Exodus 13:5

13:5 When ¹  the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, ²  then you will keep ³  this ceremony ⁴  in this month.

Exodus 18:22

18:22 They will judge ⁵  the people under normal circumstances, ⁶  and every difficult case ⁷  they will bring to you, but every small case ⁸  they themselves will judge, so that ⁹  you may make it easier for yourself, ¹⁰  and they will bear the burden ¹¹  with you.

Exodus 23:16

23:16 “You are also to observe ¹²  the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year ¹³  when you have gathered in ¹⁴  your harvest ¹⁵  out of the field.

[13:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and it will be when.”

[13:5]  ² tn See notes on Exod 3:8.

[13:5]  ³ tn The verb is וְעָבַדְתָּ (vÿ’avadta), the Qal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive. It is the equivalent of the imperfect tense of instruction or injunction; it forms the main point after the temporal clause – “when Yahweh brings you out…then you will serve.”

[13:5]  ⁴ tn The object is a cognate accusative for emphasis on the meaning of the service – “you will serve this service.” W. C. Kaiser notes how this noun was translated “slavery” and “work” in the book, but “service” or “ceremony” for Yahweh. Israel was saved from slavery to Egypt into service for God as remembered by this ceremony (“Exodus,” EBC 2:383).

[18:22]  ⁵ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, making it equivalent to the imperfect of instruction in the preceding verse.

[18:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “in every time,” meaning “in all normal cases” or “under normal circumstances.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[18:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “great thing.”

[18:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “thing.”

[18:22]  ⁹ tn The vav here shows the result or the purpose of the instructions given.

[18:22]  ¹⁰ tn The expression וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ (vÿhaqel me’aleykha) means literally “and make it light off yourself.” The word plays against the word for “heavy” used earlier – since it was a heavy or burdensome task, Moses must lighten the load.

[18:22]  ¹¹ tn Here “the burden” has been supplied.

[23:16]  ⁹ tn The words “you are also to observe” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:16]  ¹⁰ tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the going in of the year.” The word “year” is the subjective genitive, the subject of the clause.

[23:16]  ¹¹ tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the ingathering of you.”

[23:16]  ¹² tn Heb “gathered in your labors.” This is a metonymy of cause put for the effect. “Labors” are not gathered in, but what the labors produced – the harvest.