2:16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and began to draw 1 water 2 and fill 3 the troughs in order to water their father’s flock.
1 tn The preterites describing their actions must be taken in an ingressive sense, since they did not actually complete the job. Shepherds drove them away, and Moses watered the flocks.
2 tn The object “water” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
3 tn This also has the ingressive sense, “began to fill,” but for stylistic reasons is translated simply “fill” here.
4 tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12, §56).
5 tn The term is נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), often translated “soul.” It refers to the whole person, the soul within the body. The noun is feminine, agreeing with the feminine verb “be cut off.”
6 tn Or “alien”; or “stranger.”
7 tn The imperfect has the nuance of instruction or injunction again, but it could also be given an obligatory nuance.
8 tn The construction is an adverbial accusative of time, answering how long the routine should be followed (see GKC 374 §118.k).
9 tn Or “visible to you” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 366).
10 tn Heb “a hundred cubits.”
11 tn Heb “fifty.” The text has “and the width fifty [cubits] with fifty.” This means that it is fifty cubits wide on the western end and fifty cubits wide on the eastern end.
12 tn Here “hangings” has been supplied.
13 tn Here the phrase “is to be” has been supplied.
14 tn Heb “after him”; NCV, NLT “after Aaron.”
15 tn The text just has the relative pronoun and the imperfect tense. It could be translated “who comes/enters.” But the context seems to indicate that this would be when he first comes to the tent to begin his tenure as High Priest, and so a temporal clause makes this clear. “First” has been supplied.
16 tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time. The ritual of ordination is to be repeated for seven days, and so they are to remain there in the court in full dress.
17 tn Once again this is an adverbial accusative of time. Each day for seven days the ritual at the altar is to be followed.
18 tn The construction is the superlative genitive: “holy of holies,” or “most holy.”
19 sn This line states an unusual principle, meant to preserve the sanctity of the altar. S. R. Driver explains it this way (Exodus, 325): If anything comes in contact with the altar, it becomes holy and must remain in the sanctuary for Yahweh’s use. If a person touches the altar, he likewise becomes holy and cannot return to the profane regions. He will be given over to God to be dealt with as God pleases. Anyone who was not qualified to touch the altar did not dare approach it, for contact would have meant that he was no longer free to leave but was God’s holy possession – and might pay for it with his life (see Exod 30:29; Lev 6:18b, 27; and Ezek 46:20).