Exodus 4:30

4:30 Aaron spoke ¹  all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people,

Exodus 6:9

6:9 ² Moses told this ³  to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him ⁴  because of their discouragement ⁵  and hard labor.

Exodus 6:12

6:12 But Moses replied to ⁶  the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, then ⁷  how will Pharaoh listen to me, since ⁸  I speak with difficulty?” ⁹ 

Exodus 6:29

6:29 he said to him, ¹⁰  “I am the Lord. Tell ¹¹  Pharaoh king of Egypt all that ¹²  I am telling ¹³  you.”

Exodus 32:7

32:7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go quickly, descend, ¹⁴  because your ¹⁵  people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly.

[4:30]  ¹ tn Heb “And Aaron spoke.”

[6:9]  ² sn The final part of this section focuses on instructions for Moses. The commission from God is the same – he is to speak to Pharaoh and he is to lead Israel out. It should have been clear to him that God would do this, for he had just been reminded how God was going to lead out, deliver, redeem, take the people as his people, and give them land. It was God’s work of love from beginning to end. Moses simply had his task to perform.

[6:9]  ³ tn Heb “and Moses spoke thus.”

[6:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “to Moses.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:9]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew מִקֹּצֶּר רוּחַ (miqqotser ruakh) means “because of the shortness of spirit.” This means that they were discouraged, dispirited, and weary – although some have also suggested it might mean impatient. The Israelites were now just not in the frame of mind to listen to Moses.

[6:12]  ³ tn Heb “And Moses spoke before.”

[6:12]  ⁴ sn This analogy is an example of a qal wahomer comparison. It is an argument by inference from the light (qal) to the heavy (homer), from the simple to the more difficult. If the Israelites, who are Yahwists, would not listen to him, it is highly unlikely Pharaoh would.

[6:12]  ⁵ tn The final clause begins with a disjunctive vav (ו), a vav on a nonverb form – here a pronoun. It introduces a circumstantial causal clause.

[6:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and [since] I am of uncircumcised lips.” The “lips” represent his speech (metonymy of cause). The term “uncircumcised” makes a comparison between his speech and that which Israel perceived as unacceptable, unprepared, foreign, and of no use to God. The heart is described this way when it is impervious to good impressions (Lev 26:41; Jer 9:26) and the ear when it hears imperfectly (Jer 6:10). Moses has here returned to his earlier claim – he does not speak well enough to be doing this.

[6:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses saying.” This has been simplified in the translation as “he said to him” for stylistic reasons.

[6:29]  ⁵ tn The verb is דַּבֵּר (dabber), the Piel imperative. It would normally be translated “speak,” but in English that verb does not sound as natural with a direct object as “tell.”

[6:29]  ⁶ tn The clause begins with אֵת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר (’et kol-’asher) indicating that this is a noun clause functioning as the direct object of the imperative and providing the content of the commanded speech.

[6:29]  ⁷ tn דֹּבֵר (dover) is the Qal active participle; it functions here as the predicate in the noun clause: “that I [am] telling you.” This one could be rendered, “that I am speaking to you.”

[32:7]  ⁵ tn The two imperatives could also express one idea: “get down there.” In other words, “Make haste to get down.”

[32:7]  ⁶ sn By giving the people to Moses in this way, God is saying that they have no longer any right to claim him as their God, since they have shared his honor with another. This is God’s talionic response to their “These are your gods who brought you up.” The use of these pronoun changes also would form an appeal to Moses to respond, since Moses knew that God had brought them up from Egypt.