Exodus 4:8

4:8 “If ¹  they do not believe you or pay attention to ²  the former sign, then they may ³  believe the latter sign. ⁴ 

Exodus 20:18

20:18 All the people were seeing ⁵  the thundering and the lightning, and heard ⁶  the sound of the horn, and saw ⁷  the mountain smoking – and when ⁸  the people saw it they trembled with fear ⁹  and kept their distance. ¹⁰ 

[4:8]  ¹ tn Heb “and it will be if.”

[4:8]  ² tn Heb “listen to the voice of,” meaning listen so as to respond appropriately.

[4:8]  ³ tn The nuance of this perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive will be equal to the imperfect of possibility – “they may believe.”

[4:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “believe the voice of the latter sign,” so as to understand and accept the meaning of the event.

[20:18]  ⁵ tn The participle is used here for durative action in the past time (GKC 359 §116.o).

[20:18]  ⁶ tn The verb “to see” (רָאָה, ra’ah) refers to seeing with all the senses, or perceiving. W. C. Kaiser suggests that this is an example of the figure of speech called zeugma because the verb “saw” yokes together two objects, one that suits the verb and the other that does not. So, the verb “heard” is inserted here to clarify (“Exodus,” EBC 2:427).

[20:18]  ⁷ tn The verb “saw” is supplied here because it is expected in English (see the previous note on “heard”).

[20:18]  ⁸ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the following clause, which receives the prominence.

[20:18]  ⁹ tn The meaning of נוּעַ (nua’) is “to shake, sway to and fro” in fear. Compare Isa 7:2 – “and his heart shook…as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”

[20:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and they stood from/at a distance.”