” (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:384).

[13:16]  ⁷ sn The pattern of the passage now emerges more clearly; it concerns the grateful debt of the redeemed. In the first part eating the unleavened bread recalls the night of deliverance in Egypt, and it calls for purity. In the second part the dedication of the firstborn was an acknowledgment of the deliverance of the firstborn from bondage. They were to remember the deliverance and choose purity; they were to remember the deliverance and choose dedication. The NT will also say, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, therefore, glorify God” (1 Cor 6:20). Here too the truths of God’s great redemption must be learned well and retained well from generation to generation.

[19:21]  ⁸ tn The imperative הָעֵד (ha’ed) means “charge” them – put them under oath, or solemnly warn them. God wished to ensure that the people would not force their way past the barriers that had been set out.

[19:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “and fall”; NAB “be struck down.”

[20:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “use” (NCV, TEV); NIV, CEV, NLT “misuse”; NRSV “make wrongful use of.”

[20:7]  ¹¹ tn שָׁוְא (shav’, “vain”) describes “unreality.” The command prohibits use of the name for any idle, frivolous, or insincere purpose (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 196). This would include perjury, pagan incantations, or idle talk. The name is to be treated with reverence and respect because it is the name of the holy God.

[20:7]  ¹² tn Or “leave unpunished.”