Exodus 14:15

14:15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. ¹ 

Exodus 17:4

17:4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with ²  this people? – a little more ³  and they will stone me!” ⁴ 

Exodus 21:5

21:5 But if the servant should declare, ⁵  ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out ⁶  free,’

Exodus 21:7

21:7 “If a man sells his daughter ⁷  as a female servant, ⁸  she will not go out as the male servants do.

Exodus 40:36

40:36 But when the cloud was lifted up ⁹  from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out ¹⁰  on all their journeys;

[14:15]  ¹ tn The text literally says, “speak to the Israelites that they may journey.” The intent of the line, using the imperative with the subordinate jussive or imperfect expressing purpose is that the speaking is the command to move.

[17:4]  ² tn The preposition lamed (ל) is here specification, meaning “with respect to” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 49, §273).

[17:4]  ³ tn Or “they are almost ready to stone me.”

[17:4]  ⁴ tn The perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive almost develops an independent force; this is true in sentences where it follows an expression of time, as here (see GKC 334 §112.x).

[21:5]  ³ tn The imperfect with the infinitive absolute means that the declaration is unambiguous, that the servant will clearly affirm that he wants to stay with the master. Gesenius says that in a case like this the infinitive emphasizes the importance of the condition on which some consequence depends (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[21:5]  ⁴ tn Or taken as a desiderative imperfect, it would say, “I do not want to go out free.”

[21:7]  ⁴ sn This paragraph is troubling to modern readers, but given the way that marriages were contracted and the way people lived in the ancient world, it was a good provision for people who might want to find a better life for their daughter. On the subject in general for this chapter, see W. M. Swartley, Slavery, Sabbath, War, and Women, 31-64.

[21:7]  ⁵ tn The word אָמָה (’amah) refers to a female servant who would eventually become a concubine or wife; the sale price included the amount for the service as well as the bride price (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 621). The arrangement recognized her honor as an Israelite woman, one who could be a wife, even though she entered the household in service. The marriage was not automatic, as the conditions show, but her treatment was safeguarded come what may. The law was a way, then, for a poor man to provide a better life for a daughter.

[40:36]  ⁵ tn The construction uses the Niphal infinitive construct to form the temporal clause.

[40:36]  ⁶ tn The imperfect tense in this context describes a customary action.