Exodus 15:7

15:7 In the abundance of your majesty ¹  you have overthrown ² 

those who rise up against you. ³ 

You sent forth ⁴  your wrath; ⁵ 

it consumed them ⁶  like stubble.

Exodus 3:2

3:2 The angel of the Lord ⁷  appeared ⁸  to him in ⁹  a flame of fire from within a bush. ¹⁰  He looked ¹¹  – and ¹²  the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! ¹³ 

Exodus 22:6

22:6 “If a fire breaks out and spreads ¹⁴  to thorn bushes, ¹⁵  so that stacked grain or standing grain or the whole field is consumed, the one who started ¹⁶  the fire must surely make restitution.

Exodus 32:10

32:10 So now, leave me alone ¹⁷  so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.”

Exodus 24:17

24:17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in plain view ¹⁸  of the people.

Exodus 33:3

33:3 Go up ¹⁹  to a land flowing with milk and honey. But ²⁰  I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you ²¹  on the way.”

Exodus 32:12

32:12 Why ²²  should the Egyptians say, ²³  ‘For evil ²⁴  he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy ²⁵  them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger, and relent ²⁶  of this evil against your people.

Exodus 33:5

33:5 For ²⁷  the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, ²⁸  I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, ²⁹  that I may know ³⁰  what I should do to you.’” ³¹ 

Exodus 12:4

12:4 If any household is too small ³²  for a lamb, ³³  the man ³⁴  and his next-door neighbor ³⁵  are to take ³⁶  a lamb according to the number of people – you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat. ³⁷ 

[15:7]  ¹ sn This expression is cognate with words in v. 1. Here that same greatness or majesty is extolled as in abundance.

[15:7]  ² tn Here, and throughout the song, these verbs are the prefixed conjugation that may look like the imperfect but are actually historic preterites. This verb is to “overthrow” or “throw down” – like a wall, leaving it in shattered pieces.

[15:7]  ³ tn The form קָמֶיךָ (qamekha) is the active participle with a pronominal suffix. The participle is accusative, the object of the verb, but the suffix is the genitive of nearer definition (see GKC 358 §116.i).

[15:7]  ⁴ sn The verb is the Piel of שָׁלַח (shalakh), the same verb used throughout for the demand on Pharaoh to release Israel. Here, in some irony, God released his wrath on them.

[15:7]  ⁵ sn The word wrath is a metonymy of cause; the effect – the judgment – is what is meant.

[15:7]  ⁶ tn The verb is the prefixed conjugation, the preterite, without the consecutive vav (ו).

[3:2]  ⁷ sn The designation “the angel of the Lord” (Heb “the angel of Yahweh”) occurred in Genesis already (16:7-13; 21:17; 22:11-18). There is some ambiguity in the expression, but it seems often to be interchangeable with God’s name itself, indicating that it refers to the Lord.

[3:2]  ⁸ tn The verb וַיֵּרָא (vayyera’) is the Niphal preterite of the verb “to see.” For similar examples of רָאָה (ra’ah) in Niphal where the subject “appears,” that is, allows himself to be seen, or presents himself, see Gen 12:7; 35:9; 46:29; Exod 6:3; and 23:17. B. Jacob notes that God appears in this way only to individuals and never to masses of people; it is his glory that appears to the masses (Exodus, 49).

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Gesenius rightly classifies this as a bet (ב) essentiae (GKC 379 §119.i); it would then indicate that Yahweh appeared to Moses “as a flame.”

[3:2]  ¹⁰ sn Fire frequently accompanies the revelation of Yahweh in Exodus as he delivers Israel, guides her, and purifies her. The description here is unique, calling attention to the manifestation as a flame of fire from within the bush. Philo was the first to interpret the bush as Israel, suffering under the persecution of Egypt but never consumed. The Bible leaves the interpretation open. However, in this revelation the fire is coming from within the bush, not from outside, and it represents the Lord who will deliver his people from persecution. See further E. Levine, “The Evolving Symbolism of the Burning Bush,” Dor le Dor 8 (1979): 185-93.

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And he saw.”

[3:2]  ¹² tn The text again uses the deictic particle with vav, וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), traditionally rendered “and behold.” The particle goes with the intense gaze, the outstretched arm, the raised eyebrow – excitement and intense interest: “look, over there.” It draws the reader into the immediate experience of the subject.

[3:2]  ¹³ tn The construction uses the suffixed negative אֵינֶנּוּ (’enennu) to convey the subject of the passive verb: “It was not” consumed. This was the amazing thing, for nothing would burn faster in the desert than a thornbush on fire.

[22:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “if a fire goes out and finds”; NLT “if a fire gets out of control.”

