Keluaran 16:31

16:31 The house of Israel ¹  called its name “manna.” ²  It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted ³  like wafers with honey.

Keluaran 15:23

15:23 Then they came to Marah, ⁴  but they were not able to drink ⁵  the waters of Marah, because ⁶  they were bitter. ⁷  (That is ⁸  why its name was ⁹  Marah.)

Keluaran 8:15

8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, ¹⁰  he hardened ¹¹  his heart and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted. ¹² 

Keluaran 17:3

17:3 But the people were very thirsty ¹³  there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world ¹⁴  did you bring us up out of Egypt – to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” ¹⁵ 

Keluaran 20:20

20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, ¹⁶  that the fear of him ¹⁷  may be before you so that you do not ¹⁸  sin.”

Keluaran 23:27

23:27 “I will send my terror ¹⁹  before you, and I will destroy ²⁰  all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs ²¹  to you.

Keluaran 25:2

25:2 “Tell the Israelites to take ²²  an offering ²³  for me; from every person motivated by a willing ²⁴  heart you ²⁵  are to receive my offering.

Keluaran 36:2

36:2 Moses summoned ²⁶  Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person in whom ²⁷  the Lord had put skill – everyone whose heart stirred him ²⁸  to volunteer ²⁹  to do the work,

Keluaran 35:29

35:29 The Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, every man and woman whose heart was willing to bring materials for all the work that the Lord through ³⁰  Moses had commanded them ³¹  to do.

Keluaran 17:12

17:12 When ³²  the hands of Moses became heavy, ³³  they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, ³⁴  and so his hands were steady ³⁵  until the sun went down.

Keluaran 15:15

15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified, ³⁶ 

trembling will seize ³⁷  the leaders of Moab,

and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake.

Keluaran 23:9

23:9 “You must not oppress ³⁸  a foreigner, since you know the life ³⁹  of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Keluaran 2:6

2:6 opened it, ⁴⁰  and saw the child ⁴¹  – a boy, ⁴²  crying! ⁴³  – and she felt compassion ⁴⁴  for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

Keluaran 1:12

1:12 But the more the Egyptians ⁴⁵  oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. ⁴⁶  As a result the Egyptians loathed ⁴⁷  the Israelites,

Keluaran 18:9

18:9 Jethro rejoiced ⁴⁸  because of all the good that the Lord had done for Israel, whom he had delivered from the hand of Egypt.

Keluaran 18:8

18:8 Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt for Israel’s sake, and all the hardship ⁴⁹  that had come on them ⁵⁰  along the way, and how ⁵¹  the Lord had delivered them.

Keluaran 14:31

14:31 When Israel saw ⁵²  the great power ⁵³  that the Lord had exercised ⁵⁴  over the Egyptians, they ⁵⁵  feared the Lord, and they believed in ⁵⁶  the Lord and in his servant Moses. ⁵⁷ 

Keluaran 19:4

19:4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles’ wings ⁵⁸  and brought you to myself. ⁵⁹ 

Keluaran 8:26

8:26 But Moses said, “That would not be the right thing to do, ⁶⁰  for the sacrifices we make ⁶¹  to the Lord our God would be an abomination ⁶²  to the Egyptians. ⁶³  If we make sacrifices that are an abomination to the Egyptians right before their eyes, ⁶⁴  will they not stone us? ⁶⁵ 

Keluaran 36:1

36:1 So Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person ⁶⁶  in whom the Lord has put skill ⁶⁷  and ability ⁶⁸  to know how ⁶⁹  to do all the work for the service ⁷⁰  of the sanctuary are to do the work ⁷¹  according to all that the Lord has commanded.”

Keluaran 22:9

22:9 In all cases of illegal possessions, ⁷²  whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says ‘This belongs to me,’ ⁷³  the matter of the two of them will come before the judges, ⁷⁴  and the one whom ⁷⁵  the judges declare guilty ⁷⁶  must repay double to his neighbor.

[16:31]  ¹ sn The name “house of Israel” is unusual in this context.

[16:31]  ² tn Hebrew מָן (man).

[16:31]  ³ tn Heb “like seed of coriander, white, its taste was.”

[15:23]  ⁴ sn The Hebrew word “Marah” means “bitter.” This motif will be repeated four times in this passage to mark the central problem. Earlier in the book the word had been used for the “bitter herbs” in the Passover, recalling the bitter labor in bondage. So there may be a double reference here – to the bitter waters and to Egypt itself – God can deliver from either.

[15:23]  ⁵ tn The infinitive construct here provides the direct object for the verb “to be able,” answering the question of what they were not able to do.

[15:23]  ⁶ tn The causal clause here provides the reason for their being unable to drink the water, as well as a clear motivation for the name.

