Discovery BoxExodus 32:17-18 
Context32:17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, 1 he said to Moses, “It is the sound of war in the camp!” 32:18 Moses 2 said, “It is not the sound of those who shout for victory, 3 nor is it the sound of those who cry because they are overcome, 4 but the sound of singing 5 I hear.” 6
1 sn See F. C. Fensham, “New Light from Ugaritica V on Ex, 32:17 (br’h),” JNSL 2 (1972): 86-7.
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “the sound of the answering of might,” meaning it is not the sound of shouting in victory (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 418).
4 tn Heb “the sound of the answering of weakness,” meaning the cry of the defeated (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 415).
5 tn Heb “answering in song” (a play on the twofold meaning of the word).
6 sn See A. Newman, “Compositional Analysis and Functional Ambiguity Equivalence: Translating Exodus 32, 17-18,” Babel 21 (1975): 29-35.
