2:7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get 1 a nursing woman 2 for you from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse 3 the child for you?”
21:28 6 “If an ox 7 gores a man or a woman so that either dies, 8 then the ox must surely 9 be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted.
35:29 The Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, every man and woman whose heart was willing to bring materials for all the work that the Lord through 10 Moses had commanded them 11 to do.
36:6 Moses instructed them to take 12 his message 13 throughout the camp, saying, “Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing any more. 14
1 sn The text uses קָרָא (qara’), meaning “to call” or “summon.” Pharaoh himself will “summon” Moses many times in the plague narratives. Here the word is used for the daughter summoning the child’s mother to take care of him. The narratives in the first part of the book of Exodus include a good deal of foreshadowing of events that occur in later sections of the book (see M. Fishbane, Biblical Text and Texture).
2 tn The object of the verb “get/summon” is “a woman.” But מֵינֶקֶת (meneqet, “nursing”), the Hiphil participle of the verb יָנַק (yanaq, “to suck”), is in apposition to it, clarifying what kind of woman should be found – a woman, a nursing one. Of course Moses’ mother was ready for the task.
3 tn The form וְתֵינִק (vÿteniq) is the Hiphil imperfect/jussive, third feminine singular, of the same root as the word for “nursing.” It is here subordinated to the preceding imperfect (“shall I go”) and perfect with vav (ו) consecutive (“and summon”) to express the purpose: “in order that she may.”
sn No respectable Egyptian woman of this period would have undertaken the task of nursing a foreigner’s baby, and so the suggestion by Miriam was proper and necessary. Since she was standing a small distance away from the events, she was able to come forward when the discovery was made.
4 tn The verb is the Hiphil imperative of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh), and so is properly rendered “cause to go” or “take away.”
5 tn The possessive pronoun on the noun “wage” expresses the indirect object: “I will pay wages to you.”
6 sn The point that this section of the laws makes is that one must ensure the safety of others by controlling the circumstances.
7 tn Traditionally “ox,” but “bull” would also be suitable. The term may refer to one of any variety of large cattle.
8 tn Heb “and he dies”; KJV “that they die”; NAB, NASB “to death.”
9 tn The text uses סָקוֹל יִסָּקֵל (saqol yissaqel), a Qal infinitive absolute with a Niphal imperfect. The infinitive intensifies the imperfect, which here has an obligatory nuance or is a future of instruction.
10 tn Heb “by the hand of.”
11 tn Here “them” has been supplied.
12 tn The verse simply reads, “and Moses commanded and they caused [a voice] to cross over in the camp.” The second preterite with the vav may be subordinated to the first clause, giving the intent (purpose or result).
13 tn Heb “voice.”
14 tn The verse ends with the infinitive serving as the object of the preposition: “from bringing.”