Exodus 17:13

17:13 So Joshua destroyed ¹  Amalek and his army ²  with the sword. ³ 

Exodus 32:17

32:17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, ⁴  he said to Moses, “It is the sound of war in the camp!”

Exodus 17:10

17:10 So Joshua fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him; ⁵ and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

Exodus 17:9

17:9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our ⁶  men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

Exodus 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ⁷  book, and rehearse ⁸  it in Joshua’s hearing; ⁹  for I will surely wipe out ¹⁰  the remembrance ¹¹  of Amalek from under heaven.

Exodus 33:11

33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, ¹²  the way a person speaks ¹³  to a friend. Then Moses ¹⁴  would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent. ¹⁵ 

[17:13]  ¹ tn The verb means “disabled, weakened, prostrated.” It is used a couple of times in the Bible to describe how man dies and is powerless (see Job 14:10; Isa 14:12).

[17:13]  ² tn Or “people.”

[17:13]  ³ tn Heb “mouth of the sword.” It means as the sword devours – without quarter (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 159).

[32:17]  ⁴ sn See F. C. Fensham, “New Light from Ugaritica V on Ex, 32:17 (br’h),” JNSL 2 (1972): 86-7.

[17:10]  ⁷ tn The line in Hebrew reads literally: And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, to fight with Amalek. The infinitive construct is epexegetical, explaining what Joshua did that was in compliance with Moses’ words.

[17:9]  ¹⁰ tn This could be rendered literally “choose men for us.” But the lamed (ל) preposition probably indicates possession, “our men,” and the fact that Joshua was to choose from Israel, as well as the fact that there is no article on “men,” indicates he was to select some to fight.

[17:14]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[33:11]  ¹⁶ tn “Face to face” is circumstantial to the action of the verb, explaining how they spoke (see GKC 489-90 §156.c). The point of this note of friendly relationship with Moses is that Moses was “at home” in this tent speaking with God. Moses would derive courage from this when he interceded for the people (B. Jacob, Exodus, 966).

[33:11]  ¹⁷ tn The verb in this clause is a progressive imperfect.

[33:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:11]  ¹⁹ sn Moses did not live in the tent. But Joshua remained there most of the time to guard the tent, it seems, lest any of the people approach it out of curiosity.