Exodus 4:13

4:13 But Moses said, ¹  “O ²  my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!” ³ 

Leviticus 8:36

8:36 So Aaron and his sons did all the things the Lord had commanded through ⁴  Moses.

Leviticus 8:2

8:2 “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, the anointing oil, the sin offering bull, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread,

Leviticus 10:2

10:2 So fire went out from the presence of the Lord ⁵  and consumed them so that they died before the Lord.

Leviticus 12:1

Purification of a Woman after Childbirth

12:1 The Lord spoke to Moses:

Leviticus 12:1

Purification of a Woman after Childbirth

12:1 The Lord spoke to Moses:

Leviticus 14:18

14:18 and the remainder of the olive oil ⁶  that is in his hand the priest is to put on the head of the one being cleansed. So the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord.

Leviticus 16:7

16:7 He must then take the two goats ⁷  and stand them before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent,

Proverbs 26:6

26:6 Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence, ⁸ 

so is sending ⁹  a message by the hand of a fool. ¹⁰ 

Hosea 12:10

12:10 I spoke to the prophets;

I myself revealed many visions; ¹¹ 

I spoke in parables ¹²  through ¹³  the prophets.”

¹ tn Heb “And he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The word בִּי (bi) is a particle of entreaty; it seeks permission to speak and is always followed by “Lord” or “my Lord.”

³ tn The text has simply שְׁלַח־נָא בְּיַד־תִּשְׁלָח (shÿlakh-na’ bÿyad tishlakh, “send by the hand you will send”). This is not Moses’ resignation to doing God’s will – it is his final attempt to avoid the call. It carries the force of asking God to send someone else. This is an example of an independent relative clause governed by the genitive: “by the hand of – whomever you will send” (see GKC 488-89 §155.n).

⁴ tn Heb “by the hand of” (so KJV).

⁵ tn See the note on 9:24a.

⁶ tn Heb “and the remainder in the oil.”

⁷ tn Heb “the two he-goats,” referred to as “two he-goats of goats” in v. 5.

⁸ sn Sending a messenger on a mission is like having another pair of feet. But if the messenger is a fool, this proverb says, not only does the sender not have an extra pair of feet – he cuts off the pair he has. It would not be simply that the message did not get through; it would get through incorrectly and be a setback! The other simile uses “violence,” a term for violent social wrongs and injustice. The metaphorical idea of “drinking” violence means suffering violence – it is one’s portion. So sending a fool on a mission will have injurious consequences.

⁹ tn The participle could be taken as the subject of the sentence: “the one who sends…cuts off…and drinks.”

¹⁰ sn The consequence is given in the first line and the cause in the second. It would be better not to send a message at all than to use a fool as messenger.

¹¹ tn Heb “I myself multiplied vision[s]”; cf. NASB “I gave numerous visions.”

¹² tn There is debate whether אֲדַמֶּה (’adammeh, Piel imperfect 1st person common singular) is derived from I דָמָה (damah, “similitude, parable”) or II דָמָה (“oracle of doom”). The lexicons favor the former (BDB 198 s.v. I דָּמָה 1; HALOT 225-26 s.v. I דמה). Most translators favor “parables” (cf. KJV, RSV, NASB, NIV, NJPS), but a few opt for “oracles of doom” (cf. NRSV, TEV, CEV).

¹³ tn Heb “by the hand of”; KJV, ASV “by the ministry of.”