Exodus 32:18

32:18 Moses ¹  said, “It is not the sound of those who shout for victory, ²  nor is it the sound of those who cry because they are overcome, ³  but the sound of singing ⁴  I hear.” ⁵ 

[32:18]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:18]  ² tn Heb “the sound of the answering of might,” meaning it is not the sound of shouting in victory (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 418).

[32:18]  ³ tn Heb “the sound of the answering of weakness,” meaning the cry of the defeated (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 415).

[32:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “answering in song” (a play on the twofold meaning of the word).

[32:18]  ⁵ sn See A. Newman, “Compositional Analysis and Functional Ambiguity Equivalence: Translating Exodus 32, 17-18,” Babel 21 (1975): 29-35.