Exodus 2:19

2:19 They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us ¹  from the shepherds, ²  and he actually ³  drew water for us and watered the flock!”

Exodus 3:9

3:9 And now indeed ⁴  the cry ⁵  of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. ⁶ 

Exodus 6:4-5

6:4 I also established my covenant with them ⁷  to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as resident foreigners. ⁸  6:5 I ⁹  have also heard ¹⁰  the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, ¹¹  and I have remembered my covenant. ¹² 

Exodus 18:23

18:23 If you do this thing, and God so commands you, ¹³  then you will be able ¹⁴  to endure, ¹⁵  and all these people ¹⁶  will be able to go ¹⁷  home ¹⁸  satisfied.” ¹⁹ 

[2:19]  ¹ sn Continuing the theme of Moses as the deliverer, the text now uses another word for salvation (נָצַל, natsal, “to deliver, rescue”) in the sense of plucking out or away, snatching out of danger.

[2:19]  ² tn Heb “from the hand of the shepherds” (so NASB); NAB “saved us from the interference of the shepherds.” Most recent English versions translate simply “from the shepherds.”

[2:19]  ³ tn The construction is emphatic with the use of the perfect tense and its infinitive absolute: דָלָה דָּלֹה (daloh dalah). B. Jacob says, “They showed their enthusiasm through the use of the infinitive absolute – And think of that, he even drew water for us; a man did this for us girls” (Exodus, 41).

[3:9]  ⁴ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses attention on what is being said as grounds for what follows.

[3:9]  ⁵ tn The word is a technical term for the outcry one might make to a judge. God had seen the oppression and so knew that the complaints were accurate, and so he initiated the proceedings against the oppressors (B. Jacob, Exodus, 59).

[3:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.” The word for the oppression is now לַחַץ (lakhats), which has the idea of pressure with the oppression – squeezing, pressuring – which led to its later use in the Semitic languages for torture. The repetition in the Hebrew text of the root in the participle form after this noun serves to stress the idea. This emphasis has been represented in the translation by the expression “seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.”

[6:4]  ⁷ tn The statement refers to the making of the covenant with Abraham (Gen 15 and following) and confirming it with the other patriarchs. The verb הֲקִמֹתִי (haqimoti) means “set up, establish, give effect to, conclude” a covenant agreement. The covenant promised the patriarchs a great nation, a land – Canaan, and divine blessing. They lived with those promises, but now their descendants were in bondage in Egypt. God’s reference to the covenant here is meant to show the new revelation through redemption will start to fulfill the promises and show what the reality of the name Yahweh is to them.

[6:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “the land of their sojournings.” The noun מְגֻרִים (mÿgurim) is a reminder that the patriarchs did not receive the promises. It is also an indication that those living in the age of promise did not experience the full meaning of the name of the covenant God. The “land of their sojournings” is the land of Canaan where the family lived (גּרוּ, garu) as foreigners, without owning property or having the rights of kinship with the surrounding population.

[6:5]  ¹⁰ tn The addition of the independent pronoun אֲנִי (’ani, “I”) emphasizes the fact that it was Yahweh himself who heard the cry.

[6:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And also I have heard.”

[6:5]  ¹² tn The form is the Hiphil participle מַעֲבִדִים (ma’avidim, “causing to serve”). The participle occurs in a relative clause that modifies “the Israelites.” The clause ends with the accusative “them,” which must be combined with the relative pronoun for a smooth English translation. So “who the Egyptians are enslaving them,” results in the translation “whom the Egyptians are enslaving.”

[6:5]  ¹³ tn As in Exod 2:24, this remembering has the significance of God’s beginning to act to fulfill the covenant promises.

[18:23]  ¹³ tn The form is a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the same nuance as the preceding imperfect in the conditional clause.

[18:23]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive now appears in the apodosis of the conditional sentence – “if you do this…then you will be able.”

[18:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to stand.” B. Jacob (Exodus, 501) suggests that there might be a humorous side to this: “you could even do this standing up.”

[18:23]  ¹⁶ tn Literally “this people.”

[18:23]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is the simple imperfect, “will go,” but given the sense of the passage a potential nuance seems in order.

[18:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “his place.”

[18:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in peace.”