Exodus 7:13

7:13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, 1  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

Exodus 32:14

32:14 Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.

Exodus 32:35

32:35 And the Lord sent a plague on the people because they had made the calf 2  – the one Aaron made. 3 

Exodus 40:23

40:23 And he set the bread in order on it 4  before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

1 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.

2 tn The verse is difficult because of the double reference to the making of the calf. The NJPS’s translation tries to reconcile the two by reading “for what they did with the calf that Aaron had made.” B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 557) explains in some detail why this is not a good translation based on syntactical grounds; he opts for the conclusion that the last three words are a clumsy secondary addition. It seems preferable to take the view that both are true, Aaron is singled out for his obvious lead in the sin, but the people sinned by instigating the whole thing.

3 sn Most commentators have difficulty with this verse. W. C. Kaiser says the strict chronology is not always kept, and so the plague here may very well refer to the killing of the three thousand (“Exodus,” EBC 2:481).

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