Exodus 30:21

30:21 they must wash ¹  their hands and their feet so that they do not die. And this ²  will be a perpetual ordinance for them and for their descendants ³  throughout their generations.” ⁴ 

Exodus 15:25

15:25 He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him ⁵  a tree. ⁶  When Moses ⁷  threw it into the water, the water became safe to drink. There the Lord ⁸  made for them ⁹  a binding ordinance, ¹⁰  and there he tested ¹¹  them.

¹ tn Heb “and [then] they will wash.”

² tn The verb is “it will be.”

³ tn Heb “for his seed.”

⁴ tn Or “for generations to come”; it literally is “to their generations.”

⁵ tn The verb is וַיּוֹרֵהוּ (vayyorehu, “and he showed him”). It is the Hiphil preterite from יָרָה (yarah), which has a basic meaning of “to point, show, direct.” It then came to mean “to teach”; it is the verb behind the noun “Law” (תּוֹרָה, torah).

⁶ tn Or “a [piece of] wood” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV); NLT “a branch.”

⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “there he”; the referent (the Lord) is supplied for clarity.

⁹ tn Heb “for him” (referring to Israel as a whole).

¹⁰ tn This translation interprets the two nouns as a hendiadys: “a statute and an ordinance” becomes “a binding ordinance.”

¹¹ tn The verb נִסָּהוּ (nissahu, “and he tested him [them]”) is from the root נָסָה (nasah). The use of this word in the Bible indicates that there is question, doubt, or uncertainty about the object being tested.