Keluaran 4:1

The Source of Sufficiency

4:1 ¹ Moses answered again, ²  “And if ³  they do not believe me or pay attention to me, ⁴  but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”

Keluaran 16:22

16:22 And ⁵  on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers ⁶  per person; ⁷  and all the leaders ⁸  of the community ⁹  came and told ¹⁰  Moses.

Keluaran 28:42

28:42 Make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked bodies; ¹¹  they must cover ¹²  from the waist to the thighs.

Keluaran 30:20

30:20 When they enter ¹³  the tent of meeting, they must wash with ¹⁴  water so that they do not die. ¹⁵  Also, when they approach ¹⁶  the altar to minister by burning incense ¹⁷  as an offering made by fire ¹⁸  to the Lord,

Keluaran 34:34

34:34 But when Moses went in ¹⁹  before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. ²⁰  Then he would come out and tell the Israelites what he had been commanded. ²¹ 

Keluaran 35:21

35:21 Everyone ²²  whose heart stirred him to action ²³  and everyone whose spirit was willing ²⁴  came and brought the offering for the Lord for the work of the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. ²⁵ 

Keluaran 35:23

35:23 Everyone who had ²⁶  blue, purple, or ²⁷  scarlet yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, ram skins dyed red, or fine leather ²⁸  brought them. ²⁹ 

Keluaran 36:4

36:4 So all the skilled people who were doing all the work on the sanctuary came from the work ³⁰  they were doing

[4:1]  ¹ sn In chap. 3, the first part of this extensive call, Yahweh promises to deliver his people. At the hesitancy of Moses, God guarantees his presence will be with him, and that assures the success of the mission. But with chap. 4, the second half of the call, the tone changes sharply. Now Moses protests his inadequacies in view of the nature of the task. In many ways, these verses address the question, “Who is sufficient for these things?” There are three basic movements in the passage. The first nine verses tell how God gave Moses signs in case Israel did not believe him (4:1-9). The second section records how God dealt with the speech problem of Moses (4:10-12). And finally, the last section records God’s provision of a helper, someone who could talk well (4:13-17). See also J. E. Hamlin, “The Liberator’s Ordeal: A Study of Exodus 4:1-9,” Rhetorical Criticism [PTMS], 33-42.

[4:1]  ² tn Heb “and Moses answered and said.”

[4:1]  ³ tn Or “What if.” The use of הֵן (hen) is unusual here, introducing a conditional idea in the question without a following consequence clause (see Exod 8:22 HT [8:26 ET]; Jer 2:10; 2 Chr 7:13). The Greek has “if not” but adds the clause “what shall I say to them?”

[4:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “listen to my voice,” so as to respond positively.

[16:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it happened/was.”

[16:22]  ⁶ tn This construction is an exception to the normal rule for the numbers 2 through 10 taking the object numbered in the plural. Here it is “two of the omer” or “the double of the omer” (see GKC 433 §134.e).

[16:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “for one.”

[16:22]  ⁸ tn The word suggests “the ones lifted up” above others, and therefore the rulers or the chiefs of the people.

[16:22]  ⁹ tn Or “congregation” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[16:22]  ¹⁰ sn The meaning here is probably that these leaders, the natural heads of the families in the clans, saw that people were gathering twice as much and they reported this to Moses, perhaps afraid it would stink again (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 197).

[28:42]  ¹¹ tn Heb “naked flesh” (so NAB, NRSV); KJV “nakedness.”

[28:42]  ¹² tn Heb “be.”

[30:20]  ¹³ tn The form is an infinitive construct with the temporal preposition bet (ב), and a suffixed subjective genitive: “in their going in,” or, whenever they enter.

[30:20]  ¹⁴ tn “Water” is an adverbial accusative of means, and so is translated “with water.” Gesenius classifies this with verbs of “covering with something.” But he prefers to emend the text with a preposition (see GKC 369 §117.y, n. 1).

[30:20]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is a Qal imperfect with a nuance of final imperfect. The purpose/result clause here is indicated only with the conjunction: “and they do not die.” But clearly from the context this is the intended result of their washing – it is in order that they not die.

[30:20]  ¹⁶ tn Here, too, the infinitive is used in a temporal clause construction. The verb נָגַשׁ (nagash) is the common verb used for drawing near to the altar to make offerings – the official duties of the priest.

[30:20]  ¹⁷ tn The text uses two infinitives construct: “to minister to burn incense”; the first is the general term and expresses the purpose of the drawing near, and the second infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first infinitive.

[30:20]  ¹⁸ tn The translation “as an offering made by fire” is a standard rendering of the one word in the text that appears to refer to “fire.” Milgrom and others contend that it simply means a “gift” (Leviticus 1-16, 161).

[34:34]  ¹⁹ tn The construction uses a infinitive construct for the temporal clause; it is prefixed with the temporal preposition: “and in the going in of Moses.”

[34:34]  ²⁰ tn The temporal clause begins with the temporal preposition “until,” followed by an infinitive construct with the suffixed subjective genitive.

[34:34]  ²¹ tn The form is the Pual imperfect, but since the context demands a past tense here, in fact a past perfect tense, this is probably an old preterite form without a vav consecutive.

[35:21]  ²² tn Heb “man.”

[35:21]  ²³ tn The verb means “lift up, bear, carry.” Here the subject is “heart” or will, and so the expression describes one moved within to act.

[35:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his spirit made him willing.” The verb is used in Scripture for the freewill offering that people brought (Lev 7).

[35:21]  ²⁵ tn Literally “the garments of holiness,” the genitive is the attributive genitive, marking out what type of garments these were.

[35:23]  ²⁶ tn The text uses a relative clause with a resumptive pronoun for this: “who was found with him,” meaning “with whom was found.”

[35:23]  ²⁷ tn The conjunction in this verse is translated “or” because the sentence does not intend to say that each person had all these things. They brought what they had.

[35:23]  ²⁸ tn See the note on this phrase in Exod 25:5.

[35:23]  ²⁹ tn Here “them” has been supplied.

[36:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a man, a man from his work”; or “each one from his work.”