Exodus 18:22

18:22 They will judge ¹  the people under normal circumstances, ²  and every difficult case ³  they will bring to you, but every small case ⁴  they themselves will judge, so that ⁵  you may make it easier for yourself, ⁶  and they will bear the burden ⁷  with you.

Exodus 18:26

18:26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring ⁸  to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

Numbers 15:33-35

15:33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community. 15:34 They put him in custody, because there was no clear instruction about what should be done to him. 15:35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; the whole community must stone ⁹  him with stones outside the camp.”

¹ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, making it equivalent to the imperfect of instruction in the preceding verse.

² tn Heb “in every time,” meaning “in all normal cases” or “under normal circumstances.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

³ tn Heb “great thing.”

⁴ tn Heb “thing.”

⁵ tn The vav here shows the result or the purpose of the instructions given.

⁶ tn The expression וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ (vÿhaqel me’aleykha) means literally “and make it light off yourself.” The word plays against the word for “heavy” used earlier – since it was a heavy or burdensome task, Moses must lighten the load.

⁷ tn Here “the burden” has been supplied.

⁸ tn This verb and the verb in the next clause are imperfect tenses. In the past tense narrative of the verse they must be customary, describing continuous action in past time.

⁹ tn The sentence begins with the emphatic use of the infinitive absolute with the verb in the Hophal imperfect: “he shall surely be put to death.” Then, a second infinitive absolute רָגוֹם (ragom) provides the explanatory activity – all the community is to stone him with stones. The punishment is consistent with other decrees from God (see Exod 31:14,15; 35:2). Moses had either forgotten such, or they had simply neglected to (or were hesitant to) enact them.