Exodus 9:27

9:27 So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time! ¹  The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty. ² 

Exodus 25:19-20

25:19 Make ³  one cherub on one end ⁴  and one cherub on the other end; from the atonement lid ⁵  you are to make the cherubim on the two ends. 25:20 The cherubim are to be spreading their wings upward, overshadowing ⁶  the atonement lid with their wings, and the cherubim are to face each other, ⁷  looking ⁸  toward the atonement lid.

Exodus 26:31

26:31 “You are to make a special curtain ⁹  of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen; it is to be made ¹⁰  with cherubim, the work of an artistic designer.

Exodus 36:35

36:35 He made the special curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine twisted linen; he made ¹¹  it with cherubim, the work of an artistic designer.

Exodus 37:8-9

37:8 one cherub on one end ¹²  and one cherub on the other end. ¹³  He made the cherubim from the atonement lid on its two ends. 37:9 The cherubim were spreading their wings ¹⁴  upward, overshadowing the atonement lid with their wings. The cherubim ¹⁵  faced each other, ¹⁶  looking toward the atonement lid. ¹⁷ 

[9:27]  ¹ sn Pharaoh now is struck by the judgment and acknowledges that he is at fault. But the context shows that this penitence was short-lived. What exactly he meant by this confession is uncertain. On the surface his words seem to represent a recognition that he was in the wrong and Yahweh right.

[9:27]  ² tn The word רָשָׁע (rasha’) can mean “ungodly, wicked, guilty, criminal.” Pharaoh here is saying that Yahweh is right, and the Egyptians are not – so they are at fault, guilty. S. R. Driver says the words are used in their forensic sense (in the right or wrong standing legally) and not in the ethical sense of morally right and wrong (Exodus, 75).

[25:19]  ³ tn The text now shifts to use an imperative with the vav (ו) conjunction.

[25:19]  ⁴ tn The use of זֶה (zeh) repeated here expresses the reciprocal ideas of “the one” and “the other” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 26, §132).

[25:19]  ⁵ sn The angels were to form one piece with the lid and not be separated. This could be translated “of one piece with” the lid, but it is likely the angels were simply fastened to it permanently.

[25:20]  ⁵ tn The verb means “overshadowing, screening” in the sense of guarding (see 1 Kgs 8:7; 1 Chr 28:18; see also the account in Gen 3:24). The cherubim then signify two things here: by their outstretched wings they form the throne of God who sits above the ark (with the Law under his feet), and by their overshadowing and guarding they signify this as the place of atonement where people must find propitiation to commune with God. Until then they are barred from his presence. See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 330-35.

[25:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “their faces a man to his brother.”

[25:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “the faces of the cherubim will be” (“the cherubim” was moved to the preceding clause for smoother English).

[26:31]  ⁷ tn Although translated “curtain” (traditionally “veil,” so ASV, NAB, NASB) this is a different word from the one used earlier of the tent curtains, so “special curtain” is used. The word פָרֹכֶת (farokhet) seems to be connected with a verb that means “to shut off” and was used with a shrine. This curtain would form a barrier in the approach to God (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 289).

[26:31]  ⁸ tn The verb is the third masculine singular form, but no subject is expressed. It could be translated “one will make” or as a passive. The verb means “to make,” but probably has the sense of embroidering both here and in v. 1.

[36:35]  ⁹ tn The verb is simply “he made” but as in Exod 26:31 it probably means that the cherubim were worked into the curtain with the yarn, and so embroidered on the curtain.

[37:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from/at [the] end, from this.”

[37:8]  ¹² tn The repetition of the expression indicates it has the distributive sense.

[37:9]  ¹³ tn The construction is a participle in construct followed by the genitive “wings” – “spreaders of wings.”

[37:9]  ¹⁴ tn “The cherubim” has been placed here instead of in the second clause to produce a smoother translation.

[37:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and their faces a man to his brother.”

[37:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to the atonement lid were the faces of the cherubim.”