Exodus 12:48

12:48 “When a foreigner lives ¹  with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, ²  and then he may approach and observe it, and he will be like one who is born in the land ³  – but no uncircumcised person may eat of it.

Exodus 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ⁴  book, and rehearse ⁵  it in Joshua’s hearing; ⁶  for I will surely wipe out ⁷  the remembrance ⁸  of Amalek from under heaven.

Exodus 32:13

32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, ‘I will multiply your descendants ⁹  like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about ¹⁰  I will give to your descendants, ¹¹  and they will inherit it forever.’”

[12:48]  ¹ tn Both the participle “foreigner” and the verb “lives” are from the verb גּוּר (gur), which means “to sojourn, to dwell as an alien.” This reference is to a foreigner who settles in the land. He is the protected foreigner; when he comes to another area where he does not have his clan to protect him, he must come under the protection of the Law, or the people. If the “resident alien” is circumcised, he may participate in the Passover (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 104).

[12:48]  ² tn The infinitive absolute functions as the finite verb here, and “every male” could be either the object or the subject (see GKC 347 §113.gg and 387 §121.a).

[12:48]  ³ tn אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh) refers to the native-born individual, the native Israelite as opposed to the “stranger, alien” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 104); see also W. F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, 127, 210.

[17:14]  ⁴ tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.

[17:14]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ⁷ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.

[17:14]  ⁸ sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.

[32:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “your seed.”

[32:13]  ⁸ tn “about” has been supplied.

[32:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “seed.”