[15:23]  ⁷ sn Many scholars have attempted to explain these things with natural phenomena. Here Marah is identified with Ain Hawarah. It is said that the waters of this well are notoriously salty and brackish; Robinson said it was six to eight feet in diameter and the water about two feet deep; the water is unpleasant, salty, and somewhat bitter. As a result the Arabs say it is the worst tasting water in the area (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:398). But that would not be a sufficient amount of water for the number of Israelites in the first place, and in the second, they could not drink it at all. But third, how did Moses change it?

[15:23]  ⁸ tn The עַל־כֵּן (’al-ken) formula in the Pentateuch serves to explain to the reader the reason for the way things were. It does not necessarily mean here that Israel named the place – but they certainly could have.

[15:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “one called its name,” the expression can be translated as a passive verb if the subject is not expressed.

[8:15]  ¹⁰ tn The word רְוָחָה (rÿvakhah) means “respite, relief.” BDB 926 relates it to the verb רָוַח (ravakh, “to be wide, spacious”). There would be relief when there was freedom to move about.

[8:15]  ¹¹ tn וְהַכְבֵּד (vÿhakhbed) is a Hiphil infinitive absolute, functioning as a finite verb. The meaning of the word is “to make heavy,” and so stubborn, sluggish, indifferent. It summarizes his attitude and the outcome, that he refused to keep his promises.

[8:15]  ¹² sn The end of the plague revealed clearly God’s absolute control over Egypt’s life and deities – all at the power of the man who prayed to God. Yahweh had made life unpleasant for the people by sending the plague, but he was also the one who could remove it. The only recourse anyone has in such trouble is to pray to the sovereign Lord God. Everyone should know that there is no one like Yahweh.

[17:3]  ¹³ tn The verbs and the pronouns in this verse are in the singular because “the people” is singular in form.

[17:3]  ¹⁴ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used as the enclitic form for special emphasis in the question; it literally says, “why is this you have brought us up?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[17:3]  ¹⁵ sn Their words deny God the credit for bringing them out of Egypt, impugn the integrity of Moses and God by accusing them of bringing the people out here to die, and show a lack of faith in God’s ability to provide for them.

[20:20]  ¹⁶ tn נַסּוֹת (nassot) is the Piel infinitive construct; it forms the purpose of God’s coming with all the accompanying phenomena. The verb can mean “to try, test, prove.” The sense of “prove” fits this context best because the terrifying phenomena were intended to put the fear of God in their hearts so that they would obey. In other words, God was inspiring them to obey, not simply testing to see if they would.

[20:20]  ¹⁷ tn The suffix on the noun is an objective genitive, referring to the fear that the people would have of God (GKC 439 §135.m).

[20:20]  ¹⁸ tn The negative form לְבִלְתִּי (lÿvilti) is used here with the imperfect tense (see for other examples GKC 483 §152.x). This gives the imperfect the nuance of a final imperfect: that you might not sin. Others: to keep you from sin.

[23:27]  ¹⁹ tn The word for “terror” is אֵימָתִי (’emati); the word has the thought of “panic” or “dread.” God would make the nations panic as they heard of the exploits and knew the Israelites were drawing near. U. Cassuto thinks the reference to “hornets” in v. 28 may be a reference to this fear, an unreasoning dread, rather than to another insect invasion (Exodus, 308). Others suggest it is symbolic of an invading army or a country like Egypt or literal insects (see E. Neufeld, “Insects as Warfare Agents in the Ancient Near East,” Or 49 [1980]: 30-57).

[23:27]  ²⁰ tn Heb “kill.”

[23:27]  ²¹ tn The text has “and I will give all your enemies to you [as] a back.” The verb of making takes two accusatives, the second being the adverbial accusative of product (see GKC 371-72 §117.ii, n. 1).

[25:2]  ²² tn The verb is וְיִקְחוּ (vÿyiqkhu), the Qal imperfect or jussive with vav; after the imperative “speak” this verb indicates the purpose or result: “speak…that they may take” and continues with the force of a command.

[25:2]  ²³ tn The “offering” (תְּרוּמָה, tÿrumah) is perhaps better understood as a contribution since it was a freewill offering. There is some question about the etymology of the word. The traditional meaning of “heave-offering” derives from the idea of “elevation,” a root meaning “to be high” lying behind the word. B. Jacob says it is something sorted out of a mass of material and designated for a higher purpose (Exodus, 765). S. R. Driver (Exodus, 263) corrects the idea of “heave-offering” by relating the root to the Hiphil form of that root, herim, “to lift” or “take off.” He suggests the noun means “what is taken off” from a larger mass and so designated for sacred purposes. The LXX has “something taken off.”

