Keluaran 2:1

The Birth of the Deliverer

2:1 ¹ A man from the household ²  of Levi married ³  a woman who was a descendant of Levi. ⁴ 

Keluaran 5:18

5:18 So now, get back to work! ⁵  You will not be given straw, but you must still produce ⁶  your quota ⁷  of bricks!”

Keluaran 8:18

8:18 When ⁸  the magicians attempted ⁹  to bring forth gnats by their secret arts, they could not. So there were gnats on people and on animals.

Keluaran 12:2

12:2 “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. ¹⁰ 

Keluaran 12:35

12:35 Now the Israelites had done ¹¹  as Moses told them – they had requested from the Egyptians ¹²  silver and gold items and clothing.

Keluaran 13:4

13:4 On this day, ¹³  in the month of Abib, ¹⁴  you are going out. ¹⁵ 

Keluaran 20:26

20:26 And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’ ¹⁶ 

Keluaran 21:20

21:20 “If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she ¹⁷  dies as a result of the blow, ¹⁸  he will surely be punished. ¹⁹ 

Keluaran 22:17

22:17 If her father refuses to give her to him, he must pay money for the bride price of virgins.

Keluaran 25:36

25:36 Their buds and their branches will be one piece, ²⁰  all of it one hammered piece of pure gold.

Keluaran 26:3

26:3 Five curtains are to be joined, ²¹  one to another, ²²  and the other ²³  five curtains are to be joined, one to another.

Keluaran 28:40

28:40 “For Aaron’s sons you are to make tunics, sashes, and headbands ²⁴  for glory and for beauty.

Keluaran 37:20

37:20 On the lampstand there were four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms,

Keluaran 37:22

37:22 Their buds and their branches were of one piece; ²⁵  all of it was one hammered piece of pure gold.

Keluaran 38:15

38:15 and for the second side of the gate of the courtyard, just like the other, ²⁶  the hangings were twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three posts and their three bases.

Keluaran 39:28

39:28 and the turban of fine linen, the headbands of fine linen, and the undergarments of fine twisted linen.

[2:1]  ¹ sn The chapter records the exceptional survival of Moses under the decree of death by Pharaoh (vv. 1-10), the flight of Moses from Pharaoh after killing the Egyptian (vv. 11-15), the marriage of Moses (vv. 16-22), and finally a note about the Lord’s hearing the sighing of the people in bondage (vv. 23-25). The first part is the birth. The Bible has several stories about miraculous or special births and deliverances of those destined to lead Israel. Their impact is essentially to authenticate the individual’s ministry. If the person’s beginning was providentially provided and protected by the Lord, then the mission must be of divine origin too. In this chapter the plot works around the decree for the death of the children – a decree undone by the women. The second part of the chapter records Moses’ flight and marriage. Having introduced the deliverer Moses in such an auspicious way, the chapter then records how this deliverer acted presumptuously and had to flee for his life. Any deliverance God desired had to be supernatural, as the chapter’s final note about answering prayer shows.

[2:1]  ² tn Heb “house.” In other words, the tribe of Levi.

[2:1]  ³ tn Heb “went and took”; NASB “went and married.”

[2:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “a daughter of Levi.” The word “daughter” is used in the sense of “descendant” and connects the new account with Pharaoh’s command in 1:22. The words “a woman who was” are added for clarity in English.

[2:1]  sn The first part of this section is the account of hiding the infant (vv. 1-4). The marriage, the birth, the hiding of the child, and the positioning of Miriam, are all faith operations that ignore the decree of Pharaoh or work around it to preserve the life of the child.

[5:18]  ⁵ tn The text has two imperatives: “go, work.” They may be used together to convey one complex idea (so a use of hendiadys): “go back to work.”

[5:18]  ⁶ tn The imperfect תִּתֵּנּוּ (tittennu) is here taken as an obligatory imperfect: “you must give” or “you must produce.”

[5:18]  ⁷ sn B. Jacob is amazed at the wealth of this tyrant’s vocabulary in describing the work of others. Here, תֹכֶן (tokhen) is another word for “quota” of bricks, the fifth word used to describe their duty (Exodus, 137).

[8:18]  ⁸ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the main clause as a temporal clause.

[8:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the magicians did so.”

[8:18]  sn The report of what the magicians did (or as it turns out, tried to do) begins with the same words as the report about the actions of Moses and Aaron – “and they did so” (vv. 17 and 18). The magicians copy the actions of Moses and Aaron, leading readers to think momentarily that the magicians are again successful, but at the end of the verse comes the news that “they could not.” Compared with the first two plagues, this third plague has an important new feature, the failure of the magicians and their recognition of the source of the plague.

[12:2]  ¹⁰ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 294-95) shows that the intent of the passage was not to make this month in the spring the New Year – that was in the autumn. Rather, when counting months this was supposed to be remembered first, for it was the great festival of freedom from Egypt. He observes how some scholars have unnecessarily tried to date one New Year earlier than the other.

[12:35]  ¹¹ tn The verbs “had done” and then “had asked” were accomplished prior to the present narrative (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 99). The verse begins with disjunctive word order to introduce the reminder of earlier background information.

[12:35]  ¹² tn Heb “from Egypt.” Here the Hebrew text uses the name of the country to represent the inhabitants (a figure known as metonymy).

[13:4]  ¹³ tn The word הַיּוֹם (hayyom) means literally “the day, today, this day.” In this sentence it functions as an adverbial accusative explaining when the event took place.

[13:4]  ¹⁴ sn Abib appears to be an old name for the month, meaning something like “[month of] fresh young ears” (Lev 2:14 [Heb]) (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 106). B. Jacob (Exodus, 364) explains that these names were not precise designations, but general seasons based on the lunar year in the agricultural setting.

[13:4]  ¹⁵ tn The form is the active participle, functioning verbally.

[20:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “uncovered” (so ASV, NAB).

[21:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “so that he”; the words “or she” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “under his hand.”

[21:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “will be avenged” (how is not specified).

[25:36]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will be from it.”

[26:3]  ²¹ tn This is the active participle, not the passive. It would normally be rendered “joining together.” The Bible uses the active because it has the result of the sewing in mind, namely, that every curtain accompanies another (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 348).

[26:3]  ²² tn Heb “a woman to her sister,” this form of using nouns to express “one to another” is selected because “curtains” is a feminine noun (see GKC 448 §139.e).

[26:3]  ²³ tn The phrase “the other” has been supplied.

[28:40]  ²⁴ sn This refers to a band of linen wrapped around the head, forming something like a brimless convex cap, resembling something like a half egg. It refers to the headgear of ordinary priests only (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 310-11).

[37:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “were from it.”

[38:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from this and from this” (cf, 17:12; 25:19; 26:13; 32:15; Josh 8:22, 33; 1 Kgs 10:19-20; Ezek 45:7).