Exodus 4:24

Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, ¹  the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. ² 

At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.

Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.

On the journey, when Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the LORD confronted Moses and was about to kill him.

On the journey back, as they camped for the night, GOD met Moses and would have killed him but

Now on the journey, at the night’s resting-place, the Lord came in his way and would have put him to death.

On the way, at a place where they spent the night, the LORD met him and tried to kill him.

And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him.

Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, ¹  the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. ² 

¹ tn Or “at a lodging place” or “at an inn.”

² sn The next section (vv. 24-26) records a rather strange story. God had said that if Pharaoh would not comply he would kill his son – but now God was ready to kill Moses, the representative of Israel, God’s own son. Apparently, one would reconstruct that on the journey Moses fell seriously ill, but his wife, learning the cause of the illness, saved his life by circumcising her son and casting the foreskin at Moses’ feet (indicating that it was symbolically Moses’ foreskin). The point is that this son of Abraham had not complied with the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. No one, according to Exod 12:40-51, would take part in the Passover-exodus who had not complied. So how could the one who was going to lead God’s people not comply? The bold anthropomorphisms and the location at the border invite comparisons with Gen 32, the Angel wrestling with Jacob. In both cases there is a brush with death that could not be forgotten. See also, W. Dumbrell, “Exodus 4:24-25: A Textual Re-examination,” HTR 65 (1972): 285-90; T. C. Butler, “An Anti-Moses Tradition,” JSOT 12 (1979): 9-15; and L. Kaplan, “And the Lord Sought to Kill Him,” HAR 5 (1981): 65-74.