2:14 The man 2 replied, “Who made you a ruler 3 and a judge over us? Are you planning 4 to kill me like you killed that 5 Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking, 6 “Surely what I did 7 has become known.”
1 tn Or “the cities of the plain”; Heb “[the cities of] the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
2 tn Heb “And he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “Who placed you for a man, a ruler and a judge over us?” The pleonasm does not need to be translated. For similar constructions see Lev 21:9; Judg 6:8; 2 Sam 1:13; Esth 7:6.
4 tn The line reads “[is it] to kill me you are planning?” The form אֹמֵר (’omer) is the active participle used verbally; it would literally be “[are you] saying,” but in this context it conveys the meaning of “thinking, planning.” The Qal infinitive then serves as the object of this verbal form – are you planning to kill me?
5 tn Heb “the Egyptian.” Here the Hebrew article functions in an anaphoric sense, referring back to the individual Moses killed.
6 tn The verb form is “and he said.” But the intent of the form is that he said this within himself, and so it means “he thought, realized, said to himself.” The form, having the vav consecutive, is subordinated to the main idea of the verse, that he was afraid.
7 tn The term הַדָּבָר (haddavar, “the word [thing, matter, incident]”) functions here like a pronoun to refer in brief to what Moses had done. For clarity this has been specified in the translation with the phrase “what I did.”
8 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Grk “saw them”; the context makes clear that two individuals were involved (v. 27).
10 tn Or “tried to reconcile” (BDAG 964-65 s.v. συναλλάσσω).
11 tn Or “repudiated Moses,” “rejected Moses” (BDAG 126-27 s.v. ἀπωθέω 2).
12 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Or “appointed.”
14 tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ at the end, “do you?”
15 tn Grk “said.”
16 tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”
17 tn Grk “They were astounded and amazed, saying.” The two imperfect verbs, ἐξίσταντο (existanto) and ἐθαύμαζον (eqaumazon), show both the surprise and the confusion on the part of the hearers. The verb ἐξίσταντο (from ἐξίστημι, existhmi) often implies an illogical perception or response (BDAG 350 s.v. ἐξίστημι): “to be so astonished as to almost fail to comprehend what one has experienced” (L&N 25.218).
18 tn Grk “Behold, aren’t all these.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
19 tn Grk “we hear them, each one of us.”
20 tn Grk “in our own language in which we were born.”