Exodus 3:22

3:22 Every¹ woman will ask her neighbor and the one who happens to be staying² in her house for items of silver and gold³ and for clothing. You will put these articles on your sons and daughters – thus you will plunder Egypt!”⁴

Exodus 21:29

21:29 But if the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner was warned,⁵ and he did not take the necessary precautions,⁶ and then it killed a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned and the man must be put to death.

¹tn Heb “a woman,” one representing all.

²tn Heb “from the sojourner.” Both the “neighbor” and the “sojourner” (“one who happens to be staying in her house”) are feminine. The difference between them seems to be primarily that the second is temporary, “a lodger” perhaps or “visitor,” while the first has permanent residence.

³tn Heb “vessels of silver and vessels of gold.” These phrases both use genitives of material, telling what the vessels are made of.

⁴sn It is clear that God intended the Israelites to plunder the Egyptians, as they might a defeated enemy in war. They will not go out “empty.” They will “plunder” Egypt. This verb (וְנִצַּלְתֶּם [vÿnitsaltem] from נָצַל [natsal]) usually means “rescue, deliver,” as if plucking out of danger. But in this stem it carries the idea of plunder. So when the text says that they will ask (וְשָׁאֲלָה, vÿsha’alah) their neighbors for things, it implies that they will be making many demands, and the Egyptians will respond like a defeated nation before victors. The spoils that Israel takes are to be regarded as back wages or compensation for the oppression (see also Deut 15:13). See further B. Jacob, “The Gifts of the Egyptians, a Critical Commentary,” Journal of Reformed Judaism 27 (1980): 59-69; and T. C. Vriezen, “A Reinterpretation of Exodus 3:21-22 and Related Texts,” Ex Oriente Lux 23 (1975): 389-401.

⁵tn The Hophal perfect has the idea of “attested, testified against.”

⁶tn Heb “he was not keeping it” or perhaps guarding or watching it (referring to the ox).