[25:2]  ²⁴ tn The verb יִדְּבֶנּוּ (yiddÿvennu) is related to the word for the “freewill offering” (נְדָבָה, nÿdavah). The verb is used of volunteering for military campaigns (Judg 5:2, 9) and the willing offerings for both the first and second temples (see 1 Chr 29:5, 6, 9, 14, 17).

[25:2]  ²⁵ tn The pronoun is plural.

[36:2]  ²⁶ tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) plus the preposition “to” – “to call to” someone means “to summon” that person.

[36:2]  ²⁷ tn Here there is a slight change: “in whose heart Yahweh had put skill.”

[36:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “whose heart was willing.”

[36:2]  ²⁹ sn The verb means more than “approach” or “draw near”; קָרַב (qarav) is the word used for drawing near the altar as in bringing an offering. Here they offer themselves, their talents and their time.

[35:29]  ³⁰ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[35:29]  ³¹ tn Here “them” has been supplied.

[17:12]  ³² tn Literally “now the hands of Moses,” the disjunctive vav (ו) introduces a circumstantial clause here – of time.

[17:12]  ³³ tn The term used here is the adjective כְּבֵדִים (kÿvedim). It means “heavy,” but in this context the idea is more that of being tired. This is the important word that was used in the plague stories: when the heart of Pharaoh was hard, then the Israelites did not gain their freedom or victory. Likewise here, when the staff was lowered because Moses’ hands were “heavy,” Israel started to lose.

[17:12]  ³⁴ tn Heb “from this, one, and from this, one.”

[17:12]  ³⁵ tn The word “steady” is אֱמוּנָה (’emuna) from the root אָמַן (’aman). The word usually means “faithfulness.” Here is a good illustration of the basic idea of the word – firm, steady, reliable, dependable. There may be a double entendre here; on the one hand it simply says that his hands were stayed so that Israel might win, but on the other hand it is portraying Moses as steady, firm, reliable, faithful. The point is that whatever God commissioned as the means or agency of power – to Moses a staff, to the Christians the Spirit – the people of God had to know that the victory came from God alone.

[15:15]  ³⁶ tn This is a prophetic perfect.

[15:15]  ³⁷ tn This verb is imperfect tense.

[23:9]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ tn Heb “soul, life” – “you know what it feels like.”

[2:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and she opened.”

[2:6]  ⁴¹ tn The grammatical construction has a pronominal suffix on the verb as the direct object along with the expressed object: “and she saw him, the child.” The second object defines the previous pronominal object to avoid misunderstanding (see GKC 425 §131.m).

[2:6]  ⁴² tn The text has נַעַר (na’ar, “lad, boy, young man”), which in this context would mean a baby boy.

[2:6]  ⁴³ tn This clause is introduced with a disjunctive vav and the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold” in the KJV). The particle in this kind of clause introduces the unexpected – what Pharaoh’s daughter saw when she opened the basket: “and look, there was a baby boy crying.” The clause provides a parenthetical description of the child as she saw him when she opened the basket and does not advance the narrative. It is an important addition, however, for it puts readers in the position of looking with her into the basket and explains her compassion.

[2:6]  ⁴⁴ tn The verb could be given a more colloquial translation such as “she felt sorry for him.” But the verb is stronger than that; it means “to have compassion, to pity, to spare.” What she felt for the baby was strong enough to prompt her to spare the child from the fate decreed for Hebrew boys. Here is part of the irony of the passage: What was perceived by many to be a womanly weakness – compassion for a baby – is a strong enough emotion to prompt the woman to defy the orders of Pharaoh. The ruler had thought sparing women was safe, but the midwives, the Hebrew mother, the daughter of Pharaoh, and Miriam, all work together to spare one child – Moses (cf. 1 Cor 1:27-29).

[1:12]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:12]  ⁴⁶ 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]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “they felt a loathing before/because of”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:9]  ⁴⁸ tn The word חָדָה (khada) is rare, occurring only in Job 3:6 and Ps 21:6, although it is common in Aramaic. The LXX translated it “he shuddered.” U. Cassuto suggests that that rendering was based on the midrashic interpretation in b. Sanhedrin 94b, “he felt cuts in his body” – a wordplay on the verb (Exodus, 215-16).

[18:8]  ⁴⁹ tn A rare word, “weariness” of the hardships.

[18:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “found them.”

[18:8]  ⁵¹ tn Here “how” has been supplied.

[14:31]  ⁵² tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive introduces a clause that is subordinate to the main points that the verse is making.

[14:31]  ⁵³ tn Heb “the great hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for work or power. The word play using “hand” contrasts the Lord’s hand/power at work on behalf of the Israelites with the hand/power of Egypt that would have killed them.

