Discovery BoxExodus 1:5 
Context1:5 All the people 1 who were directly descended 2 from Jacob numbered seventy. 3 But Joseph was already in Egypt, 4
Exodus 1:7
Context1:7 The Israelites, 5 however, 6 were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, 7 so that the land was filled with them.
Exodus 5:13
Context5:13 The slave masters were pressuring 8 them, saying, “Complete 9 your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”
Exodus 6:18
Context6:18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. (The length of Kohath’s life was 133 years.)
Exodus 12:37
Context12:37 The Israelites journeyed 10 from Rameses 11 to Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men 12 on foot, plus their dependants. 13
Exodus 22:21
Context22:21 “You must not wrong 14 a foreigner 15 nor oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 26:30
Context26:30 You are to set up the tabernacle according to the plan 16 that you were shown on the mountain.
Exodus 32:3
Context32:3 So all 17 the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Exodus 32:16
Context32:16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
Exodus 35:26
Context35:26 and all the women whose heart stirred them to action and who were skilled 18 spun goats’ hair.
Exodus 37:13-14
Context37:13 He cast four gold rings for it and attached the rings at the four corners where its four legs were. 37:14 The rings were close to the frame to provide places for the poles to carry the table.
Exodus 37:22
Context37:22 Their buds and their branches were of one piece; 19 all of it was one hammered piece of pure gold.
Exodus 38:2
Context38:2 He made its horns on its four corners; its horns were part of it, 20 and he overlaid it with bronze.
Exodus 39:13
Context39:13 and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in gold filigree settings.
1 tn The word נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is often translated “soul.” But the word refers to the whole person, the body with the soul, and so “life” or “person” is frequently a better translation.
2 tn The expression in apposition to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) literally says “those who went out from the loins of Jacob.” This distinguishes the entire company as his direct descendants.
3 sn Gen 46 describes in more detail Jacob’s coming to Egypt with his family. The Greek text of Exod 1:5 and of Gen 46:27 and two Qumran manuscripts, have the number as seventy-five, counting the people a little differently. E. H. Merrill in conjunction with F. Delitzsch notes that the list in Gen 46 of those who entered Egypt includes Hezron and Hamul, who did so in potentia, since they were born after the family entered Egypt. Joseph’s sons are also included, though they too were born in Egypt. “The list must not be pressed too literally” (E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 49).
4 tn Heb “and Joseph was in Egypt” (so ASV). The disjunctive word order in Hebrew draws attention to the fact that Joseph, in contrast to his brothers, did not come to Egypt at the same time as Jacob.
5 tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”
6 tn The disjunctive vav marks a contrast with the note about the deaths of the first generation.
7 tn Using מְאֹד (mÿ’od) twice intensifies the idea of their becoming strong (see GKC 431-32 §133.k).
sn The text is clearly going out of its way to say that the people of Israel flourished in Egypt. The verbs פָּרָה (parah, “be fruitful”), שָׁרַץ (sharats, “swarm, teem”), רָבָה (ravah, “multiply”), and עָצַם (’atsam, “be strong, mighty”) form a literary link to the creation account in Genesis. The text describes Israel’s prosperity in the terms of God’s original command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, to show that their prosperity was by divine blessing and in compliance with the will of God. The commission for the creation to fill the earth and subdue it would now begin to materialize through the seed of Abraham.
8 tn Or “pressed.”
9 tn כַּלּוּ (kallu) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of filling up the quota.
10 tn Heb “and the sons of Israel journeyed.”
11 sn The wilderness itinerary begins here. W. C. Kaiser records the identification of these two places as follows: The name Rameses probably refers to Qantir rather than Tanis, which is more remote, because Qantir was by the water; Sukkoth is identified as Tell el Maskhuta in the Wadi Tumilat near modern Ismailia – or the region around the city (“Exodus,” EBC 2:379). Of the extensive bibliography, see G. W. Coats, “The Wilderness Itinerary,” CBQ 34 (1972): 135-52; G. I. Davies, “The Wilderness Itineraries: A Comparative Study,” TynBul 25 (1974): 46-81; and J. T. Walsh, “From Egypt to Moab. A Source Critical Analysis of the Wilderness Itinerary,” CBQ 39 (1977): 20-33.
12 tn The word for “men” (הַגְּבָרִים, haggÿvarim) stresses their hardiness and capability – strong men, potential soldiers – in contrast with the word that follows and designates noncombatants.
sn There have been many attempts to calculate the population of the exodus group, but nothing in the text gives the exact number other than the 600,000 people on foot who were men. Estimates of two million people are very large, especially since the Bible says there were seven nations in the land of Canaan mightier than Israel. It is probably not two million people (note, the Bible never said it was – this is calculated by scholars). But attempts to reduce the number by redefining the word “thousand” to mean clan or tribe or family unit have not been convincing, primarily because of all the tabulations of the tribes in the different books of the Bible that have to be likewise reduced. B. Jacob (Exodus, 347) rejects the many arguments and calculations as the work of eighteenth century deists and rationalists, arguing that the numbers were taken seriously in the text. Some writers interpret the numbers as inflated due to a rhetorical use of numbers, arriving at a number of 60,000 or so for the men here listed (reducing it by a factor of ten), and insisting this is a literal interpretation of the text as opposed to a spiritual or allegorical approach (see R. Allen, “Numbers,” EBC 2:686-96; see also G. Mendenhall, “The Census Lists of Numbers 1 and 26,” JBL 77 [1958]: 52-66). This proposal removes the “embarrassingly” large number for the exodus, but like other suggestions, lacks completely compelling evidence. For a more extensive discussion of the large numbers used to describe the Israelites in their wilderness experience, see the note on “46,500” in Num 1:21.
13 tn For more on this word see 10:10 and 24.
14 tn Or “oppress.”
15 tn Or “alien,” both here and in 23:9. This individual is a resident foreigner; he lives in the land but, aside from provisions such as this, might easily be without legal rights.
16 tn The noun is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), often translated “judgment” or “decision” in other contexts. In those settings it may reflect its basic idea of custom, which here would be reflected with a rendering of “prescribed norm” or “plan.”
17 tn This “all” is a natural hyperbole in the narrative, for it means the large majority of the people.
18 tn The text simply uses a prepositional phrase, “with/in wisdom.” It seems to be qualifying “the women” as the relative clause is.
19 tn Heb “were from it.”
20 tn Heb “its horns were from it,” meaning from the same piece.
