13:8 You are to tell your son 1 on that day, 2 ‘It is 3 because of what 4 the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
13:14 5 In the future, 6 when your son asks you 7 ‘What is this?’ 8 you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand 9 the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery. 10 13:15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused 11 to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals. 12 That is why I am sacrificing 13 to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.’
1 tn The form is the Hiphil perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the sequence forward: “and you will declare to your son.”
sn A very important part of the teaching here is the manner in which the memory of the deliverance will be retained in Israel – they were to teach their children the reasons for the feast, as a binding law forever. This will remind the nation of its duties to Yahweh in gratitude for the great deliverance.
2 tn Heb “day, saying.” “Tell…saying” is redundant, so “saying” has not been included in the translation here.
3 tn “it is” has been supplied.
4 tn The text uses זֶה (zeh), which Gesenius classifies as the use of the pronoun to introduce a relative clause after the preposition (GKC 447 §138.h) – but he thinks the form is corrupt. B. S. Childs, however, sees no reason to posit a corruption in this form (Exodus [OTL], 184).
5 sn As with v. 8, the Law now requires that the children be instructed on the meaning of this observance. It is a memorial of the deliverance from bondage and the killing of the firstborn in Egypt.
6 tn Heb “tomorrow.”
7 tn Heb “and it will be when your son will ask you.”
8 tn The question is cryptic; it simply says, “What is this?” but certainly refers to the custom just mentioned. It asks, “What does this mean?” or “Why do we do this?”
9 tn The expression is “with strength of hand,” making “hand” the genitive of specification. In translation “strength” becomes the modifier, because “hand” specifies where the strength was. But of course the whole expression is anthropomorphic for the power of God.
10 tn Heb “house of slaves.”
11 tn Heb “dealt hardly in letting us go” or “made it hard to let us go” (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 110). The verb is the simple Hiphil perfect הִקְשָׁה (hiqshah, “he made hard”); the infinitive construct לְשַׁלְּחֵנוּ (lÿshallÿkhenu, “to release us”) could be taken epexegetically, meaning “he made releasing us hard.” But the infinitive more likely gives the purpose or the result after the verb “hardened himself.” The verb is figurative for “be stubborn” or “stubbornly refuse.”
12 tn The text uses “man” and “beast.”
13 tn The form is the active participle.