Exodus 6:12

6:12 But Moses replied to ¹  the Lord, “If the Israelites did not listen to me, then ²  how will Pharaoh listen to me, since ³  I speak with difficulty?” ⁴ 

Exodus 7:15

7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning when ⁵  he goes out to the water. Position yourself ⁶  to meet him by the edge of the Nile, ⁷  and take ⁸  in your hand the staff ⁹  that was turned into a snake.

Exodus 14:30

14:30 So the Lord saved ¹⁰  Israel on that day from the power ¹¹  of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead ¹²  on the shore of the sea.

Exodus 28:26

28:26 You are to make two rings of gold and put them on the other ¹³  two ends of the breastpiece, on its edge that is on the inner side of the ephod.

Exodus 28:32

28:32 There is to be an opening ¹⁴  in its top ¹⁵  in the center of it, with an edge all around the opening, the work of a weaver, ¹⁶  like the opening of a collar, ¹⁷  so that it cannot be torn. ¹⁸ 

Exodus 39:19

39:19 They made two rings of gold and put them on the other ¹⁹  two ends of the breastpiece on its edge, which is on the inner side of the ephod. ²⁰ 

[6:12]  ¹ tn Heb “And Moses spoke before.”

[6:12]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[7:15]  ⁵ tn The clause begins with הִנֵּה (hinneh); here it provides the circumstances for the instruction for Moses – he is going out to the water so go meet him. A temporal clause translation captures the connection between the clauses.

[7:15]  ⁶ tn The instruction to Moses continues with this perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive following the imperative. The verb means “to take a stand, station oneself.” It seems that Pharaoh’s going out to the water was a regular feature of his day and that Moses could be there waiting to meet him.

[7:15]  ⁷ sn The Nile, the source of fertility for the country, was deified by the Egyptians. There were religious festivals held to the god of the Nile, especially when the Nile was flooding. The Talmud suggests that Pharaoh in this passage went out to the Nile to make observations as a magician about its level. Others suggest he went out simply to bathe or to check the water level – but that would not change the view of the Nile that was prevalent in the land.

[7:15]  ⁸ tn The verb תִּקַּח (tiqqakh), the Qal imperfect of לָקַח (laqakh), functions here as the imperfect of instruction, or injunction perhaps, given the word order of the clause.

[7:15]  ⁹ tn The final clause begins with the noun and vav disjunctive, which singles this instruction out for special attention – “now the staff…you are to take.”

[14:30]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term וַיּוֹשַׁע (vayyosha’) is the key summation of the chapter, and this part of the book: “So Yahweh saved Israel.” This is the culmination of all the powerful works of God through these chapters.

[14:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for power.

[14:30]  ¹¹ tn The participle “dead” is singular, agreeing in form with “Egypt.”

[28:26]  ¹³ tn Here “other” has been supplied.

[28:32]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “mouth” or “opening” (פִּי, pi; in construct).

[28:32]  ¹⁸ tn The “mouth of its head” probably means its neck; it may be rendered “the opening for the head,” except the pronominal suffix would have to refer to Aaron, and that is not immediately within the context.

[28:32]  ¹⁹ tn Or “woven work” (KJV, ASV, NASB), that is, “the work of a weaver.” The expression suggests that the weaving was from the fabric edges itself and not something woven and then added to the robe. It was obviously intended to keep the opening from fraying.

[28:32]  ²⁰ tn The expression כְּפִי תַחְרָא (kÿfi takhra’) is difficult. It was early rendered “like the opening of a coat of mail.” It occurs only here and in the parallel 39:23. Tg. Onq. has “coat of mail.” S. R. Driver suggests “a linen corselet,” after the Greek (Exodus, 308). See J. Cohen, “A Samaritan Authentication of the Rabbinic Interpretation of kephi tahra’,” VT 24 (1974): 361-66.

[28:32]  ²¹ tn The verb is the Niphal imperfect, here given the nuance of potential imperfect. Here it serves in a final clause (purpose/result), introduced only by the negative (see GKC 503-4 §165.a).

[39:19]  ²¹ tn Here “other” has been supplied.

[39:19]  ²² tn Heb “homeward side.”