Exodus 5:8

5:8 But you must require ¹  of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before. ²  Do not reduce it, for they are slackers. ³  That is why they are crying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to our God.’

Exodus 10:26

10:26 Our livestock must ⁴  also go with us! Not a hoof is to be left behind! For we must take ⁵  these animals ⁶  to serve the Lord our God. Until we arrive there, we do not know what we must use to serve the Lord.” ⁷ 

Exodus 14:12

14:12 Isn’t this what we told you ⁸  in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians, ⁹  because it is better for us to serve ¹⁰  the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” ¹¹ 

Exodus 16:32

16:32 Moses said, “This is what ¹²  the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept ¹³  for generations to come, ¹⁴  so that they may see ¹⁵  the food I fed you in the desert when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’”

Exodus 17:6

17:6 I will be standing ¹⁶  before you there on ¹⁷  the rock in Horeb, and you will strike ¹⁸  the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” ¹⁹  And Moses did so in plain view ²⁰  of the elders of Israel.

Exodus 39:5

39:5 The artistically woven waistband of the ephod that was on it was like it, of one piece with it, ²¹  of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

[5:8]  ¹ tn The verb is the Qal imperfect of שִׂים (sim, “place, put”). The form could be an imperfect of instruction: “You will place upon them the quota.” Or, as here, it may be an obligatory imperfect: “You must place.”

[5:8]  ² tn Heb “yesterday and three days ago” or “yesterday and before that” is idiomatic for “previously” or “in the past.”

[5:8]  ³ tn Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים (nirpim) is derived from the verb רָפָה (rafah), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.” They had been letting the work go, Pharaoh reasoned, and being idle is why they had time to think about going to worship.

[10:26]  ⁴ tn This is the obligatory imperfect nuance. They were obliged to take the animals if they were going to sacrifice, but more than that, since they were not coming back, they had to take everything.

[10:26]  ⁵ tn The same modal nuance applies to this verb.

[10:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “from it,” referring collectively to the livestock.

[10:26]  ⁷ sn Moses gives an angry but firm reply to Pharaoh’s attempt to control Israel; he makes it clear that he has no intention of leaving any pledge with Pharaoh. When they leave, they will take everything that belongs to them.

[14:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Is not this the word that we spoke to you.”

[14:12]  ⁸ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 164) explains this statement by the people as follows: “The question appears surprising at first, for we have not read previously that such words were spoken to Moses. Nor is the purport of the protest of the Israelite foremen (v 21 [5:21]) identical with that of the words uttered now. However, from a psychological standpoint the matter can be easily explained. In the hour of peril the children of Israel remember that remonstrance, and now it seems to them that it was of a sharper character and flowed from their foresight, and that the present situation justifies it, for death awaits them at this moment in the desert.” This declaration that “we told you so,” born of fright, need not have been strictly accurate or logical.

[14:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “better for us to serve.”

[14:12]  ¹⁰ tn Since Hebrew does not use quotation marks to indicate the boundaries of quotations, there is uncertainty about whether the Israelites’ statement in Egypt includes the end of v. 12 or consists solely of “leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians.” In either case, the command to Moses to leave them alone rested on the assumption, spoken or unspoken, that serving Egypt would be less risky than what Moses was proposing. Now with the Egyptian army on the horizon, the Israelites are sure that their worst predictions are about to take place.

[16:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “This is the thing that.”

[16:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for keeping.”

[16:32]  ¹² tn Heb “according to your generations” (see Exod 12:14).

[16:32]  ¹³ tn In this construction after the particle expressing purpose or result, the imperfect tense has the nuance of final imperfect, equal to a subjunctive in the classical languages.

[17:6]  ¹³ tn The construction uses הִנְנִי עֹמֵד (hinni ’omed) to express the futur instans or imminent future of the verb: “I am going to be standing.”

[17:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “by” (NIV, NLT).

[17:6]  ¹⁵ tn The form is a Hiphil perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it follows the future nuance of the participle and so is equivalent to an imperfect tense nuance of instruction.

[17:6]  ¹⁶ tn These two verbs are also perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive: “and [water] will go out…and [the people] will drink.” But the second verb is clearly the intent or the result of the water gushing from the rock, and so it may be subordinated.

[17:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[39:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from it” or the same.