Exodus 9:22-23

9:22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sky ¹  that there may be ²  hail in all the land of Egypt, on people and on animals, ³  and on everything that grows ⁴  in the field in the land of Egypt.” 9:23 When Moses extended ⁵  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ⁶  sent thunder ⁷  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ⁸  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt.

Exodus 16:4

16:4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain ⁹  bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out ¹⁰  and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them. ¹¹  Will they will walk in my law ¹²  or not?

Exodus 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ¹³  book, and rehearse ¹⁴  it in Joshua’s hearing; ¹⁵  for I will surely wipe out ¹⁶  the remembrance ¹⁷  of Amalek from under heaven.

Exodus 20:11

20:11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

Exodus 31:17

31:17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days ¹⁸  the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” ¹⁹ 

Exodus 32:13

32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, ‘I will multiply your descendants ²⁰  like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about ²¹  I will give to your descendants, ²²  and they will inherit it forever.’”

[9:22]  ¹ tn Or “the heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[9:22]  ² tn The jussive with the conjunction (וִיהִי, vihi) coming after the imperative provides the purpose or result.

[9:22]  ³ tn Heb “on man and on beast.”

[9:22]  ⁴ tn The noun refers primarily to cultivated grains. But here it seems to be the general heading for anything that grows from the ground, all vegetation and plant life, as opposed to what grows on trees.

[9:23]  ⁵ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next clause in view of the emphasis put on the subject, Yahweh, by the disjunctive word order of that clause.

[9:23]  ⁶ tn By starting the clause with the subject (an example of disjunctive word order) the text is certainly stressing that Yahweh alone did this.

[9:23]  ⁷ tn The expression נָתַן קֹלֹת (natan qolot) literally means “gave voices” (also “voice”). This is a poetic expression for sending the thunder. Ps 29:3 talks about the “voice of Yahweh” – the God of glory thunders!

[9:23]  ⁸ sn This clause has been variously interpreted. Lightning would ordinarily accompany thunder; in this case the mention of fire could indicate that the lightning was beyond normal and that it was striking in such a way as to start fires on the ground. It could also mean that fire went along the ground from the pounding hail.

[16:4]  ⁹ tn The particle הִנְנִי (hinni) before the active participle indicates the imminent future action: “I am about to rain.”

[16:4]  ¹⁰ tn This verb and the next are the Qal perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutives; they follow the sequence of the participle, and so are future in orientation. The force here is instruction – “they will go out” or “they are to go out.”

[16:4]  ¹¹ tn The verb in the purpose/result clause is the Piel imperfect of נָסָה (nasah), אֲנַסֶּנוּ (’anassenu) – “in order that I may prove them [him].” The giving of the manna will be a test of their obedience to the detailed instructions of God as well as being a test of their faith in him (if they believe him they will not gather too much). In chap. 17 the people will test God, showing that they do not trust him.

[16:4]  ¹² sn The word “law” here properly means “direction” at this point (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 146), but their obedience here would indicate also whether or not they would be willing to obey when the Law was given at Sinai.

[17:14]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[31:17]  ¹⁷ tn The expression again forms an adverbial accusative of time.

[31:17]  ¹⁸ sn The word “rest” essentially means “to cease, stop.” So describing God as “resting” on the seventh day does not indicate that he was tired – he simply finished creation and then ceased or stopped. But in this verse is a very bold anthropomorphism in the form of the verb וַיִּנָּפַשׁ (vayyinnafash), a Niphal preterite from the root נָפַשׁ (nafash), the word that is related to “life, soul” or more specifically “breath, throat.” The verb is usually translated here as “he was refreshed,” offering a very human picture. It could also be rendered “he took breath” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 345). Elsewhere the verb is used of people and animals. The anthropomorphism is clearly intended to teach people to stop and refresh themselves physically, spiritually, and emotionally on this day of rest.

[32:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “your seed.”

[32:13]  ²² tn “about” has been supplied.

[32:13]  ²³ tn Heb “seed.”