Exodus 3:4

3:4 When the Lord ¹  saw that ²  he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” ³  And Moses ⁴  said, “Here I am.”

Exodus 4:20

4:20 Then Moses took ⁵  his wife and sons ⁶  and put them on a donkey and headed back ⁷  to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

Exodus 6:9

6:9 ⁸ Moses told this ⁹  to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him ¹⁰  because of their discouragement ¹¹  and hard labor.

Exodus 8:12

8:12 Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried ¹²  to the Lord because of ¹³  the frogs that he had brought on ¹⁴  Pharaoh.

Exodus 9:8

The Sixth Blow: Boils

9:8 ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot ¹⁶  from a furnace, and have Moses throw it ¹⁷  into the air while Pharaoh is watching. ¹⁸ 

Exodus 16:20

16:20 But they did not listen to Moses; some ¹⁹  kept part of it until morning, and it was full ²⁰  of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them.

Exodus 18:5

18:5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ ²¹  sons and his wife, came to Moses in the desert where he was camping by ²²  the mountain of God. ²³ 

Exodus 18:13

18:13 On the next day ²⁴  Moses sat to judge ²⁵  the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening.

Exodus 24:18

24:18 Moses went into the cloud when he went up ²⁶  the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. ²⁷ 

Exodus 33:8-9

33:8 And when Moses went out ²⁸  to the tent, all the people would get up ²⁹  and stand at the entrance to their tents ³⁰  and watch ³¹  Moses until he entered the tent. ³²  33:9 And ³³  whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord ³⁴  would speak with Moses. ³⁵ 

Exodus 39:43

39:43 Moses inspected ³⁶  all the work – and ³⁷  they had done it just as the Lord had commanded – they had done it exactly – and Moses blessed them. ³⁸ 

[3:4]  ¹ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) is subordinated as a temporal clause to the main point of the verse, that God called to him. The language is anthropomorphic, as if God’s actions were based on his observing what Moses did.

[3:4]  ² tn The particle כִּי (ki, “that”) introduces the noun clause that functions as the direct object of the verb “saw” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 81, §490).

[3:4]  ³ sn The repetition of the name in God’s call is emphatic, making the appeal direct and immediate (see also Gen 22:11; 46:2). The use of the personal name shows how specifically God directed the call and that he knew this person. The repetition may have stressed even more that it was indeed he whom the Lord wanted. It would have been an encouragement to Moses that this was in fact the Lord who was meeting him.

[3:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “And he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “And Moses took.”

[4:20]  ⁶ sn Only Gershom has been mentioned so far. The other son’s name will be explained in chapter 18. The explanation of Gershom’s name was important to Moses’ sojourn in Midian. The explanation of the name Eliezer fits better in the later chapter (18:2-4).

[4:20]  ⁷ tn The verb would literally be rendered “and returned”; however, the narrative will record other happenings before he arrived in Egypt, so an ingressive nuance fits here – he began to return, or started back.

[6:9]  ⁹ sn The final part of this section focuses on instructions for Moses. The commission from God is the same – he is to speak to Pharaoh and he is to lead Israel out. It should have been clear to him that God would do this, for he had just been reminded how God was going to lead out, deliver, redeem, take the people as his people, and give them land. It was God’s work of love from beginning to end. Moses simply had his task to perform.

[6:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and Moses spoke thus.”

[6:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to Moses.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:9]  ¹² tn The Hebrew מִקֹּצֶּר רוּחַ (miqqotser ruakh) means “because of the shortness of spirit.” This means that they were discouraged, dispirited, and weary – although some have also suggested it might mean impatient. The Israelites were now just not in the frame of mind to listen to Moses.

[8:12]  ¹³ tn The verb צָעַק (tsa’aq) is used for prayers in which people cry out of trouble or from danger. U. Cassuto observes that Moses would have been in real danger if God had not answered this prayer (Exodus, 103).

[8:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “over the matter of.”

[8:12]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is an unusual choice if it were just to mean “brought on.” It is the verb שִׂים (sim, “place, put”). S. R. Driver thinks the thought is “appointed for Pharaoh” as a sign (Exodus, 64). The idea of the sign might be too much, but certainly the frogs were positioned for the instruction of the stubborn king.

