Exodus 10:13

10:13 So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord ¹  brought ²  an east wind on the land all that day and all night. ³  The morning came, ⁴  and the east wind had brought up ⁵  the locusts!

Exodus 29:36

29:36 Every day you are to prepare a bull for a purification offering ⁶  for atonement. ⁷  You are to purge ⁸  the altar by making atonement ⁹  for it, and you are to anoint it to set it apart as holy.

Exodus 31:17

31:17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days ¹⁰  the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” ¹¹ 

Exodus 32:29

32:29 Moses said, “You have been consecrated ¹²  today for the Lord, for each of you was against his son or against his brother, so he has given a blessing to you today.” ¹³ 

Exodus 40:38

40:38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, but fire would be ¹⁴  on it at night, in plain view ¹⁵  of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

[10:13]  ¹ tn The clause begins וַיהוָה (va’adonay [vayhvah], “Now Yahweh….”). In contrast to a normal sequence, this beginning focuses attention on Yahweh as the subject of the verb.

[10:13]  ² tn The verb נָהַג (nahag) means “drive, conduct.” It is elsewhere used for driving sheep, leading armies, or leading in processions.

[10:13]  ³ tn Heb “and all the night.”

[10:13]  ⁴ tn The text does not here use ordinary circumstantial clause constructions; rather, Heb “the morning was, and the east wind carried the locusts.” It clearly means “when it was morning,” but the style chosen gives a more abrupt beginning to the plague, as if the reader is in the experience – and at morning, the locusts are there!

[10:13]  ⁵ tn The verb here is a past perfect, indicting that the locusts had arrived before the day came.

[29:36]  ⁶ tn The construction uses a genitive: “a bull of the sin offering,” which means, a bull that is designated for a sin (or better, purification) offering.

[29:36]  ⁷ sn It is difficult to understand how this verse is to be harmonized with the other passages. The ceremony in the earlier passages deals with atonement made for the priests, for people. But here it is the altar that is being sanctified. The “sin [purification] offering” seems to be for purification of the sanctuary and altar to receive people in their worship.

[29:36]  ⁸ tn The verb is וְחִטֵּאתָ (vÿhitte’ta), a Piel perfect of the word usually translated “to sin.” Here it may be interpreted as a privative Piel (as in Ps 51:7 [9]), with the sense of “un-sin” or “remove sin.” It could also be interpreted as related to the word for “sin offering,” and so be a denominative verb. It means “to purify, cleanse.” The Hebrews understood that sin and contamination could corrupt and pollute even things, and so they had to be purged.

[29:36]  ⁹ tn The construction is a Piel infinitive construct in an adverbial clause. The preposition bet (ב) that begins the clause could be taken as a temporal preposition, but in this context it seems to express the means by which the altar was purged of contamination – “in your making atonement” is “by [your] making atonement.”

[31:17]  ¹¹ tn The expression again forms an adverbial accusative of time.

[31:17]  ¹² sn The word “rest” essentially means “to cease, stop.” So describing God as “resting” on the seventh day does not indicate that he was tired – he simply finished creation and then ceased or stopped. But in this verse is a very bold anthropomorphism in the form of the verb וַיִּנָּפַשׁ (vayyinnafash), a Niphal preterite from the root נָפַשׁ (nafash), the word that is related to “life, soul” or more specifically “breath, throat.” The verb is usually translated here as “he was refreshed,” offering a very human picture. It could also be rendered “he took breath” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 345). Elsewhere the verb is used of people and animals. The anthropomorphism is clearly intended to teach people to stop and refresh themselves physically, spiritually, and emotionally on this day of rest.

[32:29]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Your hand was filled.” The phrase “fill your hands” is a familiar expression having to do with commissioning and devotion to a task that is earlier used in 28:41; 29:9, 29, 33, 35. This has usually been explained as a Qal imperative. S. R. Driver explains it “Fill your hand today,” meaning, take a sacrifice to God and be installed in the priesthood (Exodus, 355). But it probably is a Piel perfect, meaning “they have filled your hands today,” or, “your hand was filled today.” This was an expression meant to say that they had been faithful to God even though it turned them against family and friends – but God would give them a blessing.

[32:29]  ¹⁷ tn The text simply has “and to give on you today a blessing.” Gesenius notes that the infinitive construct seems to be attached with a vav (ו; like the infinitive absolute) as the continuation of a previous finite verb. He reads the verb “fill” as an imperative: “fill your hand today…and that to bring a blessing on you, i.e., that you may be blessed” (see GKC 351 §114.p). If the preceding verb is taken as perfect tense, however, then this would also be perfect – “he has blessed you today.”

[40:38]  ²¹ tn Here is another imperfect tense of the customary nuance.

[40:38]  ²² tn Heb “to the eyes of all”; KJV, ASV, NASB “in the sight of all”; NRSV “before the eyes of all.”