Exodus 4:14

4:14 Then the Lord became angry with ¹  Moses, and he said, “What about ²  your brother Aaron the Levite? ³  I know that he can speak very well. ⁴  Moreover, he is coming ⁵  to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. ⁶ 

Exodus 5:2

5:2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord ⁷  that ⁸  I should obey him ⁹  by releasing ¹⁰  Israel? I do not know the Lord, ¹¹  and I will not release Israel!”

Exodus 8:21

8:21 If you do not release ¹²  my people, then I am going to send ¹³  swarms of flies ¹⁴  on you and on your servants and on your people and in your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground they stand on. ¹⁵ 

Exodus 10:26

10:26 Our livestock must ¹⁶  also go with us! Not a hoof is to be left behind! For we must take ¹⁷  these animals ¹⁸  to serve the Lord our God. Until we arrive there, we do not know what we must use to serve the Lord.” ¹⁹ 

Exodus 12:39

12:39 They baked cakes of bread without yeast using the dough they had brought from Egypt, for it was made without yeast – because they were thrust out ²⁰  of Egypt and were not able to delay, they ²¹  could not prepare ²²  food for themselves either.

Exodus 19:9

19:9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come ²³  to you in a dense cloud, ²⁴  so that the people may hear when I speak with you and so that they will always believe in you.” ²⁵  And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

Exodus 21:29

21:29 But if the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner was warned, ²⁶  and he did not take the necessary precautions, ²⁷  and then it killed a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned and the man must be put to death.

Exodus 21:35

21:35 If the ox of one man injures the ox of his neighbor so that it dies, then they will sell the live ox and divide its proceeds, ²⁸  and they will also divide the dead ox. ²⁹ 

Exodus 33:12

33:12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have been saying to me, ‘Bring this people up,’ ³⁰  but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, ‘I know you by name, ³¹  and also you have found favor in my sight.’

Exodus 34:3

34:3 No one is to come up with you; do not let anyone be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks or the herds may graze in front of that mountain.”

[4:14]  ¹ tn Heb “and the anger of Yahweh burned against.”

[4:14]  ² tn Heb “Is not” or perhaps “Is [there] not.”

[4:14]  ³ sn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 29) suggests that the term “Levite” may refer to a profession rather than ancestry here, because both Moses and Aaron were from the tribe of Levi and there would be little point in noting that ancestry for Aaron. In thinking through the difficult problem of the identity of Levites, he cites McNeile as saying “the Levite” referred to one who had had official training as a priest (cf. Judg 17:7, where a member of the tribe of Judah was a Levite). If it was the duty of the priest to give “torah” – to teach – then some training in the power of language would have been in order.

[4:14]  ⁴ tn The construction uses the Piel infinitive absolute and the Piel imperfect to express the idea that he spoke very well: דַבֵּר יְדַבֵּר (dabber yÿdabber).

[4:14]  ⁵ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with the participle points to the imminent future; it means “he is about to come” or “here he is coming.”

[4:14]  ⁶ sn It is unlikely that this simply means that as a brother he will be pleased to see Moses, for the narrative has no time for that kind of comment. It is interested in more significant things. The implication is that Aaron will rejoice because of the revelation of God to Moses and the plan to deliver Israel from bondage (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 93).

[5:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “Yahweh.” This is a rhetorical question, expressing doubt or indignation or simply a negative thought that Yahweh is nothing (see erotesis in E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 944-45). Pharaoh is not asking for information (cf. 1 Sam 25:5-10).

[5:2]  ⁸ tn The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107.u).

[5:2]  ⁹ tn The imperfect tense here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’) followed by “in the voice of” is idiomatic; rather than referring to simple audition – “that I should hear his voice” – it conveys the thought of listening that issues in action – “that I should obey him.”

[5:2]  ¹⁰ tn The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed (ל); it explains the verb “obey.”

[5:2]  ¹¹ sn This absolute statement of Pharaoh is part of a motif that will develop throughout the conflict. For Pharaoh, the Lord (Yahweh) did not exist. So he said “I do not know the Lord [i.e., Yahweh].” The point of the plagues and the exodus will be “that he might know.” Pharaoh will come to know this Yahweh, but not in any pleasant way.

[8:21]  ¹³ tn The construction uses the predicator of nonexistence – אֵין (’en, “there is not”) – with a pronominal suffix prior to the Piel participle. The suffix becomes the subject of the clause. Heb “but if there is not you releasing.”

[8:21]  ¹⁴ tn Here again is the futur instans use of the participle, now Qal with the meaning “send”: הִנְנִי מַשְׁלִיחַ (hinni mashliakh, “here I am sending”).

[8:21]  ¹⁵ tn The word עָרֹב (’arov) means “a mix” or “swarm.” It seems that some irritating kind of flying insect is involved. Ps 78:45 says that the Egyptians were eaten or devoured by them. Various suggestions have been made over the years: (1) it could refer to beasts or reptiles; (2) the Greek took it as the dog-fly, a vicious blood-sucking gadfly, more common in the spring than in the fall; (3) the ordinary house fly, which is a symbol of Egypt in Isa 7:18 (Hebrew זְבוּב, zÿvuv); and (4) the beetle, which gnaws and bites plants, animals, and materials. The fly probably fits the details of this passage best; the plague would have greatly intensified a problem with flies that already existed.

[8:21]  ¹⁶ tn Or perhaps “the land where they are” (cf. NRSV “the land where they live”).

[10:26]  ¹⁹ tn This is the obligatory imperfect nuance. They were obliged to take the animals if they were going to sacrifice, but more than that, since they were not coming back, they had to take everything.

[10:26]  ²⁰ tn The same modal nuance applies to this verb.

[10:26]  ²¹ tn Heb “from it,” referring collectively to the livestock.

[10:26]  ²² sn Moses gives an angry but firm reply to Pharaoh’s attempt to control Israel; he makes it clear that he has no intention of leaving any pledge with Pharaoh. When they leave, they will take everything that belongs to them.

[12:39]  ²⁵ sn For the use of this word in developing the motif, see Exod 2:17, 22; 6:1; and 11:1.

[12:39]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and also.”

[12:39]  ²⁷ tn The verb is עָשׂוּ (’asu, “they made”); here, with a potential nuance, it is rendered “they could [not] prepare.”

[19:9]  ³¹ tn The construction uses the deictic particle and the participle to express the imminent future, what God was about to do. Here is the first announcement of the theophany.

[19:9]  ³² tn Heb “the thickness of the cloud”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT “in a thick cloud.”

[19:9]  ³³ tn Since “and also in you” begins the clause, the emphasis must be that the people would also trust Moses. See Exod 4:1-9, 31; 14:31.

[21:29]  ³⁷ tn The Hophal perfect has the idea of “attested, testified against.”

[21:29]  ³⁸ tn Heb “he was not keeping it” or perhaps guarding or watching it (referring to the ox).

[21:35]  ⁴³ tn Literally “its silver” or “silver for it.”

[21:35]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “divide the dead.” The noun “ox” has been supplied.

[33:12]  ⁴⁹ tn The Hiphil imperative is from the same verb that has been used before for bringing the people up from Egypt and leading them to Canaan.

[33:12]  ⁵⁰ tn That is, “chosen you.”