[22:6]  ¹⁴ sn Thorn bushes were used for hedges between fields, but thorn bushes also burned easily, making the fire spread rapidly.

[22:6]  ¹⁵ tn This is a Hiphil participle of the verb “to burn, kindle” used substantivally. This is the one who caused the fire, whether by accident or not.

[32:10]  ¹⁹ tn The imperative, from the word “to rest” (נוּחַ, nuakh), has the sense of “leave me alone, let me be.” It is a directive for Moses not to intercede for the people. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 567) reflects the Jewish interpretation that there is a profound paradox in God’s words. He vows the severest punishment but then suddenly conditions it on Moses’ agreement. “Let me alone that I may consume them” is the statement, but the effect is that he has left the door open for intercession. He allows himself to be persuaded – that is what a mediator is for. God could have slammed the door (as when Moses wanted to go into the promised land). Moreover, by alluding to the promise to Abraham God gave Moses the strongest reason to intercede.

[24:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to the eyes of” which could mean in their opinion.

[33:3]  ³¹ tn This verse seems to be a continuation of the command to “go up” since it begins with “to a land….” The intervening clauses are therefore parenthetical or relative. But the translation is made simpler by supplying the verb.

[33:3]  ³² tn This is a strong adversative here, “but.”

[33:3]  ³³ tn The clause is “lest I consume you.” It would go with the decision not to accompany them: “I will not go up with you…lest I consume (destroy) you in the way.” The verse is saying that because of the people’s bent to rebellion, Yahweh would not remain in their midst as he had formerly said he would do. Their lives would be at risk if he did.

[32:12]  ³⁷ tn The question is rhetorical; it really forms an affirmation that is used here as a reason for the request (see GKC 474 §150.e).

[32:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “speak, saying.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[32:12]  ³⁹ tn The word “evil” means any kind of life-threatening or fatal calamity. “Evil” is that which hinders life, interrupts life, causes pain to life, or destroys it. The Egyptians would conclude that such a God would have no good intent in taking his people to the desert if now he destroyed them.

[32:12]  ⁴⁰ tn The form is a Piel infinitive construct from כָּלָה (kalah, “to complete, finish”) but in this stem, “bring to an end, destroy.” As a purpose infinitive this expresses what the Egyptians would have thought of God’s motive.

[32:12]  ⁴¹ tn The verb “repent, relent” when used of God is certainly an anthropomorphism. It expresses the deep pain that one would have over a situation. Earlier God repented that he had made humans (Gen 6:6). Here Moses is asking God to repent/relent over the judgment he was about to bring, meaning that he should be moved by such compassion that there would be no judgment like that. J. P. Hyatt observes that the Bible uses so many anthropomorphisms because the Israelites conceived of God as a dynamic and living person in a vital relationship with people, responding to their needs and attitudes and actions (Exodus [NCBC], 307). See H. V. D. Parunak, “A Semantic Survey of NHM,” Bib 56 (1975): 512-32.

[33:5]  ⁴³ tn The verse simply begins “And Yahweh said.” But it is clearly meant to be explanatory for the preceding action of the people.

[33:5]  ⁴⁴ tn The construction is formed with a simple imperfect in the first half and a perfect tense with vav (ו) in the second half. Heb “[in] one moment I will go up in your midst and I will destroy you.” The verse is certainly not intended to say that God was about to destroy them. That, plus the fact that he has announced he will not go in their midst, leads most commentators to take this as a conditional clause: “If I were to do such and such, then….”

[33:5]  ⁴⁵ tn The Hebrew text also has “from on you.”

[33:5]  ⁴⁶ tn The form is the cohortative with a vav (ו) following the imperative; it therefore expresses the purpose or result: “strip off…that I may know.” The call to remove the ornaments must have been perceived as a call to show true repentance for what had happened. If they repented, then God would know how to deal with them.

[33:5]  ⁴⁷ tn This last clause begins with the interrogative “what,” but it is used here as an indirect interrogative. It introduces a noun clause, the object of the verb “know.”

[12:4]  ⁴⁹ sn Later Judaism ruled that “too small” meant fewer than ten (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 88).

[12:4]  ⁵⁰ tn The clause uses the comparative min (מִן) construction: יִמְעַט הַבַּיִת מִהְיֹת מִשֶּׂה (yim’at habbayit mihyot miseh, “the house is small from being from a lamb,” or “too small for a lamb”). It clearly means that if there were not enough people in the household to have a lamb by themselves, they should join with another family. For the use of the comparative, see GKC 430 §133.c.

[12:4]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “he and his neighbor”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:4]  ⁵² tn Heb “who is near to his house.”

[12:4]  ⁵³ tn The construction uses a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive after a conditional clause: “if the household is too small…then he and his neighbor will take.”

[12:4]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “[every] man according to his eating.”