Exodus 3:11

3:11 Moses said ¹  to God, ²  “Who am I, that I should go ³  to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Exodus 4:31

4:31 and the people believed. When they heard ⁴  that the Lord had attended to ⁵  the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground. ⁶ 

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, ⁷ 

Exodus 21:20

21:20 “If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she ⁸  dies as a result of the blow, ⁹  he will surely be punished. ¹⁰ 

Exodus 21:26

21:26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it, ¹¹  he will let the servant ¹²  go free ¹³  as compensation for the eye.

Exodus 21:33

21:33 “If a man opens a pit or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

Exodus 22:14

22:14 “If a man borrows an animal ¹⁴  from his neighbor, and it is hurt or dies when its owner was not with it, the man who borrowed it ¹⁵  will surely pay.

Exodus 22:16

Moral and Ceremonial Laws

22:16 ¹⁶ “If a man seduces a virgin ¹⁷  who is not engaged ¹⁸  and has sexual relations with her, he must surely endow ¹⁹  her to be his wife.

[3:11]  ¹ tn Heb “And Moses said.”

[3:11]  ² sn When he was younger, Moses was confident and impulsive, but now that he is older the greatness of the task makes him unsure. The remainder of this chapter and the next chapter record the four difficulties of Moses and how the Lord answers them (11-12, 13-22; then 4:1-9; and finally 4:10-17).

[3:11]  ³ tn The imperfect tense אֵלֵךְ (’elekh) carries the modal nuance of obligatory imperfect, i.e., “that I should go.” Moses at this point is overwhelmed with the task of representing God, and with his personal insufficiency, and so in honest humility questions the choice.

[4:31]  ⁴ tc The LXX (Greek OT) has “and they rejoiced,” probably reading וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ (vayyismÿkhu) instead of what the MT reading, וַיִּשְׂמְעוּ (vayyismÿ’u, “and they heard”). To rejoice would have seemed a natural response of the people at the news, and the words sound similar in Hebrew.

[4:31]  ⁵ tn Or “intervened for.” The word פָּקַד (paqad) has traditionally been translated “visited,” which is open to many interpretations. It means that God intervened in the life of the Israelites to bless them with the fulfillment of the promises. It says more than that he took notice of them, took pity on them, or remembered them. He had not yet fulfilled the promises, but he had begun to act by calling Moses and Aaron. The translation “attended to” attempts to capture that much.

[4:31]  ⁶ tn The verb וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ (vayyishtakhavu) is usually rendered “worshiped.” More specifically, the verbal root חָוָה (khava) in the hishtaphel stem means “to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” While there is nothing wrong with giving it a general translation of “worship,” it may be better in a passage like this to take it in conjunction with the other verb (“bow”) as a verbal hendiadys, using it as an adverb to that verb. The implication is certainly that they prayed, or praised, and performed some other aspect of worship, but the text may just be describing it from their posture of worship. With this response, all the fears of Moses are swept aside – they believed and they were thankful to God.

[21:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “falls to bed.”

[21:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so that he”; the words “or she” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “under his hand.”

[21:20]  ¹² tn Heb “will be avenged” (how is not specified).

[21:26]  ¹³ tn The form וְשִׁחֲתָהּ (vÿshikhatah) is the Piel perfect with the vav (ל) consecutive, rendered “and destroys it.” The verb is a strong one, meaning “to ruin, completely destroy.”

[21:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the male or female servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:26]  ¹⁵ sn Interestingly, the verb used here for “let him go” is the same verb throughout the first part of the book for “release” of the Israelites from slavery. Here, an Israelite will have to release the injured slave.

[22:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “if a man asks [an animal] from his neighbor” (see also Exod 12:36). The ruling here implies an animal is borrowed, and if harm comes to it when the owner is not with it, the borrower is liable. The word “animal” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[22:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who borrowed the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:16]  ¹⁹ sn The second half of the chapter records various laws of purity and justice. Any of them could be treated in an expository way, but in the present array they offer a survey of God’s righteous standards: Maintain the sanctity of marriage (16-17); maintain the purity of religious institutions (18-20), maintain the rights of human beings (21-28), maintain the rights of Yahweh (29-31).

[22:16]  ²⁰ tn This is the word בְּתוּלָה (bÿtulah); it describes a young woman who is not married or a young woman engaged to be married; in any case, she is presumed to be a virgin.

[22:16]  ²¹ tn Or “pledged” for marriage.

[22:16]  ²² tn The verb מָהַר (mahar) means “pay the marriage price,” and the related noun is the bride price. B. Jacob says this was a proposal gift and not a purchase price (Exodus, 700). This is the price paid to her parents, which allowed for provision should there be a divorce. The amount was usually agreed on by the two families, but the price was higher for a pure bride from a noble family. Here, the one who seduces her must pay it, regardless of whether he marries her or not.