Exodus 3:18

3:18 “The elders ¹  will listen ²  to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met ³  with us. So now, let us go ⁴  three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice ⁵  to the Lord our God.’

Exodus 6:6

6:6 Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out ⁶  from your enslavement to ⁷  the Egyptians, I will rescue you from the hard labor they impose, ⁸  and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

Exodus 11:8

11:8 All these your servants will come down to me and bow down ⁹  to me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow ¹⁰  you,’ and after that I will go out.” Then Moses ¹¹  went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

Exodus 33:1

33:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up ¹²  from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath ¹³  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “And they will listen”; the referent (the elders) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn This is the combination of the verb שָׁמַע (shama’) followed by לְקֹלֶךָ (lÿqolekha), an idiomatic formation that means “listen to your voice,” which in turn implies a favorable response.

³ tn The verb נִקְרָה (niqra) has the idea of encountering in a sudden or unexpected way (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 25).

⁴ tn The form used here is the cohortative of הָלַךְ (halakh). It could be a resolve, but more likely before Pharaoh it is a request.

⁵ tn Here a cohortative with a vav (ו) follows a cohortative; the second one expresses purpose or result: “let us go…in order that we may.”

⁶ sn The verb וְהוֹצֵאתִי (vÿhotse’ti) is a perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, and so it receives a future translation – part of God’s promises. The word will be used later to begin the Decalogue and other covenant passages – “I am Yahweh who brought you out….”

⁷ tn Heb “from under the burdens of” (so KJV, NASB); NIV “from under the yoke of.”

⁸ tn Heb “from labor of them.” The antecedent of the pronoun is the Egyptians who have imposed slave labor on the Hebrews.

¹¹ sn Moses’ anger is expressed forcefully. “He had appeared before Pharaoh a dozen times either as God’s emissary or when summoned by Pharaoh, but he would not come again; now they would have to search him out if they needed help” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 289-90).

¹² tn Heb “that are at your feet.”

¹³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶ tn The two imperatives underscore the immediacy of the demand: “go, go up,” meaning “get going up” or “be on your way.”

¹⁷ tn Or “the land which I swore.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “seed.”