Discovery BoxExodus 2:20 
Context2:20 He said 1 to his daughters, “So where is he? 2 Why in the world 3 did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat 4 a meal 5 with us.”
Exodus 14:11
Context14:11 and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? 6 What in the world 7 have you done to us by bringing 8 us out of Egypt?
Exodus 17:3
Context17:3 But the people were very thirsty 9 there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world 10 did you bring us up out of Egypt – to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” 11
1 tn Heb “And he said.”
2 tn The conjunction vav (ו) joins Reuel’s question to what the daughters said as logically following with the idea, “If he has done all that you say, why is he not here for me to meet?” (see GKC 485 §154.b).
3 tn This uses the demonstrative pronoun as an enclitic, for emphasis (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118). The question reads more literally, “Why [is] this [that] you left him?”
4 tn The imperfect tense coming after the imperative indicates purpose.
5 tn Heb “bread,” i.e., “food.”
6 sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 396-97) notes how the speech is overly dramatic and came from a people given to using such exaggerations (Num 16:14), even using a double negative. The challenge to Moses brings a double irony. To die in the desert would be without proper burial, but in Egypt there were graves – it was a land of tombs and graves! Gesenius notes that two negatives in the sentence do not nullify each other but make the sentence all the more emphatic: “Is it because there were no graves…?” (GKC 483 §152.y).
7 tn The demonstrative pronoun has the enclitic use again, giving a special emphasis to the question (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).
8 tn The Hebrew term לְהוֹצִּיאָנוּ (lÿhotsi’anu) is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a suffix, “to bring us out.” It is used epexegetically here, explaining the previous question.
9 tn The verbs and the pronouns in this verse are in the singular because “the people” is singular in form.
10 tn The demonstrative pronoun is used as the enclitic form for special emphasis in the question; it literally says, “why is this you have brought us up?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).
11 sn Their words deny God the credit for bringing them out of Egypt, impugn the integrity of Moses and God by accusing them of bringing the people out here to die, and show a lack of faith in God’s ability to provide for them.
