Exodus 2:20

2:20 He said ¹  to his daughters, “So where is he? ²  Why in the world ³  did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat ⁴  a meal ⁵  with us.”

Exodus 9:21

9:21 but those ⁶  who did not take ⁷  the word of the Lord seriously left their servants and their cattle ⁸  in the field.

¹ tn Heb “And he said.”

² tn The conjunction vav (ו) joins Reuel’s question to what the daughters said as logically following with the idea, “If he has done all that you say, why is he not here for me to meet?” (see GKC 485 §154.b).

³ tn This uses the demonstrative pronoun as an enclitic, for emphasis (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118). The question reads more literally, “Why [is] this [that] you left him?”

⁴ tn The imperfect tense coming after the imperative indicates purpose.

⁵ tn Heb “bread,” i.e., “food.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew text again has the singular.

⁷ tn Heb “put to his heart.”

⁸ tn Heb “his servants and his cattle.”