Exodus 4:17

4:17 You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.” ¹ 

Exodus 8:23

8:23 I will put a division ²  between my people and your people. This sign will take place ³  tomorrow.”’”

Exodus 9:5

9:5 The Lord set ⁴  an appointed time, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this ⁵  in the land.”

Exodus 12:2

12:2 “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. ⁶ 

Exodus 12:8

12:8 They will eat the meat the same night; ⁷  they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast ⁸  and with bitter herbs.

Exodus 12:24

12:24 You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever.

Exodus 17:4

17:4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with ⁹  this people? – a little more ¹⁰  and they will stone me!” ¹¹ 

Exodus 19:1

Israel at Sinai

19:1 ¹² In the third month after the Israelites went out ¹³  from the land of Egypt, on the very day, ¹⁴  they came to the Desert of Sinai.

Exodus 21:31

21:31 If the ox ¹⁵  gores a son or a daughter, the owner ¹⁶  will be dealt with according to this rule. ¹⁷ 

Exodus 32:24

32:24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, break it off.’ So they gave it ¹⁸  to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.” ¹⁹ 

Exodus 33:4

33:4 When the people heard this troubling word ²⁰  they mourned; ²¹  no one put on his ornaments.

[4:17]  ¹ sn Mention of the staff makes an appropriate ending to the section, for God’s power (represented by the staff) will work through Moses. The applicable point that this whole section is making could be worded this way: The servants of God who sense their inadequacy must demonstrate the power of God as their sufficiency.

[8:23]  ² tn The word in the text is פְדֻת (pÿdut, “redemption”). This would give the sense of making a distinction by redeeming Israel. The editors wish to read פְלֻת (pÿlut) instead – “a separation, distinction” to match the verb in the preceding verse. For another view, see G. I. Davies, “The Hebrew Text of Exodus VIII 19 [English 23]: An Emendation,” VT 24 (1974): 489-92.

[8:23]  ³ tn Heb “this sign will be tomorrow.”

[9:5]  ³ tn Heb “and Yahweh set.”

[9:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “this thing.”

[12:2]  ⁴ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 294-95) shows that the intent of the passage was not to make this month in the spring the New Year – that was in the autumn. Rather, when counting months this was supposed to be remembered first, for it was the great festival of freedom from Egypt. He observes how some scholars have unnecessarily tried to date one New Year earlier than the other.

[12:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “this night.”

[12:8]  ⁶ sn Bread made without yeast could be baked quickly, not requiring time for the use of a leavening ingredient to make the dough rise. In Deut 16:3 the unleavened cakes are called “the bread of affliction,” which alludes to the alarm and haste of the Israelites. In later Judaism and in the writings of Paul, leaven came to be a symbol of evil or corruption, and so “unleavened bread” – bread made without yeast – was interpreted to be a picture of purity or freedom from corruption or defilement (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 90-91).

[17:4]  ⁶ tn The preposition lamed (ל) is here specification, meaning “with respect to” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 49, §273).

[17:4]  ⁷ tn Or “they are almost ready to stone me.”

[17:4]  ⁸ tn The perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive almost develops an independent force; this is true in sentences where it follows an expression of time, as here (see GKC 334 §112.x).

[19:1]  ⁷ sn This chapter is essentially about mediation. The people are getting ready to meet with God, receive the Law from him, and enter into a covenant with him. All of this required mediation and preparation. Through it all, Israel will become God’s unique possession, a kingdom of priests on earth – if they comply with his Law. The chapter can be divided as follows: vv. 1-8 tell how God, Israel’s great deliverer promised to make them a kingdom of priests; this is followed by God’s declaration that Moses would be the mediator (v. 9); vv. 10-22 record instructions for Israel to prepare themselves to worship Yahweh and an account of the manifestation of Yahweh with all the phenomena; and the chapter closes with the mediation of Moses on behalf of the people (vv. 23-25). Having been redeemed from Egypt, the people will now be granted a covenant with God. See also R. E. Bee, “A Statistical Study of the Sinai Pericope,” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 135 (1972): 406-21.

[19:1]  ⁸ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct followed by the subjective genitive to form a temporal clause.

[19:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “on this day.”

[21:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the ox) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to this judgment it shall be done to him.”

[32:24]  ⁹ tn Here “it” has been supplied.

[32:24]  ¹⁰ sn Aaron first tried to blame the people, and then he tried to make it sound like a miracle – was it to sound like one of the plagues where out of the furnace came life? This text does not mention it, but Deut 9:20 tells how angry God was with Aaron. Only intercession saved his life.

[33:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “bad news” (NAB, NCV).

[33:4]  ¹¹ sn The people would rather have risked divine discipline than to go without Yahweh in their midst. So they mourned, and they took off the ornaments. Such had been used in making the golden calf, and so because of their association with all of that they were to be removed as a sign of remorse.