Exodus 14:3

14:3 Pharaoh will think ¹  regarding the Israelites, ‘They are wandering around confused ²  in the land – the desert has closed in on them.’ ³ 

Exodus 32:24

32:24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, break it off.’ So they gave it ⁴  to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.” ⁵ 

[14:3]  ¹ tn Heb “and Pharaoh will say.”

[14:3]  ² sn The word translated “wandering around confused” indicates that Pharaoh thought the Israelites would be so perplexed and confused that they would not know which way to turn in order to escape – and they would never dream of crossing the sea (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 115).

[14:3]  ³ tn The expression has also been translated “the desert has shut [the way] for them,” and more freely “[the Israelites are] hemmed in by the desert.”

[32:24]  ⁴ tn Here “it” has been supplied.

[32:24]  ⁵ sn Aaron first tried to blame the people, and then he tried to make it sound like a miracle – was it to sound like one of the plagues where out of the furnace came life? This text does not mention it, but Deut 9:20 tells how angry God was with Aaron. Only intercession saved his life.