Exodus 2:13

2:13 When he went out ¹  the next day, ²  there were ³  two Hebrew men fighting. So he said to the one who was in the wrong, ⁴  “Why are you attacking ⁵  your fellow Hebrew?” ⁶ 

Exodus 16:20

16:20 But they did not listen to Moses; some ⁷  kept part of it until morning, and it was full ⁸  of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them.

Exodus 21:18

21:18 “If men fight, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist and he does not die, but must remain in bed, ⁹ 

Exodus 17:9

17:9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our ¹⁰  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 21:22

21:22 “If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, ¹¹  but there is no serious injury, he will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides. ¹² 

[2:13]  ¹ tn The preterite with the vav consecutive is subordinated to the main idea of the verse.

[2:13]  ² tn Heb “the second day” (so KJV, ASV).

[2:13]  ³ tn The deictic particle is used here to predicate existence, as in “here were” or “there were.” But this use of הִנֵּה (hinneh) indicates also that what he encountered was surprising or sudden – as in “Oh, look!”

[2:13]  ⁴ tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) is a legal term, meaning the guilty. This guilty man rejects Moses’ intervention for much the same reason Pharaoh will later (5:2) – he does not recognize his authority. Later Pharaoh will use this term to declare himself as in the wrong (9:27) and God in the right.

[2:13]  ⁵ tn This is the third use of the verb נָכָה (nakha) in the passage; here it is the Hiphil imperfect. It may be given a progressive imperfect nuance – the attack was going on when Moses tried to intervene.

[2:13]  ⁶ sn Heb “your neighbor.” The word רֵעֶךָ (re’ekha) appears again in 33:11 to describe the ease with which God and Moses conversed. The Law will have much to say about how the Israelites were to treat their “neighbors, fellow citizens” (Exod 20:16-17; 21:14, 18, 35; 22:7-11, 14, 26; cf. Luke 10:25-37).

[16:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “men”; this usage is designed to mean “some” (see GKC 447 §138.h, n. 1).

[16:20]  ⁸ tn The verb וַיָּרֻם (vayyarum) is equivalent to a passive – “it was changed” – to which “worms” is added as an accusative of result (GKC 388-89 §121.d, n. 2).

[21:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “falls to bed.”

[17:9]  ¹⁹ 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.

[21:22]  ²⁵ tn This line has occasioned a good deal of discussion. It may indicate that the child was killed, as in a miscarriage; or it may mean that there was a premature birth. The latter view is taken here because of the way the whole section is written: (1) “her children come out” reflects a birth and not the loss of children, (2) there is no serious damage, and (3) payment is to be set for any remuneration. The word אָסוֹן (’ason) is translated “serious damage.” The word was taken in Mekilta to mean “death.” U. Cassuto says the point of the phrase is that neither the woman or the children that are born die (Exodus, 275). But see among the literature on this: M. G. Kline, “Lex Talionis and the Human Fetus,” JETS 20 (1977): 193-201; W. House, “Miscarriage or Premature Birth: Additional Thoughts on Exodus 21:22-25,” WTJ 41 (1978): 108-23; S. E. Loewenstamm, “Exodus XXI 22-25,” VT 27 (1977): 352-60.

[21:22]  ²⁶ tn The word בִּפְלִלִים (biflilim) means “with arbitrators.” The point then seems to be that the amount of remuneration for damages that was fixed by the husband had to be approved by the courts. S. R. Driver mentions an alternative to this unusual reading presented by Budde, reading בנפלים as “untimely birth” (Exodus, 219). See also E. A. Speiser, “The Stem PLL in Hebrew,” JBL 82 (1963): 301-6.