Text -- Exodus 34:30-35 (NET)

34:30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to approach him. 34:31 But Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and Moses spoke to them. 34:32 After this all the Israelites approached, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. 34:33 When Moses finished speaking with them, he would put a veil on his face. 34:34 But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. Then he would come out and tell the Israelites what he had been commanded. 34:35 When the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with the Lord.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Exo 34:30

¹ tn This clause is introduced by the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh); it has the force of pointing to something surprising or sudden.

NET Notes: Exo 34:33

¹ tn Heb “and Moses finished”; the clause is subordinated as a temporal clause to the next clause.

² tn The Piel infinitive construct is the object of the preposition; the whole phrase serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”

³ tn Throughout this section the actions of Moses and the people are frequentative. The text tells what happened regularly.

NET Notes: Exo 34:34

¹ 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.”

² tn The temporal clause begins with the temporal preposition “until,” followed by an infinitive construct with the suffixed subjective genitive.

³ 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.

NET Notes: Exo 34:35

¹ tn Now the perfect tense with vav consecutive is subordinated to the next clause, “Moses returned the veil….”

² tn Verbs of seeing often take two accusatives. Here, the second is the noun clause explaining what it was about the face that they saw.

³ tn Heb “with him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.