Discovery BoxActs 13:17
Context13:17 The God of this people Israel 1 chose our ancestors 2 and made the people great 3 during their stay as foreigners 4 in the country 5 of Egypt, and with uplifted arm 6 he led them out of it.
Exodus 1:7-12
Context1:7 The Israelites, 7 however, 8 were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, 9 so that the land was filled with them.
1:8 Then a new king, 10 who did not know about 11 Joseph, came to power 12 over Egypt. 1:9 He said 13 to his people, “Look at 14 the Israelite people, more numerous and stronger than we are! 1:10 Come, let’s deal wisely 15 with them. Otherwise 16 they will continue to multiply, 17 and if 18 a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with 19 our enemies and fight against us and leave 20 the country.”
1:11 So they put foremen 21 over the Israelites 22 to oppress 23 them with hard labor. As a result 24 they built Pithom and Rameses 25 as store cities for Pharaoh. 1:12 But the more the Egyptians 26 oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. 27 As a result the Egyptians loathed 28 the Israelites,
Exodus 1:20
Context1:20 So God treated the midwives well, 29 and the people multiplied and became very strong.
Psalms 105:24-25
Context105:24 The Lord 30 made his people very fruitful,
and made them 31 more numerous than their 32 enemies.
105:25 He caused them 33 to hate his people,
and to mistreat 34 his servants.
[13:17] 1 tn Or “people of Israel.”
[13:17] 2 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
[13:17] 3 tn That is, in both numbers and in power. The implication of greatness in both numbers and in power is found in BDAG 1046 s.v. ὑψόω 2.
[13:17] 4 tn Or “as resident aliens.”
[13:17] 6 sn Here uplifted arm is a metaphor for God’s power by which he delivered the Israelites from Egypt. See Exod 6:1, 6; 32:11; Deut 3:24; 4:34; Ps 136:11-12.
[1:7] 7 tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”
[1:7] 8 tn The disjunctive vav marks a contrast with the note about the deaths of the first generation.
[1:7] 9 tn Using מְאֹד (mÿ’od) twice intensifies the idea of their becoming strong (see GKC 431-32 §133.k).
[1:8] 10 sn It would be difficult to identify who this “new king” might be, since the chronology of ancient Israel and Egypt is continually debated. Scholars who take the numbers in the Bible more or less at face value would place the time of Jacob’s going down to Egypt in about 1876
[1:8] 11 tn The relative clause comes last in the verse in Hebrew. It simply clarifies that the new king had no knowledge about Joseph. It also introduces a major theme in the early portion of Exodus, as a later Pharaoh will claim not to know who Yahweh is. The
[1:9] 13 tn Heb “and he said.”
[1:9] 14 tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the exhortation to follow by drawing the listeners’ attention to the Israelites. In other words, the exhortation that follows is based on this observation. The connection could be rendered “since, because,” or the like.
[1:10] 15 tn The verb is the Hitpael cohortative of חָכַם (khakam, “to be wise”). This verb has the idea of acting shrewdly, dealing wisely. The basic idea in the word group is that of skill. So a skillful decision is required to prevent the Israelites from multiplying any more.
[1:10] 16 tn The word פֶּן (pen) expresses fear or precaution and can also be translated “lest” or “else” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 75-76, §461).
[1:10] 17 tn The verb can be translated simply “will multiply,” but since Pharaoh has already indicated that he is aware they were doing that, the nuance here must mean to multiply all the more, or to continue to multiply. Cf. NIV “will become even more numerous.”
[1:10] 18 tn The words וְהָיָה כִּי (vÿhayah ki) introduce a conditional clause – “if” (see GKC 335 §112.y).
[1:10] 19 tn Heb “and [lest] he [Israel] also be joined to.”
[1:10] 20 tn Heb “and go up from.” All the verbs coming after the particle פֶּן (pen, “otherwise, lest” in v. 10) have the same force and are therefore parallel. These are the fears of the Egyptians. This explains why a shrewd policy of population control was required. They wanted to keep Israel enslaved; they did not want them to become too numerous and escape.
[1:11] 21 tn Heb “princes of work.” The word שָׂרֵי (sare, “princes”) has been translated using words such as “ruler,” “prince,” “leader,” “official,” “chief,” “commander,” and “captain” in different contexts. It appears again in 2:14 and 18:21 and 25. Hebrew מַס (mas) refers to a labor gang organized to provide unpaid labor, or corvée (Deut 20:11; Josh 17:13; 1 Kgs 9:15, 21). The entire phrase has been translated “foremen,” which combines the idea of oversight and labor. Cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV “taskmasters”; NIV “slave masters”; NLT “slave drivers.”
[1:11] 22 tn Heb “over them”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[1:11] 23 sn The verb עַנֹּתוֹ (’annoto) is the Piel infinitive construct from עָנָה (’anah, “to oppress”). The word has a wide range of meanings. Here it would include physical abuse, forced subjugation, and humiliation. This king was trying to crush the spirit of Israel by increasing their slave labor. Other terms in the passage that describe this intent include “bitter” and “crushing.”
[1:11] 24 tn The form is a preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive, וַיִּבֶן (vayyiven). The sequence expressed in this context includes the idea of result.
[1:11] 25 sn Many scholars assume that because this city was named Rameses, the Pharaoh had to be Rameses II, and hence that a late date for the exodus (and a late time for the sojourn in Egypt) is proved. But if the details of the context are taken as seriously as the mention of this name, this cannot be the case. If one grants for the sake of discussion that Rameses II was on the throne and oppressing Israel, it is necessary to note that Moses is not born yet. It would take about twenty or more years to build the city, then eighty more years before Moses appears before Pharaoh (Rameses), and then a couple of years for the plagues – this man would have been Pharaoh for over a hundred years. That is clearly not the case for the historical Rameses II. But even more determining is the fact that whoever the Pharaoh was for whom the Israelites built the treasure cities, he died before Moses began the plagues. The Bible says that when Moses grew up and killed the Egyptian, he fled from Pharaoh (whoever that was) and remained in exile until he heard that that Pharaoh had died. So this verse cannot be used for a date of the exodus in the days of Rameses, unless many other details in the chapters are ignored. If it is argued that Rameses was the Pharaoh of the oppression, then his successor would have been the Pharaoh of the exodus. Rameses reigned from 1304
[1:12] 26 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[1:12] 27 tn The imperfect tenses in this verse are customary uses, expressing continual action in past time (see GKC 315 §107.e). For other examples of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) with כֵּן (ken) expressing a comparison (“just as…so”) see Gen 41:13; Judg 1:7; Isa 31:4.
[1:12] 28 tn Heb “they felt a loathing before/because of”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[1:20] 29 tn The verb וַיֵּיטֶב (vayyetev) is the Hiphil preterite of יָטַב (yatav). In this stem the word means “to cause good, treat well, treat favorably.” The vav (ו) consecutive shows that this favor from God was a result of their fearing and obeying him.
[105:24] 30 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
[105:24] 31 tn Heb “him,” referring to “his people.”
[105:24] 32 tn Heb “his,” referring to “his people.”
[105:25] 33 tn Heb “their heart.”
[105:25] 34 tn Or “to deal deceptively.” The Hitpael of נָכַל (nakhal) occurs only here and in Gen 37:18, where it is used of Joseph’s brothers “plotting” to kill him.
