Discovery BoxExodus 15:15-16 
Context15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified, 1
trembling will seize 2 the leaders of Moab,
and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake.
15:16 Fear and dread 3 will fall 4 on them;
by the greatness 5 of your arm they will be as still as stone 6
until 7 your people pass by, O Lord,
until the people whom you have bought 8 pass by.
1 tn This is a prophetic perfect.
2 tn This verb is imperfect tense.
3 tn The two words can form a nominal hendiadys, “a dreadful fear,” though most English versions retain the two separate terms.
4 tn The form is an imperfect.
5 tn The adjective is in construct form and governs the noun “arm” (“arm” being the anthropomorphic expression for what God did). See GKC 428 §132.c.
6 sn For a study of the words for fear, see N. Waldman, “A Comparative Note on Exodus 15:14-16,” JQR 66 (1976): 189-92.
7 tn Clauses beginning with עַד (’ad) express a limit that is not absolute, but only relative, beyond which the action continues (GKC 446-47 §138.g).
8 tn The verb קָנָה (qanah) here is the verb “acquire, purchase,” and probably not the homonym “to create, make” (see Gen 4:1; Deut 32:6; and Prov 8:22).
