Keluaran 4:8

4:8 “If ¹  they do not believe you or pay attention to ²  the former sign, then they may ³  believe the latter sign. ⁴ 

Keluaran 21:4

21:4 If his master gave ⁵  him a wife, and she bore sons or daughters, the wife and the children will belong to her master, and he will go out by himself.

Keluaran 21:32

21:32 If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the owner ⁶  must pay thirty shekels of silver, ⁷  and the ox must be stoned. ⁸ 

Keluaran 22:8

22:8 If the thief is not caught, ⁹  then the owner of the house will be brought before the judges ¹⁰  to see ¹¹  whether he has laid ¹²  his hand on his neighbor’s goods.

[4:8]  ¹ tn Heb “and it will be if.”

[4:8]  ² tn Heb “listen to the voice of,” meaning listen so as to respond appropriately.

[4:8]  ³ tn The nuance of this perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive will be equal to the imperfect of possibility – “they may believe.”

[4:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “believe the voice of the latter sign,” so as to understand and accept the meaning of the event.

[21:4]  ⁵ sn The slave would not have the right or the means to acquire a wife. Thus, the idea of the master’s “giving” him a wife is clear – the master would have to pay the bride price and make the provision. In this case, the wife and the children are actually the possession of the master unless the slave were to pay the bride price – but he is a slave because he got into debt. The law assumes that the master was better able to provide for this woman than the freed slave and that it was most important to keep the children with the mother.

[21:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:32]  ⁷ sn A shekel was a unit for measure by means of a scale. Both the weight and the value of a shekel of silver are hard to determine. “Though there is no certainty, the shekel is said to weigh about 11,5 grams” (C. Houtman, Exodus, 3:181). Over four hundred years earlier, Joseph was sold into Egypt for 20 shekels. The free Israelite citizen was worth about 50 shekels (Lev 27:3f.).

[21:32]  ⁸ sn See further B. S. Jackson, “The Goring Ox Again [Ex. 21,28-36],” JJP 18 (1974): 55-94.

[22:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “found.”

[22:8]  ¹⁰ tn Here again the word used is “the gods,” meaning the judges who made the assessments and decisions. In addition to other works, see J. R. Vannoy, “The Use of the Word ha’elohim in Exodus 21:6 and 22:7,8,” The Law and the Prophets, 225-41.

[22:8]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “to see” has been supplied.

[22:8]  ¹² tn The line says “if he has not stretched out his hand.” This could be the oath formula, but the construction here would be unusual, or it could be taken as “whether” (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:438). U. Cassuto (Exodus, 286) does not think the wording can possibly fit an oath; nevertheless, an oath would be involved before God (as he takes it instead of “judges”) – if the man swore, his word would be accepted, but if he would not swear, he would be guilty.