Exodus 5:13

5:13 The slave masters were pressuring ¹  them, saying, “Complete ²  your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”

Exodus 7:13

7:13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, ³  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

Exodus 12:32

12:32 Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless me also.” ⁴ 

Exodus 40:23

40:23 And he set the bread in order on it ⁵  before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

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¹ tn Or “pressed.”

² tn כַּלּוּ (kallu) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of filling up the quota.

³ tn This phrase translates the Hebrew word חָזַק (khazaq); see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 53.

sn For more on this subject, see B. Jacob, Exodus, 241-49. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 53) notes that when this word (חָזַק) is used it indicates a will or attitude that is unyielding and firm, but when כָּבֵד (kaved) is used, it stresses the will as being slow to move, unimpressionable, slow to be affected.

⁴ tn The form is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive (וּבֵרַכְתֶּם, uverakhtem); coming in the sequence of imperatives this perfect tense would be volitional – probably a request rather than a command.

sn Pharaoh probably meant that they should bless him also when they were sacrificing to Yahweh in their religious festival – after all, he might reason, he did let them go (after divine judgment). To bless him would mean to invoke good gifts from God for him.

⁵ tn Heb uses a cognate accusative construction, “he arranged the arrangement.”