Discovery BoxExodus 4:21 
Context4:21 The Lord said 1 to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, 2 see that you 3 do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. 4 But I will harden 5 his heart 6 and 7 he will not let the people go.
Exodus 4:23
Context4:23 and I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve 8 me,’ but since you have refused to let him go, 9 I will surely kill 10 your son, your firstborn!”’”
Exodus 10:9
Context10:9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold 11 a pilgrim feast for the Lord.”
Exodus 11:8
Context11:8 All these your servants will come down to me and bow down 12 to me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow 13 you,’ and after that I will go out.” Then Moses 14 went out from Pharaoh in great anger.
Exodus 17:5
Context17:5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; 15 take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go.
Exodus 21:3
Context21:3 If he came 16 in by himself 17 he will go out by himself; if he had 18 a wife when he came in, then his wife will go out with him.
Exodus 32:34
Context32:34 So now go, lead the people to the place I have spoken to you about. See, 19 my angel will go before you. But on the day that I punish, I will indeed punish them for their sin.” 20
Exodus 33:3
Context33:3 Go up 21 to a land flowing with milk and honey. But 22 I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you 23 on the way.”
1 tn Heb “And Yahweh said.”
2 tn The construction may involve a verbal hendiadys using the two infinitive forms: “when you go to return” (בְּלֶכְתְּךָ לָשׁוּב, bÿlekhtÿkha lashuv). The clause is temporal, subordinated to the instruction to do the signs. Therefore, its focus cannot be on going to return, i.e., preparing or beginning to return.
3 tn The two verb forms in this section are the imperative (רְאֵה, rÿ’eh) followed by the perfect with the vav (וַעֲשִׂיתָם, va’asitam). The second could be coordinated and function as a second command: “see…and [then] do”; or it could be subordinated logically: “see…so that you do.” Some commentators who take the first option suggest that Moses was supposed to contemplate these wonders before doing them before Pharaoh. That does not seem as likely as the second interpretation reflected in the translation.
4 tn Or “in your power”; Heb “in your hand.”
5 tn Heb “strengthen” (in the sense of making stubborn or obstinate). The text has the expression וַאֲנִי אֲחַזֵּק אֶת־לִבּוֹ (va’ani ’akhazzeq ’et-libbo), “I will make strong his will,” or “I will strengthen his resolve,” recognizing the “heart” as the location of decision making (see Prov 16:1, 9).
6 sn Here is the first mention of the hardening of the heart of Pharaoh. God first tells Moses he must do the miracles, but he also announces that he will harden Pharaoh’s heart, as if working against Moses. It will help Moses to know that God is bringing about the resistance in order to bring a greater victory with greater glory. There is a great deal of literature on this, but see among the resources F. W. Danker, “Hardness of Heart: A Study in Biblical Thematic,” CTM 44 (1973): 89-100; R. R. Wilson, “The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart,” CBQ 41 (1979): 18-36; and R. B. Chisholm Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” BSac 153 (1996): 410-34.
7 tn Or “so that.”
8 tn The text uses the imperative, “send out” (שַׁלַּח, shallakh) followed by the imperfect or jussive with the vav (ו) to express purpose.
9 tn The Piel infinitive serves as the direct object of the verb, answering the question of what Pharaoh would refuse to do. The command and refusal to obey are the grounds for the announcement of death for Pharaoh’s son.
10 tn The construction is very emphatic. The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) gives it an immediacy and a vividness, as if God is already beginning to act. The participle with this particle has the nuance of an imminent future act, as if God is saying, “I am about to kill.” These words are not repeated until the last plague.
11 tn Heb “we have a pilgrim feast (חַג, khag) to Yahweh.”
12 sn Moses’ anger is expressed forcefully. “He had appeared before Pharaoh a dozen times either as God’s emissary or when summoned by Pharaoh, but he would not come again; now they would have to search him out if they needed help” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 289-90).
13 tn Heb “that are at your feet.”
14 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn “Pass over before” indicates that Moses is the leader who goes first, and the people follow him. In other words, לִפְנֵי (lifney) indicates time and not place here (B. Jacob, Exodus, 477-78).
16 tn The tense is imperfect, but in the conditional clause it clearly refers to action that is anterior to the action in the next clause. Heb “if he comes in single, he goes out single,” that is, “if he came in single, he will go out single.”
17 tn Heb “with his back” meaning “alone.”
18 tn The phrase says, “if he was the possessor of a wife”; the noun בַּעַל (ba’al) can mean “possessor” or “husband.” If there was a wife, she shared his fortunes or his servitude; if he entered with her, she would accompany him when he left.
19 tn Heb “behold, look.” Moses should take this fact into consideration.
20 sn The Law said that God would not clear the guilty. But here the punishment is postponed to some future date when he would revisit this matter. Others have taken the line to mean that whenever a reckoning was considered necessary, then this sin would be included (see B. Jacob, Exodus, 957). The repetition of the verb traditionally rendered “visit” in both clauses puts emphasis on the certainty – so “indeed.”
21 tn This verse seems to be a continuation of the command to “go up” since it begins with “to a land….” The intervening clauses are therefore parenthetical or relative. But the translation is made simpler by supplying the verb.
22 tn This is a strong adversative here, “but.”
23 tn The clause is “lest I consume you.” It would go with the decision not to accompany them: “I will not go up with you…lest I consume (destroy) you in the way.” The verse is saying that because of the people’s bent to rebellion, Yahweh would not remain in their midst as he had formerly said he would do. Their lives would be at risk if he did.
