Discovery BoxExodus 18:26 
Context18:26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring 1 to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.
Exodus 23:5
Context23:5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, 2 but be sure to help 3 him with it. 4
Exodus 24:10
Context24:10 and they saw 5 the God of Israel. Under his feet 6 there was something like a pavement 7 made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself. 8
Exodus 27:5
Context27:5 You are to put it under the ledge of the altar below, so that the network will come 9 halfway up the altar. 10
Exodus 37:27
Context37:27 He also made 11 two gold rings for it under its border, on its two sides, on opposite sides, 12 as places 13 for poles to carry it with.
1 tn This verb and the verb in the next clause are imperfect tenses. In the past tense narrative of the verse they must be customary, describing continuous action in past time.
2 tn The line reads “you will cease to forsake him” – refrain from leaving your enemy without help.
3 tn The law is emphatic here as well, using the infinitive absolute and the imperfect of instruction (or possibly obligation). There is also a wordplay here: two words עָזַב (’azav) are used, one meaning “forsake” and the other possibly meaning “arrange” based on Arabic and Ugaritic evidence (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 297-98).
4 sn See H. B. Huffmon, “Exodus 23:4-5: A Comparative Study,” A Light Unto My Path, 271-78.
5 sn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 254) wishes to safeguard the traditional idea that God could not be seen by reading “they saw the place where the God of Israel stood” so as not to say they saw God. But according to U. Cassuto there is not a great deal of difference between “and they saw the God” and “the
6 sn S. R. Driver suggests that they saw the divine Glory, not directly, but as they looked up from below, through what appeared to be a transparent blue sapphire pavement (Exodus, 254).
7 tn Or “tiles.”
8 tn Heb “and like the body of heaven for clearness.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven” or “sky” depending on the context; here, where sapphire is mentioned (a blue stone) “sky” seems more appropriate, since the transparent blueness of the sapphire would appear like the blueness of the cloudless sky.
9 tn The verb is the verb “to be,” here the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. It is “and it will be” or “that it may be,” or here “that it may come” halfway up.
10 tn Heb “to the half of the altar.”
11 tn Heb “and he made.”
12 sn Since it was a small altar, it needed only two rings, one on either side, in order to be carried. The second mention of their location clarifies that they should be on the sides, the right and the left, as one approached the altar.
13 tn Heb “for houses.”
