19:16 On 10 the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense 11 cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud 12 horn; 13 all the people who were in the camp trembled.
1 tn The clause begins וַיהוָה (va’adonay [vayhvah], “Now Yahweh….”). In contrast to a normal sequence, this beginning focuses attention on Yahweh as the subject of the verb.
2 tn The verb נָהַג (nahag) means “drive, conduct.” It is elsewhere used for driving sheep, leading armies, or leading in processions.
3 tn Heb “and all the night.”
4 tn The text does not here use ordinary circumstantial clause constructions; rather, Heb “the morning was, and the east wind carried the locusts.” It clearly means “when it was morning,” but the style chosen gives a more abrupt beginning to the plague, as if the reader is in the experience – and at morning, the locusts are there!
5 tn The verb here is a past perfect, indicting that the locusts had arrived before the day came.
6 tn The noun שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbaton) has the abstract ending on it: “resting, ceasing.” The root word means “cease” from something, more than “to rest.” The Law would make it clear that they were to cease from their normal occupations and do no common work.
7 tn The technical expression is now used: שַׁבַּת־קֹדֶשׁ (shabbat-qodesh, “a holy Sabbath”) meaning a “cessation of/for holiness” for Yahweh. The rest was to be characterized by holiness.
8 tn The two verbs in these objective noun clauses are desiderative imperfects – “bake whatever you want to bake.”
9 tn The word “today” is implied from the context.
11 tn Heb “and it was on.”
12 tn Heb “heavy” (כָּבֵד, kaved).
13 tn Literally “strong” (חָזָק, khazaq).
14 tn The word here is שֹׁפָר (shofar), the normal word for “horn.” This word is used especially to announce something important in a public event (see 1 Kgs 1:34; 2 Sam 6:15). The previous word used in the context (v. 16) was יֹבֵל (yovel, “ram’s horn”).