Exodus 6:6

6:6 Therefore, tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out ¹  from your enslavement to ²  the Egyptians, I will rescue you from the hard labor they impose, ³  and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

Exodus 16:29

16:29 See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, that is why ⁴  he is giving you food for two days on the sixth day. Each of you stay where you are; ⁵  let no one ⁶  go out of his place on the seventh day.”

Exodus 17:12

17:12 When ⁷  the hands of Moses became heavy, ⁸  they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, ⁹  and so his hands were steady ¹⁰  until the sun went down.

Exodus 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ¹¹  book, and rehearse ¹²  it in Joshua’s hearing; ¹³  for I will surely wipe out ¹⁴  the remembrance ¹⁵  of Amalek from under heaven.

Exodus 21:36

21:36 Or if it is known that the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner did not take the necessary precautions, he must surely pay ¹⁶  ox for ox, and the dead animal will become his. ¹⁷ 

Exodus 24:4

24:4 and Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built ¹⁸  an altar at the foot ¹⁹  of the mountain and arranged ²⁰  twelve standing stones ²¹  – according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Exodus 26:33

26:33 You are to hang this curtain under the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there behind the curtain. ²²  The curtain will make a division for you between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. ²³ 

Exodus 30:4

30:4 You are to make two gold rings for it under its border, on its two flanks; you are to make them on its two sides. ²⁴  The rings ²⁵  will be places ²⁶  for poles to carry it with.

Exodus 32:19

32:19 When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. ²⁷  He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain. ²⁸ 

[6:6]  ¹ sn The verb וְהוֹצֵאתִי (vÿhotse’ti) is a perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, and so it receives a future translation – part of God’s promises. The word will be used later to begin the Decalogue and other covenant passages – “I am Yahweh who brought you out….”

[6:6]  ² tn Heb “from under the burdens of” (so KJV, NASB); NIV “from under the yoke of.”

[6:6]  ³ tn Heb “from labor of them.” The antecedent of the pronoun is the Egyptians who have imposed slave labor on the Hebrews.

[16:29]  ⁴ sn Noting the rabbinic teaching that the giving of the Sabbath was a sign of God’s love – it was accomplished through the double portion on the sixth day – B. Jacob says, “God made no request unless He provided the means for its execution” (Exodus, 461).

[16:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “remain, a man where he is.”

[16:29]  ⁶ tn Or “Let not anyone go” (see GKC 445 §138.d).

[17:12]  ⁷ tn Literally “now the hands of Moses,” the disjunctive vav (ו) introduces a circumstantial clause here – of time.

[17:12]  ⁸ tn The term used here is the adjective כְּבֵדִים (kÿvedim). It means “heavy,” but in this context the idea is more that of being tired. This is the important word that was used in the plague stories: when the heart of Pharaoh was hard, then the Israelites did not gain their freedom or victory. Likewise here, when the staff was lowered because Moses’ hands were “heavy,” Israel started to lose.

[17:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “from this, one, and from this, one.”

[17:12]  ¹⁰ tn The word “steady” is אֱמוּנָה (’emuna) from the root אָמַן (’aman). The word usually means “faithfulness.” Here is a good illustration of the basic idea of the word – firm, steady, reliable, dependable. There may be a double entendre here; on the one hand it simply says that his hands were stayed so that Israel might win, but on the other hand it is portraying Moses as steady, firm, reliable, faithful. The point is that whatever God commissioned as the means or agency of power – to Moses a staff, to the Christians the Spirit – the people of God had to know that the victory came from God alone.

[17:14]  ¹⁰ tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.

[17:14]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹² tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹³ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.

[17:14]  ¹⁴ sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.

[21:36]  ¹³ tn The construction now uses the same Piel imperfect (v. 34) but adds the infinitive absolute to it for emphasis.

[21:36]  ¹⁴ sn The point of this section (21:28-36) seems to be that one must ensure the safety of others by controlling one’s property and possessions. This section pertained to neglect with animals, but the message would have applied to similar situations. The people of God were to take heed to ensure the well-being of others, and if there was a problem, it had to be made right.

[24:4]  ¹⁶ tn The two preterites quite likely form a verbal hendiadys (the verb “to get up early” is frequently in such constructions). Literally it says, “and he got up early [in the morning] and he built”; this means “early [in the morning] he built.” The first verb becomes the adverb.

[24:4]  ¹⁷ tn “under.”

[24:4]  ¹⁸ tn The verb “arranged” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied to clarify exactly what Moses did with the twelve stones.

[24:4]  ¹⁹ tn The thing numbered is found in the singular when the number is plural – “twelve standing-stone.” See GKC 433 §134.f. The “standing-stone” could be a small piece about a foot high, or a huge column higher than men. They served to commemorate treaties (Gen 32), or visions (Gen 28) or boundaries, or graves. Here it will function with the altar as a place of worship.

[26:33]  ¹⁹ tn The traditional expression is “within the veil,” literally “into the house (or area) of the (special) curtain.”

[26:33]  ²⁰ tn Or “the Holy of Holies.”

[30:4]  ²² sn Since it was a small altar, it needed only two rings, one on either side, in order to be carried. The second clause clarifies that the rings should be on the sides, the right and the left, as you approach the altar.

[30:4]  ²³ tn Heb “And it”; this refers to the rings collectively in their placement on the box, and so the word “rings” has been used to clarify the referent for the modern reader.

[30:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for houses.”

[32:19]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and the anger of Moses burned hot.”

[32:19]  ²⁶ sn See N. M. Waldham, “The Breaking of the Tablets,” Judaism 27 (1978): 442-47.