Exodus 32:7

32:7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go quickly, descend, ¹  because your ²  people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly.

Exodus 32:11

32:11 But Moses sought the favor ³  of the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

Exodus 14:11

14:11 and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? ⁴  What in the world ⁵  have you done to us by bringing ⁶  us out of Egypt?

Exodus 16:3

16:3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died ⁷  by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by ⁸  the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, ⁹  for you have brought us out into this desert to kill ¹⁰  this whole assembly with hunger!”

Hosea 12:13

12:13 The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet,

and due to a prophet ¹¹  Israel ¹²  was preserved alive. ¹³ 

Micah 6:4

6:4 In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt,

I delivered you from that place of slavery.

I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you. ¹⁴ 

[32:7]  ¹ tn The two imperatives could also express one idea: “get down there.” In other words, “Make haste to get down.”

[32:7]  ² sn By giving the people to Moses in this way, God is saying that they have no longer any right to claim him as their God, since they have shared his honor with another. This is God’s talionic response to their “These are your gods who brought you up.” The use of these pronoun changes also would form an appeal to Moses to respond, since Moses knew that God had brought them up from Egypt.

[32:11]  ³ tn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 351) draws on Arabic to show that the meaning of this verb (חָלָה, khalah) was properly “make sweet the face” or “stroke the face”; so here “to entreat, seek to conciliate.” In this prayer, Driver adds, Moses urges four motives for mercy: 1) Israel is Yahweh’s people, 2) Israel’s deliverance has demanded great power, 3) the Egyptians would mock if the people now perished, and 4) the oath God made to the fathers.

[14:11]  ⁴ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 396-97) notes how the speech is overly dramatic and came from a people given to using such exaggerations (Num 16:14), even using a double negative. The challenge to Moses brings a double irony. To die in the desert would be without proper burial, but in Egypt there were graves – it was a land of tombs and graves! Gesenius notes that two negatives in the sentence do not nullify each other but make the sentence all the more emphatic: “Is it because there were no graves…?” (GKC 483 §152.y).

[14:11]  ⁵ tn The demonstrative pronoun has the enclitic use again, giving a special emphasis to the question (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[14:11]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term לְהוֹצִּיאָנוּ (lÿhotsi’anu) is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a suffix, “to bring us out.” It is used epexegetically here, explaining the previous question.

[16:3]  ⁷ tn The text reads: מִי־יִתֵּן מוּתֵנוּ (mi-yitten mutenu, “who will give our dying”) meaning “If only we had died.” מוּתֵנוּ is the Qal infinitive construct with the suffix. This is one way that Hebrew expresses the optative with an infinitive construct. See R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 91-92, §547.

[16:3]  ⁸ tn The form is a Qal infinitive construct used in a temporal clause, and the verb “when we ate” has the same structure.

[16:3]  ⁹ sn That the complaint leading up to the manna is unjustified can be seen from the record itself. They left Egypt with flocks and herds and very much cattle, and about 45 days later they are complaining that they are without food. Moses reminded them later that they lacked nothing (Deut 3:7; for the whole sermon on this passage, see 8:1-20). Moreover, the complaint is absurd because the food of work gangs was far more meager than they recall. The complaint was really against Moses. They crave the eating of meat and of bread and so God will meet that need; he will send bread from heaven and quail as well.

[16:3]  ¹⁰ tn לְהָמִית (lÿhamit) is the Hiphil infinitive construct showing purpose. The people do not trust the intentions or the plan of their leaders and charge Moses with bringing everyone out to kill them.

[12:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “by a prophet” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[12:13]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “was protected”; NASB “was kept.” The verb שָׁמַר (shamar, “to watch, guard, keep, protect”) is repeated in 12:13-14 HT (12:12-13 ET). This repetition creates parallels between Jacob’s sojourn in Aram and Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness. Jacob “tended = kept” (שָׁמַר) sheep in Aram, and Israel was “preserved = kept” (נִשְׁמָר, nishmar) by Moses in the wilderness.

[6:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “before you.”