Exodus 3:1

3:1 Now Moses ¹  was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert ²  and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. ³ 

Exodus 3:22

3:22 Every ⁴  woman will ask her neighbor and the one who happens to be staying ⁵  in her house for items of silver and gold ⁶  and for clothing. You will put these articles on your sons and daughters – thus you will plunder Egypt!” ⁷ 

Exodus 4:25

4:25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, ⁸  and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood ⁹  to me.”

Exodus 10:14

10:14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory ¹⁰  of Egypt. It was very severe; ¹¹  there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again. ¹² 

Exodus 10:26

10:26 Our livestock must ¹³  also go with us! Not a hoof is to be left behind! For we must take ¹⁴  these animals ¹⁵  to serve the Lord our God. Until we arrive there, we do not know what we must use to serve the Lord.” ¹⁶ 

Exodus 12:19

12:19 For seven days ¹⁷  yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast – that person ¹⁸  will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a foreigner ¹⁹  or one born in the land.

Exodus 17:5

17:5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; ²⁰  take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go.

Exodus 18:7

18:7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him; ²¹  they each asked about the other’s welfare, and then they went into the tent.

Exodus 21:8

21:8 If she does not please ²²  her master, who has designated her ²³  for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. ²⁴  He has no right ²⁵  to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully ²⁶  with her.

Exodus 22:11

22:11 then there will be an oath to the Lord ²⁷  between the two of them, that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor’s goods, and its owner will accept this, and he will not have to pay.

Exodus 24:4

24:4 and Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built ²⁸  an altar at the foot ²⁹  of the mountain and arranged ³⁰  twelve standing stones ³¹  – according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Exodus 29:46

29:46 and they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the Lord their God.

Exodus 31:14

31:14 So you must keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. Everyone who defiles it ³²  must surely be put to death; indeed, ³³  if anyone does ³⁴  any ³⁵  work on it, then that person will be cut off from among his ³⁶  people.

Exodus 33:11

33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, ³⁷  the way a person speaks ³⁸  to a friend. Then Moses ³⁹  would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent. ⁴⁰ 

Exodus 36:1

36:1 So Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person ⁴¹  in whom the Lord has put skill ⁴²  and ability ⁴³  to know how ⁴⁴  to do all the work for the service ⁴⁵  of the sanctuary are to do the work ⁴⁶  according to all that the Lord has commanded.”

Exodus 36:8

The Building of the Tabernacle

36:8 All the skilled among those who were doing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet; they were made with cherubim that were the work of an artistic designer.

[3:1]  ¹ sn The vav (ו) disjunctive with the name “Moses” introduces a new and important starting point. The Lord’s dealing with Moses will fill the next two chapters.

[3:1]  ² tn Or “west of the desert,” taking אַחַר (’akhar, “behind”) as the opposite of עַל־פְּנֵי (’al-pÿne, “on the face of, east of”; cf. Gen 16:12; 25:18).

[3:1]  ³ sn “Horeb” is another name for Mount Sinai. There is a good deal of foreshadowing in this verse, for later Moses would shepherd the people of Israel and lead them to Mount Sinai to receive the Law. See D. Skinner, “Some Major Themes of Exodus,” Mid-America Theological Journal 1 (1977): 31-42.

[3:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “a woman,” one representing all.

[3:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the sojourner.” Both the “neighbor” and the “sojourner” (“one who happens to be staying in her house”) are feminine. The difference between them seems to be primarily that the second is temporary, “a lodger” perhaps or “visitor,” while the first has permanent residence.

[3:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “vessels of silver and vessels of gold.” These phrases both use genitives of material, telling what the vessels are made of.

[3:22]  ⁷ sn It is clear that God intended the Israelites to plunder the Egyptians, as they might a defeated enemy in war. They will not go out “empty.” They will “plunder” Egypt. This verb (וְנִצַּלְתֶּם [vÿnitsaltem] from נָצַל [natsal]) usually means “rescue, deliver,” as if plucking out of danger. But in this stem it carries the idea of plunder. So when the text says that they will ask (וְשָׁאֲלָה, vÿsha’alah) their neighbors for things, it implies that they will be making many demands, and the Egyptians will respond like a defeated nation before victors. The spoils that Israel takes are to be regarded as back wages or compensation for the oppression (see also Deut 15:13). See further B. Jacob, “The Gifts of the Egyptians, a Critical Commentary,” Journal of Reformed Judaism 27 (1980): 59-69; and T. C. Vriezen, “A Reinterpretation of Exodus 3:21-22 and Related Texts,” Ex Oriente Lux 23 (1975): 389-401.

[4:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “to his feet.” The referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The LXX has “and she fell at his feet” and then “the blood of the circumcision of my son stood.” But it is clear that she caused the foreskin to touch Moses’ feet, as if the one were a substitution for the other, taking the place of the other (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 60).

[4:25]  ⁸ sn U. Cassuto explains that she was saying, “I have delivered you from death, and your return to life makes you my bridegroom a second time, this time my blood bridegroom, a bridegroom acquired through blood” (Exodus, 60-61).

[10:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “border.”

[10:14]  ¹¹ tn This is an interpretive translation. The clause simply has כָּבֵד מְאֹד (kaved mÿ’od), the stative verb with the adverb – “it was very heavy.” The description prepares for the following statement about the uniqueness of this locust infestation.

[10:14]  ¹² tn Heb “after them.”

