Discovery BoxExodus 12:34-35 
Context12:34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, 1 with their kneading troughs bound up in their clothing on their shoulders. 12:35 Now the Israelites had done 2 as Moses told them – they had requested from the Egyptians 3 silver and gold items and clothing.
Exodus 21:10
Context21:10 If he takes another wife, 4 he must not diminish the first one’s food, 5 her clothing, or her marital rights. 6
1 tn The imperfect tense after the adverb טֶרֶם (terem) is to be treated as a preterite: “before it was leavened,” or “before the yeast was added.” See GKC 314-15 §107.c.
2 tn The verbs “had done” and then “had asked” were accomplished prior to the present narrative (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 99). The verse begins with disjunctive word order to introduce the reminder of earlier background information.
3 tn Heb “from Egypt.” Here the Hebrew text uses the name of the country to represent the inhabitants (a figure known as metonymy).
4 tn “wife” has been supplied.
5 tn The translation of “food” does not quite do justice to the Hebrew word. It is “flesh.” The issue here is that the family she was to marry into is wealthy, they ate meat. She was not just to be given the basic food the ordinary people ate, but the fine foods that this family ate.
6 sn See S. Paul, “Exodus 21:10, A Threefold Maintenance Clause,” JNES 28 (1969): 48-53. Paul suggests that the third element listed is not marital rights but ointments since Sumerian and Akkadian texts list food, clothing, and oil as the necessities of life. The translation of “marital rights” is far from certain, since the word occurs only here. The point is that the woman was to be cared for with all that was required for a woman in that situation.
