Exodus 22:9

22:9 In all cases of illegal possessions, ¹  whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says ‘This belongs to me,’ ²  the matter of the two of them will come before the judges, ³  and the one whom ⁴  the judges declare guilty ⁵  must repay double to his neighbor.

Exodus 1:14

1:14 They made their lives bitter ⁶  by ⁷  hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service ⁸  in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous. ⁹ 

Exodus 12:16

12:16 On the first day there will be a holy convocation, ¹⁰  and on the seventh day there will be a holy convocation for you. You must do no work of any kind ¹¹  on them, only what every person will eat – that alone may be prepared for you.

Exodus 1:20

1:20 So God treated the midwives well, ¹²  and the people multiplied and became very strong.

Exodus 31:3

31:3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God ¹³  in skill, ¹⁴  in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds ¹⁵  of craftsmanship,

Exodus 31:5

31:5 and with cutting and setting stone, and with cutting wood, to work in all kinds of craftsmanship.

Exodus 35:31

35:31 He has filled him with the Spirit of God – with skill, with understanding, with knowledge, and in all kinds of work,

Exodus 35:33

35:33 and in cutting stones for their setting, ¹⁶  and in cutting wood, to do work in every artistic craft. ¹⁷ 

Exodus 33:19

33:19 And the Lord ¹⁸  said, “I will make all my goodness ¹⁹  pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name ²⁰  before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” ²¹ 

Exodus 20:4

20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image ²²  or any likeness ²³  of anything ²⁴  that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. ²⁵ 

Exodus 34:7

34:7 keeping loyal love for thousands, ²⁶  forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression ²⁷  of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:15

34:15 Be careful ²⁸  not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when ²⁹  they prostitute themselves ³⁰  to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, ³¹  you will eat from his sacrifice;

Exodus 35:22

35:22 They came, men and women alike, ³²  all who had willing hearts. They brought brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments, all kinds of gold jewelry, ³³  and everyone came who waved ³⁴  a wave offering of gold to the Lord.

Exodus 20:10

20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it ³⁵  you shall not do any work, you, ³⁶  or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. ³⁷ 

Exodus 35:35

35:35 He has filled them with skill ³⁸  to do all kinds of work ³⁹  as craftsmen, as designers, as embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and in fine linen, and as weavers. They are ⁴⁰  craftsmen in all the work ⁴¹  and artistic designers. ⁴² 

[22:9]  ¹ tn Heb “concerning every kind [thing] of trespass.”

[22:9]  ² tn The text simply has “this is it” (הוּא זֶה, hu’ zeh).

[22:9]  ³ tn Again, or “God.”

[22:9]  ⁴ tn This kind of clause Gesenius calls an independent relative clause – it does not depend on a governing substantive but itself expresses a substantival idea (GKC 445-46 §138.e).

[22:9]  ⁵ tn The verb means “to be guilty” in Qal; in Hiphil it would have a declarative sense, because a causative sense would not possibly fit.

[1:14]  ⁶ sn The verb מָרַר (marar) anticipates the introduction of the theme of bitterness in the instructions for the Passover.

[1:14]  ⁷ tn The preposition bet (ב) in this verse has the instrumental use: “by means of” (see GKC 380 §119.o).

[1:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “and in all service.”

[1:14]  ⁹ tn The line could be more literally translated, “All their service in which they served them [was] with rigor.” This takes the referent of בָּהֶם (bahem) to be the Egyptians. The pronoun may also resume the reference to the kinds of service and so not be needed in English: “All their service in which they served [was] with rigor.”

[12:16]  ¹¹ sn This refers to an assembly of the people at the sanctuary for religious purposes. The word “convocation” implies that the people were called together, and Num 10:2 indicates they were called together by trumpets.

[12:16]  ¹² tn Heb “all/every work will not be done.” The word refers primarily to the work of one’s occupation. B. Jacob (Exodus, 322) explains that since this comes prior to the fuller description of laws for Sabbaths and festivals, the passage simply restricts all work except for the preparation of food. Once the laws are added, this qualification is no longer needed. Gesenius translates this as “no manner of work shall be done” (GKC 478-79 §152.b).

[1:20]  ¹⁶ tn The verb וַיֵּיטֶב (vayyetev) is the Hiphil preterite of יָטַב (yatav). In this stem the word means “to cause good, treat well, treat favorably.” The vav (ו) consecutive shows that this favor from God was a result of their fearing and obeying him.

[31:3]  ²¹ sn The expression in the Bible means that the individual was given special, supernatural enablement to do what God wanted done. It usually is said of someone with exceptional power or ability. The image of “filling” usually means under the control of the Spirit, so that the Spirit is the dominant force in the life.

[31:3]  ²² sn The following qualities are the ways in which the Spirit’s enablement will be displayed. “Skill” is the ability to produce something valuable to God and the community, “understanding” is the ability to distinguish between things, to perceive the best way to follow, and “knowledge” is the experiential awareness of how things are done.

[31:3]  ²³ tn Heb “and in all work”; “all” means “all kinds of” here.

[35:33]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to set.”

[35:33]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in every work of thought,” meaning, every work that required the implementation of design or plan.

[33:19]  ³¹ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:19]  ³² sn The word “goodness” refers to the divine appearance in summary fashion.

[33:19]  ³³ tn The expression “make proclamation in the name of Yahweh” (here a perfect tense with vav [ו] consecutive for future) means to declare, reveal, or otherwise make proclamation of who Yahweh is. The “name of Yahweh” (rendered “the name of the Lord” throughout) refers to his divine attributes revealed to his people, either in word or deed. What will be focused on first will be his grace and compassion.

