Discovery BoxExodus 2:7 
Context2:7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get 1 a nursing woman 2 for you from the Hebrews, so that she may nurse 3 the child for you?”
Exodus 13:7
Context13:7 Bread made without yeast must be eaten 4 for seven days; 5 no bread made with yeast shall be seen 6 among you, and you must have no yeast among you within any of your borders.
Exodus 20:4
Context20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image 7 or any likeness 8 of anything 9 that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. 10
Exodus 21:6
Context21:6 then his master must bring him to the judges, 11 and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. 12
1 sn The text uses קָרָא (qara’), meaning “to call” or “summon.” Pharaoh himself will “summon” Moses many times in the plague narratives. Here the word is used for the daughter summoning the child’s mother to take care of him. The narratives in the first part of the book of Exodus include a good deal of foreshadowing of events that occur in later sections of the book (see M. Fishbane, Biblical Text and Texture).
2 tn The object of the verb “get/summon” is “a woman.” But מֵינֶקֶת (meneqet, “nursing”), the Hiphil participle of the verb יָנַק (yanaq, “to suck”), is in apposition to it, clarifying what kind of woman should be found – a woman, a nursing one. Of course Moses’ mother was ready for the task.
3 tn The form וְתֵינִק (vÿteniq) is the Hiphil imperfect/jussive, third feminine singular, of the same root as the word for “nursing.” It is here subordinated to the preceding imperfect (“shall I go”) and perfect with vav (ו) consecutive (“and summon”) to express the purpose: “in order that she may.”
sn No respectable Egyptian woman of this period would have undertaken the task of nursing a foreigner’s baby, and so the suggestion by Miriam was proper and necessary. Since she was standing a small distance away from the events, she was able to come forward when the discovery was made.
4 tn The imperfect has the nuance of instruction or injunction again, but it could also be given an obligatory nuance.
5 tn The construction is an adverbial accusative of time, answering how long the routine should be followed (see GKC 374 §118.k).
6 tn Or “visible to you” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 366).
7 tn A פֶּסֶל (pesel) is an image that was carved out of wood or stone. The Law was concerned with a statue that would be made for the purpose of worship, an idol to be venerated, and not any ordinary statue.
8 tn The word תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) refers to the mental pattern from which the פֶּסֶל (pesel) is constructed; it is a real or imagined resemblance. If this is to stand as a second object to the verb, then the verb itself takes a slightly different nuance here. It would convey “you shall not make an image, neither shall you conceive a form” for worship (B. Jacob, Exodus, 547). Some simply make the second word qualify the first: “you shall not make an idol in the form of…” (NIV).
9 tn Here the phrase “of anything” has been supplied.
10 tn Heb “under the earth” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
11 tn The word is הָאֱלֹהִים (ha’elohim). S. R. Driver (Exodus, 211) says the phrase means “to God,” namely the nearest sanctuary in order that the oath and the ritual might be made solemn, although he does say that it would be done by human judges. That the reference is to Yahweh God is the view also of F. C. Fensham, “New Light on Exodus 21:7 and 22:7 from the Laws of Eshnunna,” JBL 78 (1959): 160-61. Cf. also ASV, NAB, NASB, NCV, NRSV, NLT. Others have made a stronger case that it refers to judges who acted on behalf of God; see C. Gordon, “אלהים in its Reputed Meaning of Rulers, Judges,” JBL 54 (1935): 134-44; and A. E. Draffkorn, “Ilani/Elohim,” JBL 76 (1957): 216-24; cf. KJV, NIV.
12 tn Or “till his life’s end” (as in the idiom: “serve him for good”).
