Exodus 4:15

Context

4:15 “So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth¹ and with his mouth,² and I will teach you both³ what you must do.⁴

Exodus 28:32

Context
28:32 There is to be an opening⁵ in its top⁶ in the center of it, with an edge all around the opening, the work of a weaver,⁷ like the opening of a collar,⁸ so that it cannot be torn.⁹

[4:15] ¹tn Or “I will help you speak.” The independent pronoun puts emphasis (“as for me”) on the subject (“I”).

[4:15] ²tn Or “and will help him speak.”

[4:15] ³tn The word “both” is supplied to convey that this object (“you”) and the subject of the next verb (“you must do”) are plural in the Hebrew text, referring to Moses and Aaron. In 4:16 “you” returns to being singular in reference to Moses.

[4:15] ⁴tn The imperfect tense carries the obligatory nuance here as well. The relative pronoun with this verb forms a noun clause functioning as the direct object of “I will teach.”

[28:32] ⁵tn Heb “mouth” or “opening” (פִּי, pi; in construct).

[28:32] ⁶tn The “mouth of its head” probably means its neck; it may be rendered “the opening for the head,” except the pronominal suffix would have to refer to Aaron, and that is not immediately within the context.

[28:32] ⁷tn Or “woven work” (KJV, ASV, NASB), that is, “the work of a weaver.” The expression suggests that the weaving was from the fabric edges itself and not something woven and then added to the robe. It was obviously intended to keep the opening from fraying.

[28:32] ⁸tn The expression כְּפִי תַחְרָא (kÿfi takhra’) is difficult. It was early rendered “like the opening of a coat of mail.” It occurs only here and in the parallel 39:23. Tg. Onq. has “coat of mail.” S. R. Driver suggests “a linen corselet,” after the Greek (Exodus, 308). See J. Cohen, “A Samaritan Authentication of the Rabbinic Interpretation of kephi tahra’,” VT 24 (1974): 361-66.

[28:32] ⁹tn The verb is the Niphal imperfect, here given the nuance of potential imperfect. Here it serves in a final clause (purpose/result), introduced only by the negative (see GKC 503-4 §165.a).