Discovery BoxExodus 1:7 
Context1:7 The Israelites, 1 however, 2 were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, 3 so that the land was filled with them.
Exodus 5:5
Context5:5 Pharaoh was thinking, 4 “The people of the land are now many, and you are giving them rest from their labor.”
Exodus 5:13
Context5:13 The slave masters were pressuring 5 them, saying, “Complete 6 your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”
Exodus 7:13
Context7:13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard, 7 and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.
Exodus 8:2
Context8:2 But if you refuse to release them, then I am going to plague 8 all your territory with frogs. 9
Exodus 12:38
Context12:38 A mixed multitude 10 also went up with them, and flocks and herds – a very large number of cattle. 11
Exodus 15:10
Context15:10 But 12 you blew with your breath, and 13 the sea covered them.
They sank 14 like lead in the mighty waters.
Exodus 19:22
Context19:22 Let the priests also, who approach the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break through 15 against them.”
Exodus 22:23
Context22:23 If you afflict them 16 in any way 17 and they cry to me, I will surely hear 18 their cry,
Exodus 23:30
Context23:30 Little by little 19 I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.
Exodus 27:6
Context27:6 You are to make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and you are to overlay them with bronze.
Exodus 28:9
Context28:9 “You are to take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, 20
Exodus 28:42
Context28:42 Make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked bodies; 21 they must cover 22 from the waist to the thighs.
Exodus 30:30
Context30:30 “You are to anoint Aaron and his sons and 23 sanctify them, so that they may minister as my priests.
Exodus 32:3
Context32:3 So all 24 the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Exodus 35:26
Context35:26 and all the women whose heart stirred them to action and who were skilled 25 spun goats’ hair.
Exodus 37:7
Context37:7 He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered metal on the two ends of the atonement lid,
1 tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”
2 tn The disjunctive vav marks a contrast with the note about the deaths of the first generation.
3 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.
4 tn Heb “And Pharaoh said.” This is not the kind of thing that Pharaoh is likely to have said to Moses, and so it probably is what he thought or reasoned within himself. Other passages (like Exod 2:14; 3:3) show that the verb “said” can do this. (See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 67.)
5 tn Or “pressed.”
6 tn כַּלּוּ (kallu) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of filling up the quota.
7 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.
8 tn The construction here uses the deictic particle and the participle to convey the imminent future: “I am going to plague/about to plague.” The verb נָגַף (nagaf) means “to strike, to smite,” and its related noun means “a blow, a plague, pestilence” or the like. For Yahweh to say “I am about to plague you” could just as easily mean “I am about to strike you.” That is why these “plagues” can be described as “blows” received from God.
9 tn Heb “plague all your border with frogs.” The expression “all your border” is figurative for all the territory of Egypt and the people and things that are within the borders (also used in Exod 10:4, 14, 19; 13:7).
sn This word for frogs is mentioned in the OT only in conjunction with this plague (here and Pss 78:45, 105:30). R. A. Cole (Exodus [TOTC], 91) suggests that this word “frogs” (צְפַרְדְּעִים, tsÿfardÿ’im) may be an onomatopoeic word, something like “croakers”; it is of Egyptian origin and could be a Hebrew attempt to write the Arabic dofda.
10 tn The “mixed multitude” (עֵרֶב רַב, ’erev rav) refers to a great “swarm” (see a possible cognate in 8:21[17]) of folk who joined the Israelites, people who were impressed by the defeat of Egypt, who came to faith, or who just wanted to escape Egypt (maybe slaves or descendants of the Hyksos). The expression prepares for later references to riffraff who came along.
11 tn Heb “and very much cattle.”
12 tn “But” has been supplied here.
13 tn Here “and” has been supplied.
14 tn The verb may have the idea of sinking with a gurgling sound, like water going into a whirlpool (R. A. Cole, Exodus [TOTC], 124; S. R. Driver, Exodus, 136). See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, “The Song of Miriam,” JNES 14 (1955): 243-47.
15 tn The verb יִפְרֹץ (yifrots) is the imperfect tense from פָּרַץ (parats, “to make a breach, to break through”). The image of Yahweh breaking forth on them means “work destruction” (see 2 Sam 6:8; S. R. Driver, Exodus, 174).
16 tn The accusative here is the masculine singular pronoun, which leads S. R. Driver to conclude that this line is out of place, even though the masculine singular can be used in places like this (Exodus, 232). U. Cassuto says its use is to refer to certain classes (Exodus, 292).
17 tn Here again and with “cry” the infinitive absolute functions with a diminished emphasis (GKC 342-43 §113.o).
18 tn Here is the normal use of the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense to emphasize the verb: “I will surely hear,” implying, “I will surely respond.”
19 tn The repetition expresses an exceptional or super-fine quality (see GKC 396 §123.e).
20 tn Although this is normally translated “Israelites,” here a more literal translation is clearer because it refers to the names of the twelve tribes – the actual sons of Israel.
21 tn Heb “naked flesh” (so NAB, NRSV); KJV “nakedness.”
22 tn Heb “be.”
23 tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive follows the imperfect of instruction; it may be equal to the instruction, but more likely shows the purpose or result of the act.
24 tn This “all” is a natural hyperbole in the narrative, for it means the large majority of the people.
25 tn The text simply uses a prepositional phrase, “with/in wisdom.” It seems to be qualifying “the women” as the relative clause is.