[9:8]  ¹⁷ sn This sixth plague, like the third, is unannounced. God instructs his servants to take handfuls of ashes from the Egyptians’ furnaces and sprinkle them heavenward in the sight of Pharaoh. These ashes would become little particles of dust that would cause boils on the Egyptians and their animals. Greta Hort, “The Plagues of Egypt,” ZAW 69 [1957]: 101-3, suggests it is skin anthrax (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:359). The lesson of this plague is that Yahweh has absolute control over the physical health of the people. Physical suffering consequent to sin comes to all regardless of their position and status. The Egyptians are helpless in the face of this, as now God begins to touch human life; greater judgments on human wickedness lie ahead.

[9:8]  ¹⁸ tn This word פִּיחַ (piakh) is a hapax legomenon, meaning “soot”; it seems to be derived from the verb פּוּחַ (puakh, “to breathe, blow”). The “furnace” (כִּבְשָׁן, kivshan) was a special kiln for making pottery or bricks.

[9:8]  ¹⁹ tn The verb זָרַק (zaraq) means “to throw vigorously, to toss.” If Moses tosses the soot into the air, it will symbolize that the disease is falling from heaven.

[9:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before the eyes of Pharaoh.”

[16:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “men”; this usage is designed to mean “some” (see GKC 447 §138.h, n. 1).

[16:20]  ²² tn The verb וַיָּרֻם (vayyarum) is equivalent to a passive – “it was changed” – to which “worms” is added as an accusative of result (GKC 388-89 §121.d, n. 2).

[18:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:5]  ²⁶ tn This is an adverbial accusative that defines the place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[18:5]  ²⁷ sn The mountain of God is Horeb, and so the desert here must be the Sinai desert by it. But chap. 19 suggests that they left Rephidim to go the 24 miles to Sinai. It may be that this chapter fits in chronologically after the move to Sinai, but was placed here thematically. W. C. Kaiser defends the present location of the story by responding to other reasons for the change given by Lightfoot, but does not deal with the travel locations (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:411).

[18:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and it was/happened on the morrow.”

[18:13]  ³⁰ sn This is a simple summary of the function of Moses on this particular day. He did not necessarily do this every day, but it was time now to do it. The people would come to solve their difficulties or to hear instruction from Moses on decisions to be made. The tradition of “sitting in Moses’ seat” is drawn from this passage.

[24:18]  ³³ tn The verb is a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive; here, the second clause, is subordinated to the first preterite, because it seems that the entering into the cloud is the dominant point in this section of the chapter.

[24:18]  ³⁴ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 750) offers this description of some of the mystery involved in Moses’ ascending into the cloud: Moses ascended into the presence of God, but remained on earth. He did not rise to heaven – the ground remained firmly under his feet. But he clearly was brought into God’s presence; he was like a heavenly servant before God’s throne, like the angels, and he consumed neither bread nor water. The purpose of his being there was to become familiar with all God’s demands and purposes. He would receive the tablets of stone and all the instructions for the tabernacle that was to be built (beginning in chap. 25). He would not descend until the sin of the golden calf.

[33:8]  ³⁷ tn The clause is introduced again with “and it was.” The perfect tense here with the vav (ו) is used to continue the sequence of actions that were done repeatedly in the past (see GKC 331-32 §112.e). The temporal clause is then formed with the infinitive construct of יָצָא (yatsa’), with “Moses” as the subjective genitive: “and it was according to the going out of Moses.”

[33:8]  ³⁸ tn Or “rise up.”

[33:8]  ³⁹ tn The subject of this verb is specified with the individualizing use of “man”: “and all Israel would station themselves, each person (man) at the entrance to his tent.”

[33:8]  ⁴⁰ tn The perfect tense with the vav (ו) continues the sequence of the customary imperfect. The people “would gaze” (after) Moses until he entered the tent.

[33:8]  ⁴¹ tn This is a temporal clause using an infinitive construct with a suffixed subject.

[33:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and it was when.”

[33:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:9]  ⁴³ tn Both verbs, “stand” and “speak,” are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive.

[39:43]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “examined” (NASB, TEV); NCV “looked closely at.”

[39:43]  ⁴⁶ tn The deictic particle draws attention to what he saw in such a way as to give the reader Moses’ point of view and a sense of his pleasure: “and behold, they…”

[39:43]  ⁴⁷ sn The situation and wording in Exod 39:43 are reminiscent of Gen 1:28 and 31, with the motifs of blessing people and inspecting what has been made.