2:16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw 1 water 2 and fill 3 the troughs in order to water their father’s flock.
2:21 Moses agreed 4 to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 5
1 tn The preterites describing their actions must be taken in an ingressive sense, since they did not actually complete the job. Shepherds drove them away, and Moses watered the flocks.
2 tn The object “water” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
3 tn This also has the ingressive sense, “began to fill,” but for stylistic reasons is translated simply “fill” here.
4 tn Or “and Moses was willing” to stay with Reuel. The Talmud understood this to mean that he swore, and so when it came time to leave he had to have a word from God and permission from his father-in-law (Exod 4:18-19).
5 tn The words “in marriage” are implied, and have been supplied in the translation for clarity.