Discovery BoxExodus 5:9 
Context5:9 Make the work harder 1 for the men so they will keep at it 2 and pay no attention to lying words!” 3
Exodus 23:1
Context23:1 4 “You must not give 5 a false report. 6 Do not make common cause 7 with the wicked 8 to be a malicious 9 witness.
Exodus 25:24
Context25:24 You are to overlay it with 10 pure gold, and you are to make a surrounding border of gold for it.
Exodus 26:26
Context26:26 “You are to make bars of acacia wood, five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle,
Exodus 27:6
Context27:6 You are to make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and you are to overlay them with bronze.
Exodus 28:40
Context28:40 “For Aaron’s sons you are to make tunics, sashes, and headbands 11 for glory and for beauty.
Exodus 28:42
Context28:42 Make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked bodies; 12 they must cover 13 from the waist to the thighs.
1 tn Heb “let the work be heavy.”
2 tn The text has וְיַעֲשׂוּ־בָהּ (vÿya’asu-vah, “and let them work in it”) or the like. The jussive forms part of the king’s decree that the men not only be required to work harder but be doing it: “Let them be occupied in it.”
sn For a discussion of this whole section, see K. A. Kitchen, “From the Brickfields of Egypt,” TynBul 27 (1976): 137-47.
3 sn The words of Moses are here called “lying words” (דִבְרֵי־שָׁקֶר, divre-shaqer). Here is the main reason, then, for Pharaoh’s new policy. He wanted to discredit Moses. So the words that Moses spoke Pharaoh calls false and lying words. The world was saying that God’s words were vain and deceptive because they were calling people to a higher order. In a short time God would reveal that they were true words.
4 sn People who claim to worship and serve the righteous judge of the universe must preserve equity and justice in their dealings with others. These verses teach that God’s people must be honest witnesses (1-3); God’s people must be righteous even with enemies (4-5); and God’s people must be fair in dispensing justice (6-9).
5 tn Heb “take up, lift, carry” (נָשָׂא, nasa’). This verb was also used in the prohibition against taking “the name of Yahweh in vain.” Sometimes the object of this verb is physical, as in Jonah 1:12 and 15. Used in this prohibition involving speech, it covers both originating and repeating a lie.
6 tn Or “a groundless report” (see Exod 20:7 for the word שָׁוְא, shav’).
7 tn Heb “do not put your hand” (cf. KJV, ASV); NASB “join your hand.”
8 tn The word “wicked” (רָשָׁע, rasha’) refers to the guilty criminal, the person who is doing something wrong. In the religious setting it describes the person who is not a member of the covenant and may be involved in all kinds of sin, even though there is the appearance of moral and spiritual stability.
9 tn The word חָמָס (khamas) often means “violence” in the sense of social injustices done to other people, usually the poor and needy. A “malicious” witness would do great harm to others. See J. W. McKay, “Exodus 23:1-43, 6-8: A Decalogue for Administration of Justice in the City Gate,” VT 21 (1971): 311-25.
10 tn “Gold” is an adverbial accusative of material.
11 sn This refers to a band of linen wrapped around the head, forming something like a brimless convex cap, resembling something like a half egg. It refers to the headgear of ordinary priests only (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 310-11).
12 tn Heb “naked flesh” (so NAB, NRSV); KJV “nakedness.”
13 tn Heb “be.”
