14:26 The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sea, so that the waters may flow 5 back on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen!”
1 tn The Hebrew text again has the singular.
2 tn Heb “put to his heart.”
3 tn Heb “his servants and his cattle.”
4 tn The clause literally reads, “and the waters [were] for them a wall.” The word order in Hebrew is disjunctive, with the vav (ו) on the noun introducing a circumstantial clause.
sn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 119), still trying to explain things with natural explanations, suggests that a northeast wind is to be thought of (an east wind would be directly in their face he says), such as a shallow ford might cooperate with an ebb tide in keeping a passage clear. He then quotes Dillmann about the “wall” of water: “A very summary poetical and hyperbolical (xv. 8) description of the occurrence, which at most can be pictured as the drying up of a shallow ford, on both sides of which the basin of the sea was much deeper, and remained filled with water.” There is no way to “water down” the text to fit natural explanations; the report clearly shows a miraculous work of God making a path through the sea – a path that had to be as wide as half a mile in order for the many people and their animals to cross between about 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:389). The text does not say that they actually only started across in the morning watch, however.
5 tn The verb, “and they will return,” is here subordinated to the imperative preceding it, showing the purpose of that act.
6 tn The word literally means “shoulder.” The next words, “of the gate,” have been supplied here and in v. 15. The east end would contain the courtyard’s entry with a wall of curtains on each side of the entry (see v. 16).
7 tn Here “will be” has been supplied.
8 tn Heb “shoulder.”
9 tn Here the phrase “there will be” has been supplied.
10 tn The text uses the passive participle here: they are to “be filleted with silver” or “bound round” with silver.
11 tn Here the phrase “are to be” has been supplied.
12 tn This is in apposition to the direct object of the verb “engrave.” It further defines how the names were to be engraved – six on one and the other six on the other.
13 tn Heb “according to their begettings” (the major word in the book of Genesis). What is meant is that the names would be listed in the order of their ages.
14 tn The construction is a participle in construct followed by the genitive “wings” – “spreaders of wings.”
15 tn “The cherubim” has been placed here instead of in the second clause to produce a smoother translation.
16 tn Heb “and their faces a man to his brother.”
17 tn Heb “to the atonement lid were the faces of the cherubim.”
18 tn The word literally means “shoulder.” The next words, “of the gate,” have been supplied here. The east end contained the courtyard’s entry with a wall of curtains on each side of the entry (see v. 15).