17:4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with 2 this people? – a little more 3 and they will stone me!” 4
1 tn The repetition expresses an exceptional or super-fine quality (see GKC 396 §123.e).
2 tn The preposition lamed (ל) is here specification, meaning “with respect to” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 49, §273).
3 tn Or “they are almost ready to stone me.”
4 tn The perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive almost develops an independent force; this is true in sentences where it follows an expression of time, as here (see GKC 334 §112.x).