4:13 But Moses said, 1 “O 2 my Lord, please send anyone else whom you wish to send!” 3
6:2 God spoke 4 to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 5
8:25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 6
11:4 Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight 9 I will go throughout Egypt, 10
12:1 11 The Lord said 12 to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 13
16:19 Moses said to them, “No one 14 is to keep any of it 15 until morning.”
18:17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What 16 you are doing is not good!
18:24 Moses listened to 17 his father-in-law and did everything he had said.
33:14 And the Lord 18 said, “My presence 19 will go with you, 20 and I will give you rest.” 21
1 tn Heb “And he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn The word בִּי (bi) is a particle of entreaty; it seeks permission to speak and is always followed by “Lord” or “my Lord.”
3 tn The text has simply שְׁלַח־נָא בְּיַד־תִּשְׁלָח (shÿlakh-na’ bÿyad tishlakh, “send by the hand you will send”). This is not Moses’ resignation to doing God’s will – it is his final attempt to avoid the call. It carries the force of asking God to send someone else. This is an example of an independent relative clause governed by the genitive: “by the hand of – whomever you will send” (see GKC 488-89 §155.n).
4 tn Heb “And God spoke.”
5 sn The announcement “I am the
6 sn After the plague is inflicted on the land, then Pharaoh makes an appeal. So there is the familiar confrontation (vv. 25-29). Pharaoh’s words to Moses are an advancement on his previous words. Now he uses imperatives: “Go, sacrifice to your God.” But he restricts it to “in the [this] land.” This is a subtle attempt to keep them as a subjugated people and prevent their absolute allegiance to their God. This offered compromise would destroy the point of the exodus – to leave Egypt and find a new allegiance under the
7 tn Heb “Thus you have spoken.”
8 tn This is a verbal hendiadys construction: “I will not add again [to] see.”
9 tn Heb “about the middle of the night.”
10 tn Heb “I will go out in the midst of Egypt.”
11 sn Chapter 12 details the culmination of the ten plagues on Egypt and the beginning of the actual deliverance from bondage. Moreover, the celebration of this festival of Passover was to become a central part of the holy calendar of Israel. The contents of this chapter have significance for NT studies as well, since the Passover was a type of the death of Jesus. The structure of this section before the crossing of the sea is as follows: the institution of the Passover (12:1-28), the night of farewell and departure (12:29-42), slaves and strangers (12:43-51), and the laws of the firstborn (13:1-16). In this immediate section there is the institution of the Passover itself (12:1-13), then the Unleavened Bread (12:14-20), and then the report of the response of the people (12:21-28).
12 tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”
13 tn Heb “saying.”
14 tn The address now is for “man” (אִישׁ, ’ish), “each one”; here the instruction seems to be focused on the individual heads of the households.
15 tn Or “some of it,” “from it.”
16 tn Heb “the thing.”
17 tn The idiom “listen to the voice of” means “obey, comply with, heed.”
18 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the
19 sn Heb “my face.” This represents the presence of Yahweh going with the people (see 2 Sam 17:11 for an illustration). The “presence” probably refers to the angel of the presence or some similar manifestation of God’s leading and caring for his people.
20 tn The phrase “with you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
21 sn The expression certainly refers to the peace of mind and security of knowing that God was with them. But the expression came to mean “settle them in the land of promise” and give them rest and peace from their enemies. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 434) observes how in 32:10 God had told Moses, “Leave me alone” (“give me rest”), but now he promises to give them rest. The parallelism underscores the great transition through intercession.
22 tn The deictic particle is used here simply to call attention to a place of God’s knowing and choosing.
23 tn Heb “and you will,” or interpretively, “where you will.”