Exodus 4:23

4:23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve ¹  me,’ but since you have refused to let him go, ²  I will surely kill ³  your son, your firstborn!”’”

Exodus 5:23

5:23 From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused trouble ⁴  for this people, and you have certainly not rescued ⁵  them!” ⁶ 

Exodus 6:16

6:16 Now these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their records: ⁷  Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. (The length of Levi’s life was 137 years.)

Exodus 12:6

12:6 You must care for it ⁸  until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community ⁹  of Israel will kill it around sundown. ¹⁰ 

Exodus 18:3

18:3 and her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (for Moses ¹¹  had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land”),

Exodus 26:10

26:10 You are to make fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and fifty loops along the edge of the curtain that joins the second set.

Exodus 29:30

29:30 The priest who succeeds him ¹²  from his sons, when he first comes ¹³  to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. ¹⁴ 

[4:23]  ¹ tn The text uses the imperative, “send out” (שַׁלַּח, shallakh) followed by the imperfect or jussive with the vav (ו) to express purpose.

[4:23]  ² tn The Piel infinitive serves as the direct object of the verb, answering the question of what Pharaoh would refuse to do. The command and refusal to obey are the grounds for the announcement of death for Pharaoh’s son.

[4:23]  ³ tn The construction is very emphatic. The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) gives it an immediacy and a vividness, as if God is already beginning to act. The participle with this particle has the nuance of an imminent future act, as if God is saying, “I am about to kill.” These words are not repeated until the last plague.

[5:23]  ⁴ sn Now the verb (הֵרַע, hera’) has a different subject – Pharaoh. The ultimate cause of the trouble was God, but the immediate cause was Pharaoh and the way he increased the work. Meanwhile, the Israelite foremen have pinned most of the blame on Moses and Aaron. Moses knows all about the sovereignty of God, and as he speaks in God’s name, he sees the effect it has on pagans like Pharaoh. So the rhetorical questions are designed to prod God to act differently.

[5:23]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic: וְהַצֵּל לֹא־הִצַּלְתָּ (vÿhatsel lo’-hitsalta). The verb נָצַל (natsal) means “to deliver, rescue” in the sense of plucking out, even plundering. The infinitive absolute strengthens both the idea of the verb and the negative. God had not delivered this people at all.

[5:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “your people.” The pronoun (“them”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons here, to avoid redundancy.

[6:16]  ⁷ tn Or “generations.”

[12:6]  ¹⁰ tn The text has וְהָיָה לָכֶם לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת (vÿhaya lakem lÿmishmeret, “and it will be for you for a keeping”). This noun stresses the activity of watching over or caring for something, probably to keep it in its proper condition for its designated use (see 16:23, 32-34).

[12:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all the assembly of the community.” This expression is a pleonasm. The verse means that everyone will kill the lamb, i.e., each family unit among the Israelites will kill its animal.

[12:6]  ¹² tn Heb “between the two evenings” or “between the two settings” (בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם, ben ha’arbayim). This expression has had a good deal of discussion. (1) Tg. Onq. says “between the two suns,” which the Talmud explains as the time between the sunset and the time the stars become visible. More technically, the first “evening” would be the time between sunset and the appearance of the crescent moon, and the second “evening” the next hour, or from the appearance of the crescent moon to full darkness (see Deut 16:6 – “at the going down of the sun”). (2) Saadia, Rashi, and Kimchi say the first evening is when the sun begins to decline in the west and cast its shadows, and the second evening is the beginning of night. (3) The view adopted by the Pharisees and the Talmudists (b. Pesahim 61a) is that the first evening is when the heat of the sun begins to decrease, and the second evening begins at sunset, or, roughly from 3-5 p.m. The Mishnah (m. Pesahim 5:1) indicates the lamb was killed about 2:30 p.m. – anything before noon was not valid. S. R. Driver concludes from this survey that the first view is probably the best, although the last view was the traditionally accepted one (Exodus, 89-90). Late afternoon or early evening seems to be intended, the time of twilight perhaps.

[18:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity (also in the following verse).

[29:30]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “after him”; NCV, NLT “after Aaron.”

[29:30]  ¹⁷ tn The text just has the relative pronoun and the imperfect tense. It could be translated “who comes/enters.” But the context seems to indicate that this would be when he first comes to the tent to begin his tenure as High Priest, and so a temporal clause makes this clear. “First” has been supplied.

[29:30]  ¹⁸ tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time. The ritual of ordination is to be repeated for seven days, and so they are to remain there in the court in full dress.