Exodus 17:4

17:4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with ¹  this people? – a little more ²  and they will stone me!” ³ 

[17:4]  ¹ tn The preposition lamed (ל) is here specification, meaning “with respect to” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 49, §273).

[17:4]  ² tn Or “they are almost ready to stone me.”

[17:4]  ³ 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).