24:22 After the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka 7 and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels 8 and gave them to her. 9
1:24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, 11 and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, 12 without blemish 13 before his glorious presence, 14
2:8 Yet 16 until now 17 she has refused to acknowledge 18 that I 19 was the one
who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;
and that it was I who 20 lavished on her the silver and gold –
which they 21 used in worshiping Baal! 22
1 tn The verbs “had done” and then “had asked” were accomplished prior to the present narrative (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 99). The verse begins with disjunctive word order to introduce the reminder of earlier background information.
2 tn Heb “from Egypt.” Here the Hebrew text uses the name of the country to represent the inhabitants (a figure known as metonymy).
3 tn The holy name (“Yahweh,” represented as “the
4 sn God was destroying the tyrant and his nobles and the land’s economy because of their stubborn refusal. But God established friendly, peaceful relations between his people and the Egyptians. The phrase is used outside Exod only in Gen 39:21, referring to Joseph.
5 tn The verb וַיַּשְׁאִלוּם (vayyash’ilum) is a Hiphil form that has the root שָׁאַל (sha’al), used earlier in Qal with the meaning “requested” (12:35). The verb here is frequently translated “and they lent them,” but lending does not fit the point. What they gave the Israelites were farewell gifts sought by demanding or asking for them. This may exemplify a “permissive” use of the Hiphil stem, in which “the Hiphil designates an action that is agreeable to the object and allowed by the subject” (B. T. Arnold and J. H. Choi, A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, 52).
6 sn See B. Jacob, “The Gifts of the Egyptians; A Critical Commentary,” Journal of Reformed Judaism 27 (1980): 59-69.
5 sn A beka weighed about 5-6 grams (0.2 ounce).
6 sn A shekel weighed about 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce) although weights varied locally, so these bracelets weighed about 4 ounces (115 grams).
7 tn The words “and gave them to her” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
7 tn Heb “whom Milcah bore to him.” The referent (Nahor) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “free from falling” is the adjectival complement.
10 tn Grk “with rejoicing.” The prepositional clause is placed after “his glorious presence” in Greek, but most likely goes with “cause you to stand.”
11 tn The construction in Greek is a double accusative object-complement. “You” is the object and “without blemish” is the adjectival complement.
12 tn Or “in the presence of his glory,” “before his glory.”
11 tn Or perhaps “and worshiped them,” if the word “prostitution” is understood in a figurative rather than a literal sense (cf. CEV, NLT).
13 tn Or “For” (so KJV, NASB); or “But” (so NCV).
14 tn The phrase “until now” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
15 tn Heb “she does not know” (so NASB, NCV); or “she does not acknowledge.”
16 tn The 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) is emphatic, since the subject of this verbal clause is already explicit in the verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, Qal perfect 1st person common singular: “I gave”).
17 tn The phrase “that it was I who” does not appear in the Hebrew text here, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
18 sn The third person plural here is an obvious reference to the Israelites who had been unfaithful to the
19 tn Heb “for Baal” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); cf. TEV “in the worship of Baal.”