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 8:15

8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, ⁵  he hardened ⁶  his heart and did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted. ⁷ 

Exodus 9:34

9:34 When Pharaoh saw ⁸  that the rain and hail and thunder ceased, he sinned again: ⁹  both he and his servants hardened ¹⁰  their hearts.

Exodus 14:30-31

14:30 So the Lord saved ¹¹  Israel on that day from the power ¹²  of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead ¹³  on the shore of the sea. 14:31 When Israel saw ¹⁴  the great power ¹⁵  that the Lord had exercised ¹⁶  over the Egyptians, they ¹⁷  feared the Lord, and they believed in ¹⁸  the Lord and in his servant Moses. ¹⁹ 

Exodus 20:18

20:18 All the people were seeing ²⁰  the thundering and the lightning, and heard ²¹  the sound of the horn, and saw ²²  the mountain smoking – and when ²³  the people saw it they trembled with fear ²⁴  and kept their distance. ²⁵ 

Exodus 34:30

34:30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone; ²⁶  and they were afraid to approach him.

Exodus 39:43

39:43 Moses inspected ²⁷  all the work – and ²⁸  they had done it just as the Lord had commanded – they had done it exactly – and Moses blessed them. ²⁹ 

[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.

[8:15]  ⁵ tn The word רְוָחָה (rÿvakhah) means “respite, relief.” BDB 926 relates it to the verb רָוַח (ravakh, “to be wide, spacious”). There would be relief when there was freedom to move about.

[8:15]  ⁶ tn וְהַכְבֵּד (vÿhakhbed) is a Hiphil infinitive absolute, functioning as a finite verb. The meaning of the word is “to make heavy,” and so stubborn, sluggish, indifferent. It summarizes his attitude and the outcome, that he refused to keep his promises.

[8:15]  ⁷ sn The end of the plague revealed clearly God’s absolute control over Egypt’s life and deities – all at the power of the man who prayed to God. Yahweh had made life unpleasant for the people by sending the plague, but he was also the one who could remove it. The only recourse anyone has in such trouble is to pray to the sovereign Lord God. Everyone should know that there is no one like Yahweh.

[9:34]  ⁹ tn The clause beginning with the preterite and vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next, and main clause – that he hardened his heart again.

[9:34]  ¹⁰ tn The construction is another verbal hendiadys: וַיֹּסֶף לַחֲטֹּא (vayyosef lakhatto’), literally rendered “and he added to sin.” The infinitive construct becomes the main verb, and the Hiphil preterite becomes adverbial. The text is clearly interpreting as sin the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and his refusal to release Israel. At the least this means that the plagues are his fault, but the expression probably means more than this – he was disobeying Yahweh God.

[9:34]  ¹¹ tn This phrase translates the Hebrew word כָּבֵד (kaved); see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53.

[14:30]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term וַיּוֹשַׁע (vayyosha’) is the key summation of the chapter, and this part of the book: “So Yahweh saved Israel.” This is the culmination of all the powerful works of God through these chapters.

[14:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for power.

[14:30]  ¹⁵ tn The participle “dead” is singular, agreeing in form with “Egypt.”

[14:31]  ¹⁷ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive introduces a clause that is subordinate to the main points that the verse is making.

[14:31]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the great hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for work or power. The word play using “hand” contrasts the Lord’s hand/power at work on behalf of the Israelites with the hand/power of Egypt that would have killed them.

[14:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “did, made.”

[14:31]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and the people feared.”

[14:31]  ²¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil preterite of אָמַן (’aman).

[14:31]  ²² sn Here the title of “servant” is given to Moses. This is the highest title a mortal can have in the OT – the “servant of Yahweh.” It signifies more than a believer; it describes the individual as acting on behalf of God. For example, when Moses stretched out his hand, God used it as his own (Isa 63:12). Moses was God’s personal representative. The chapter records both a message of salvation and of judgment. Like the earlier account of deliverance at the Passover, this chapter can be a lesson on deliverance from present troubles – if God could do this for Israel, there is no trouble too great for him to overcome. The passage can also be understood as a picture (at least) of the deliverance at the final judgment on the world. But the Israelites used this account for a paradigm of the power of God: namely, God is able to deliver his people from danger because he is the sovereign Lord of creation. His people must learn to trust him, even in desperate situations; they must fear him and not the situation. God can bring any threat to an end by bringing his power to bear in judgment on the wicked.

[20:18]  ²¹ tn The participle is used here for durative action in the past time (GKC 359 §116.o).

[20:18]  ²² tn The verb “to see” (רָאָה, ra’ah) refers to seeing with all the senses, or perceiving. W. C. Kaiser suggests that this is an example of the figure of speech called zeugma because the verb “saw” yokes together two objects, one that suits the verb and the other that does not. So, the verb “heard” is inserted here to clarify (“Exodus,” EBC 2:427).

[20:18]  ²³ tn The verb “saw” is supplied here because it is expected in English (see the previous note on “heard”).

[20:18]  ²⁴ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the following clause, which receives the prominence.

[20:18]  ²⁵ tn The meaning of נוּעַ (nua’) is “to shake, sway to and fro” in fear. Compare Isa 7:2 – “and his heart shook…as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”

[20:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and they stood from/at a distance.”

[34:30]  ²⁵ tn This clause is introduced by the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh); it has the force of pointing to something surprising or sudden.

[39:43]  ²⁹ tn Or “examined” (NASB, TEV); NCV “looked closely at.”

[39:43]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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.