Exodus 23:12
Context23:12 For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, in order that your ox and your donkey may rest and that your female servant’s son and any hired help 1 may refresh themselves. 2
Exodus 39:3
Context39:3 They hammered the gold into thin sheets and cut it into narrow strips to weave 3 them into the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and into the fine linen, the work of an artistic designer.


[23:12] 1 tn Heb “alien,” or “resident foreigner.” Such an individual would have traveled out of need and depended on the goodwill of the people around him. The rendering “hired help” assumes that the foreigner is mentioned in this context because he is working for an Israelite and will benefit from the Sabbath rest, along with his employer.
[23:12] 2 tn The verb is וְיִּנָּפֵשׁ (vÿyyinnafesh); it is related to the word usually translated “soul” or “life.”
[39:3] 3 tn The verb is the infinitive that means “to do, to work.” It could be given a literal rendering: “to work [them into] the blue….” Weaving or embroidering is probably what is intended.