[14:31]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “did, made.”

[14:31]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and the people feared.”

[14:31]  ⁵⁶ tn The verb is the Hiphil preterite of אָמַן (’aman).

[14:31]  sn S. R. Driver says that the belief intended here is not simply a crediting of a testimony concerning a person or a thing, but a laying firm hold morally on a person or a thing (Exodus, 122). Others take the Hiphil sense to be declarative, and that would indicate a considering of the object of faith trustworthy or dependable, and therefore to be acted on. In this passage it does not mean that here they came to faith, but that they became convinced that he would save them in the future.

[14:31]  ⁵⁷ sn Here the title of “servant” is given to Moses. This is the highest title a mortal can have in the OT – the “servant of Yahweh.” It signifies more than a believer; it describes the individual as acting on behalf of God. For example, when Moses stretched out his hand, God used it as his own (Isa 63:12). Moses was God’s personal representative. The chapter records both a message of salvation and of judgment. Like the earlier account of deliverance at the Passover, this chapter can be a lesson on deliverance from present troubles – if God could do this for Israel, there is no trouble too great for him to overcome. The passage can also be understood as a picture (at least) of the deliverance at the final judgment on the world. But the Israelites used this account for a paradigm of the power of God: namely, God is able to deliver his people from danger because he is the sovereign Lord of creation. His people must learn to trust him, even in desperate situations; they must fear him and not the situation. God can bring any threat to an end by bringing his power to bear in judgment on the wicked.

[19:4]  ⁵⁸ tn The figure compares the way a bird would teach its young to fly and leave the nest with the way Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt. The bird referred to could be one of several species of eagles, but more likely is the griffin-vulture. The image is that of power and love.

[19:4]  ⁵⁹ sn The language here is the language of a bridegroom bringing the bride to the chamber. This may be a deliberate allusion to another metaphor for the covenant relationship.

[8:26]  ⁶⁰ tn The clause is a little unusual in its formation. The form נָכוֹן (nakhon) is the Niphal participle from כּוּן (kun), which usually means “firm, fixed, steadfast,” but here it has a rare meaning of “right, fitting, appropriate.” It functions in the sentence as the predicate adjective, because the infinitive לַעֲשּׂוֹת (la’asot) is the subject – “to do so is not right.”

[8:26]  ⁶¹ tn This translation has been smoothed out to capture the sense. The text literally says, “for the abomination of Egypt we will sacrifice to Yahweh our God.” In other words, the animals that Israel would sacrifice were sacred to Egypt, and sacrificing them would have been abhorrent to the Egyptians.

[8:26]  ⁶² tn An “abomination” is something that is off-limits, something that is tabu. It could be translated “detestable” or “loathsome.”

[8:26]  ⁶³ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 109) says there are two ways to understand “the abomination of the Egyptians.” One is that the sacrifice of the sacred animals would appear an abominable thing in the eyes of the Egyptians, and the other is that the word “abomination” could be a derogatory term for idols – we sacrifice what is an Egyptian idol. So that is why he says if they did this the Egyptians would stone them.

[8:26]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “if we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians [or “of Egypt”] before their eyes.”

[8:26]  ⁶⁵ tn The interrogative clause has no particle to indicate it is a question, but it is connected with the conjunction to the preceding clause, and the meaning of these clauses indicate it is a question (GKC 473 §150.a).

[36:1]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “wise of [in] heart.”

[36:1]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “wisdom.”

[36:1]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “understanding, discernment.”

[36:1]  ⁶⁹ tn The relative clause includes this infinitive clause that expresses either the purpose or the result of God’s giving wisdom and understanding to these folk.

[36:1]  ⁷⁰ tn This noun is usually given an interpretive translation. B. Jacob renders the bound relationship as “the holy task” or “the sacred task” (Exodus, 1019). The NIV makes it “constructing,” so read “the work of constructing the sanctuary.”

[36:1]  ⁷¹ tn The first word of the verse is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is singular because it agrees with the first of the compound subject. The sentence is a little cumbersome because of the extended relative clause in the middle.

[22:9]  ⁷² tn Heb “concerning every kind [thing] of trespass.”

[22:9]  ⁷³ tn The text simply has “this is it” (הוּא זֶה, hu’ zeh).

[22:9]  ⁷⁴ tn Again, or “God.”

[22:9]  ⁷⁵ tn This kind of clause Gesenius calls an independent relative clause – it does not depend on a governing substantive but itself expresses a substantival idea (GKC 445-46 §138.e).

[22:9]  ⁷⁶ tn The verb means “to be guilty” in Qal; in Hiphil it would have a declarative sense, because a causative sense would not possibly fit.