[33:19]  ³⁴ sn God declares his mercy and grace in similar terms to his earlier self-revelation (“I am that I am”): “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” In other words, the grace and mercy of God are bound up in his own will. Obviously, in this passage the recipients of that favor are the penitent Israelites who were forgiven through Moses’ intercession. The two words are at the heart of God’s dealings with people. The first is חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”). It means to grant favor or grace to someone, grace meaning unmerited favor. All of God’s dealings are gracious, but especially in forgiving sins and granting salvation it is critical. Parallel to this is רָחַם (rakham), a word that means “show compassion, tender mercy.” It is a word that is related to the noun “womb,” the connection being in providing care and protection for that which is helpless and dependent – a motherly quality. In both of these constructions the verbs simply express what God will do, without explaining why. See further, J. R. Lundbom, “God’s Use of the Idem per idem to Terminate Debate,” HTR 71 (1978): 193-201; and J. Piper, “Prolegomena to Understanding Romans 9:14-15: An Interpretation of Exodus 33:19,” JETS 22 (1979): 203-16.

[20:4]  ³⁶ tn A פֶּסֶל (pesel) is an image that was carved out of wood or stone. The Law was concerned with a statue that would be made for the purpose of worship, an idol to be venerated, and not any ordinary statue.

[20:4]  ³⁷ tn The word תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) refers to the mental pattern from which the פֶּסֶל (pesel) is constructed; it is a real or imagined resemblance. If this is to stand as a second object to the verb, then the verb itself takes a slightly different nuance here. It would convey “you shall not make an image, neither shall you conceive a form” for worship (B. Jacob, Exodus, 547). Some simply make the second word qualify the first: “you shall not make an idol in the form of…” (NIV).

[20:4]  ³⁸ tn Here the phrase “of anything” has been supplied.

[20:4]  ³⁹ tn Heb “under the earth” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[34:7]  ⁴¹ tn That is, “for thousands of generations.”

[34:7]  ⁴² sn As in the ten commandments (20:5-6), this expression shows that the iniquity and its punishment will continue in the family if left unchecked. This does not go on as long as the outcomes for good (thousands versus third or fourth generations), and it is limited to those who hate God.

[34:15]  ⁴⁶ tn The sentence begins simply “lest you make a covenant”; it is undoubtedly a continuation of the imperative introduced earlier, and so that is supplied here.

[34:15]  ⁴⁷ tn The verb is a perfect with a vav consecutive. In the literal form of the sentence, this clause tells what might happen if the people made a covenant with the inhabitants of the land: “Take heed…lest you make a covenant…and then they prostitute themselves…and sacrifice…and invite…and you eat.” The sequence lays out an entire scenario.

[34:15]  ⁴⁸ tn The verb זָנָה (zanah) means “to play the prostitute; to commit whoredom; to be a harlot” or something similar. It is used here and elsewhere in the Bible for departing from pure religion and engaging in pagan religion. The use of the word in this figurative sense is fitting, because the relationship between God and his people is pictured as a marriage, and to be unfaithful to it was a sin. This is also why God is described as a “jealous” or “impassioned” God. The figure may not be merely a metaphorical use, but perhaps a metonymy, since there actually was sexual immorality at the Canaanite altars and poles.

[34:15]  ⁴⁹ tn There is no subject for the verb. It could be rendered “and one invites you,” or it could be made a passive.

[35:22]  ⁵¹ tn The expression in Hebrew is “men on/after the women,” meaning men with women, to ensure that it was clear that the preceding verse did not mean only men. B. Jacob takes it further, saying that the men came after the women because the latter had taken the initiative (Exodus, 1017).

[35:22]  ⁵² tn Heb “all gold utensils.”

[35:22]  ⁵³ tn The verb could be translated “offered,” but it is cognate with the following noun that is the wave offering. This sentence underscores the freewill nature of the offerings people made. The word “came” is supplied from v. 21 and v. 22.

[20:10]  ⁵⁶ tn The phrase “on it” has been supplied for clarity.

[20:10]  ⁵⁷ sn The wife is omitted in the list, not that she was considered unimportant, nor that she was excluded from the rest, but rather in reflecting her high status. She was not man’s servant, not lesser than the man, but included with the man as an equal before God. The “you” of the commandments is addressed to the Israelites individually, male and female, just as God in the Garden of Eden held both the man and the woman responsible for their individual sins (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 567-68).

[20:10]  ⁵⁸ sn The Sabbath day was the sign of the Sinaitic Covenant. It required Israel to cease from ordinary labors and devote the day to God. It required Israel to enter into the life of God, to share his Sabbath. It gave them a chance to recall the work of the Creator. But in the NT the apostolic teaching for the Church does not make one day holier than another, but calls for the entire life to be sanctified to God. This teaching is an application of the meaning of entering into the Sabbath of God. The book of Hebrews declares that those who believe in Christ cease from their works and enter into his Sabbath rest. For a Christian keeping Saturday holy is not a requirement from the NT; it may be a good and valuable thing to have a day of rest and refreshment, but it is not a binding law for the Church. The principle of setting aside time to worship and serve the Lord has been carried forward, but the strict regulations have not.

[35:35]  ⁶¹ tn The expression “wisdom of heart,” or “wisdom in heart,” means artistic skill. The decisions and plans they make are skilled. The expression forms a second accusative after the verb of filling.

[35:35]  ⁶² tn The expression “all the work” means “all kinds of work.”

[35:35]  ⁶³ tn Here “They are” has been supplied.

[35:35]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “doers of all work.”

[35:35]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “designers of designs.”