Exodus 4:16

4:16 He ¹  will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if ²  he ³  were your mouth ⁴  and as if you were his God. ⁵ 

Exodus 16:16

16:16 “This is what ⁶  the Lord has commanded: ⁷  ‘Each person is to gather ⁸  from it what he can eat, an omer ⁹  per person ¹⁰  according to the number ¹¹  of your people; ¹²  each one will pick it up ¹³  for whoever lives ¹⁴  in his tent.’”

Exodus 17:1

Water at Massa and Meribah

17:1 ¹⁵ The whole community ¹⁶  of the Israelites traveled on their journey ¹⁷  from the Desert of Sin according to the Lord’s instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. ¹⁸  Now ¹⁹  there was no water for the people to drink. ²⁰ 

Exodus 23:13

23:13 “Pay attention to do ²¹  everything I have told you, and do not even mention ²²  the names of other gods – do not let them be heard on your lips. ²³ 

Exodus 38:21

The Materials of the Construction

38:21 This is the inventory ²⁴  of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which was counted ²⁵  by the order ²⁶  of Moses, being the work ²⁷  of the Levites under the direction ²⁸  of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

[4:16]  ¹ tn The word “he” represents the Hebrew independent pronoun, which makes the subject emphatic.

[4:16]  ² tn The phrase “as if” is supplied for clarity.

[4:16]  ³ tn Heb “and it will be [that] he, he will be to you for a mouth,” or more simply, “he will be your mouth.”

[4:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “he will be to you for a mouth.”

[4:16]  ⁵ tn The phrase “as if” is supplied for clarity. The word “you” represents the Hebrew independent pronoun, which makes the subject emphatic.

[16:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “the thing that.”

[16:16]  ⁷ tn The perfect tense could be taken as a definite past with Moses now reporting it. In this case a very recent past. But in declaring the word from Yahweh it could be instantaneous, and receive a present tense translation – “here and now he commands you.”

[16:16]  ⁸ tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”

[16:16]  ⁹ sn The omer is an amount mentioned only in this chapter, and its size is unknown, except by comparison with the ephah (v. 36). A number of recent English versions approximate the omer as “two quarts” (cf. NCV, CEV, NLT); TEV “two litres.”

[16:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for a head.”

[16:16]  ¹¹ tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[16:16]  ¹² tn Traditionally “souls.”

[16:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “will take.”

[16:16]  ¹⁴ tn “lives” has been supplied.

[17:1]  ¹¹ sn This is the famous story telling how the people rebelled against Yahweh when they thirsted, saying that Moses had brought them out into the wilderness to kill them by thirst, and how Moses with the staff brought water from the rock. As a result of this the name was called Massa and Meribah because of the testing and the striving. It was a challenge to Moses’ leadership as well as a test of Yahweh’s presence. The narrative in its present form serves an important point in the argument of the book. The story turns on the gracious provision of God who can give his people water when there is none available. The narrative is structured to show how the people strove. Thus, the story intertwines God’s free flowing grace with the sad memory of Israel’s sins. The passage can be divided into three parts: the situation and the complaint (1-3), the cry and the miracle (4-6), and the commemoration by naming (7).

[17:1]  ¹² tn Or “congregation” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[17:1]  ¹³ tn The text says that they journeyed “according to their journeyings.” Since the verb form (and therefore the derived noun) essentially means to pull up the tent pegs and move along, this verse would be saying that they traveled by stages, or, from place to place.

[17:1]  ¹⁴ sn The location is a bit of a problem. Exod 19:1-2 suggests that it is near Sinai, whereas it is normally located near Kadesh in the north. Without any details provided, M. Noth concludes that two versions came together (Exodus [OTL], 138). S. R. Driver says that the writer wrote not knowing that they were 24 miles apart (Exodus, 157). Critics have long been bothered by this passage because of the two names given at the same place. If two sources had been brought together, it is not possible now to identify them. But Noth insisted that if there were two names there were two different locations. The names Massah and Meribah occur alone in Scripture (Deut 9:22, and Num 20:1 for examples), but together in Ps 95 and in Deut 33:8. But none of these passages is a clarification of the difficulty. Most critics would argue that Massah was a secondary element that was introduced into this account, because Exod 17 focuses on Meribah. From that starting point they can diverge greatly on the interpretation, usually having something to do with a water test. But although Num 20 is parallel in several ways, there are major differences: 1) it takes place 40 years later than this, 2) the name Kadesh is joined to the name Meribah there, and 3) Moses is punished there. One must conclude that if an event could occur twice in similar ways (complaint about water would be a good candidate for such), then there is no reason a similar name could not be given.

[17:1]  ¹⁵ tn The disjunctive vav introduces a parenthetical clause that is essential for this passage – there was no water.

[17:1]  ¹⁶ tn Here the construction uses a genitive after the infinitive construct for the subject: “there was no water for the drinking of the people” (GKC 353-54 §115.c).

[23:13]  ¹⁶ tn The phrase “to do” is added; in Hebrew word order the line says, “In all that I have said to you you will watch yourselves.” The verb for paying attention is a Niphal imperfect with an imperatival force.

[23:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “honor,” Hiphil of זָכַר (zakhar). See also Exod 20:25; Josh 23:7; Isa 26:13.

[23:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “mouth.”

[38:21]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew word is פְּקוּדֵי (pÿqude), which in a slavishly literal way would be “visitations of” the tabernacle. But the word often has the idea of “numbering” or “appointing” as well. Here it is an accounting or enumeration of the materials that people brought, so the contemporary term “inventory” is a close approximation. By using this Hebrew word there is also the indication that whatever was given, i.e., appointed for the tabernacle, was changed forever in its use. This is consistent with this Hebrew root, which does have a sense of changing the destiny of someone (“God will surely visit you”). The list in this section will also be tied to the numbering of the people.

[38:21]  ²² tn The same verb is used here, but now in the Pual perfect tense, third masculine singular. A translation “was numbered” or “was counted” works. The verb is singular because it refers to the tabernacle as a unit. This section will list what made up the tabernacle.

[38:21]  ²³ tn Heb “at/by the mouth of.”

[38:21]  ²⁴ tn The noun is “work” or “service.” S. R. Driver explains that the reckonings were not made for the Levites, but that they were the work of the Levites, done by them under the direction of Ithamar (Exodus, 393).

[38:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “by the hand of.”