[10:26]  ¹³ tn This is the obligatory imperfect nuance. They were obliged to take the animals if they were going to sacrifice, but more than that, since they were not coming back, they had to take everything.

[10:26]  ¹⁴ tn The same modal nuance applies to this verb.

[10:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from it,” referring collectively to the livestock.

[10:26]  ¹⁶ sn Moses gives an angry but firm reply to Pharaoh’s attempt to control Israel; he makes it clear that he has no intention of leaving any pledge with Pharaoh. When they leave, they will take everything that belongs to them.

[12:19]  ¹⁶ tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12, §56).

[12:19]  ¹⁷ tn The term is נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), often translated “soul.” It refers to the whole person, the soul within the body. The noun is feminine, agreeing with the feminine verb “be cut off.”

[12:19]  ¹⁸ tn Or “alien”; or “stranger.”

[17:5]  ¹⁹ tn “Pass over before” indicates that Moses is the leader who goes first, and the people follow him. In other words, לִפְנֵי (lifney) indicates time and not place here (B. Jacob, Exodus, 477-78).

[18:7]  ²² sn This is more than polite oriental custom. Jethro was Moses’ benefactor, father-in-law, and a priest. He paid much respect to him. Now he could invite Jethro into his home (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 496).

[21:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and if unpleasant (רָעָה, ra’ah) in the eyes of her master.”

[21:8]  ²⁶ tn The verb יָעַד (ya’ad) does not mean “betroth, espouse” as some of the earlier translations had it, but “to designate.” When he bought the girl, he designated her for himself, giving her and her family certain expectations.

[21:8]  ²⁷ tn The verb is a Hiphil perfect with vav (ו) consecutive from פָדָה (padah, “to redeem”). Here in the apodosis the form is equivalent to an imperfect: “let someone redeem her” – perhaps her father if he can, or another. U. Cassuto says it can also mean she can redeem herself and dissolve the relationship (Exodus, 268).

[21:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he has no authority/power,” for the verb means “rule, have dominion.”

[21:8]  ²⁹ sn The deceit is in not making her his wife or concubine as the arrangement had stipulated.

[22:11]  ²⁸ tn The construct relationship שְׁבֻעַת יְהוָה (shÿvu’at yÿhvah, “the oath of Yahweh”) would require a genitive of indirect object, “an oath [to] Yahweh.” U. Cassuto suggests that it means “an oath by Yahweh” (Exodus, 287). The person to whom the animal was entrusted would take a solemn oath to Yahweh that he did not appropriate the animal for himself, and then his word would be accepted.

[24:4]  ³¹ tn The two preterites quite likely form a verbal hendiadys (the verb “to get up early” is frequently in such constructions). Literally it says, “and he got up early [in the morning] and he built”; this means “early [in the morning] he built.” The first verb becomes the adverb.

[24:4]  ³² tn “under.”

[24:4]  ³³ tn The verb “arranged” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied to clarify exactly what Moses did with the twelve stones.

[24:4]  ³⁴ tn The thing numbered is found in the singular when the number is plural – “twelve standing-stone.” See GKC 433 §134.f. The “standing-stone” could be a small piece about a foot high, or a huge column higher than men. They served to commemorate treaties (Gen 32), or visions (Gen 28) or boundaries, or graves. Here it will function with the altar as a place of worship.

[31:14]  ³⁴ tn This clause is all from one word, a Piel plural participle with a third, feminine suffix: מְחַלְלֶיהָ (mÿkhalleha, “defilers of it”). This form serves as the subject of the sentence. The word חָלַל (khalal) is the antonym of קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be holy”). It means “common, profane,” and in the Piel stem “make common, profane” or “defile.” Treating the Sabbath like an ordinary day would profane it, make it common.

[31:14]  ³⁵ tn This is the asseverative use of כִּי (ki) meaning “surely, indeed,” for it restates the point just made (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).

[31:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the one who does.”

[31:14]  ³⁷ tn “any” has been supplied.

[31:14]  ³⁸ tn Literally “her” (a feminine pronoun agreeing with “soul/life,” which is grammatically feminine).

[33:11]  ³⁷ tn “Face to face” is circumstantial to the action of the verb, explaining how they spoke (see GKC 489-90 §156.c). The point of this note of friendly relationship with Moses is that Moses was “at home” in this tent speaking with God. Moses would derive courage from this when he interceded for the people (B. Jacob, Exodus, 966).

[33:11]  ³⁸ tn The verb in this clause is a progressive imperfect.

[33:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:11]  ⁴⁰ sn Moses did not live in the tent. But Joshua remained there most of the time to guard the tent, it seems, lest any of the people approach it out of curiosity.

[36:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “wise of [in] heart.”

[36:1]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “wisdom.”

[36:1]  ⁴² tn Heb “understanding, discernment.”

[36:1]  ⁴³ tn The relative clause includes this infinitive clause that expresses either the purpose or the result of God’s giving wisdom and understanding to these folk.

[36:1]  ⁴⁴ tn This noun is usually given an interpretive translation. B. Jacob renders the bound relationship as “the holy task” or “the sacred task” (Exodus, 1019). The NIV makes it “constructing,” so read “the work of constructing the sanctuary.”

[36:1]  ⁴⁵ tn The first word of the verse is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it is singular because it agrees with the first of the compound subject. The sentence is a little cumbersome because of the extended relative clause in the middle.