translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EXO

label: NET translator note

text: Most English translations have “I am Yahweh your God.” But the preceding chapters have again and again demonstrated how he made himself known to them. Now, the emphasis is on “I am your God” – and what that would mean in their lives.


text: The suffix on the verb is second masculine singular. It is this person that will be used throughout the commandments for the whole nation. God addresses them all as his people, but he addresses them individually for their obedience. The masculine form is not, thereby, intended to exclude women.


text: Heb “the house of slaves” meaning “the land of slavery.” sn By this announcement Yahweh declared what he had done for Israel by freeing them from slavery. Now they are free to serve him. He has a claim on them for gratitude and obedience. But this will not be a covenant of cruel slavery and oppression; it is a covenant of love, as God is saying “I am yours, and you are mine.” This was the sovereign Lord of creation and of history speaking, declaring that he was their savior.


text: The possession is expressed here by the use of the lamed ( ל ) preposition and the verb “to be”: לֹא־יִהְיֶה לְךָ ( lo ’ yihyeh lÿkha , “there will not be to you”). The negative with the imperfect expresses the emphatic prohibition; it is best reflected with “you will not” and has the strongest expectation of obedience (see GKC 317 §107. o ). As an additional way of looking at this line, U. Cassuto suggests that the verb is in the singular in order to say that they could not have even one other god, and the word “gods” is plural to include any gods ( Exodus , 241).


text: The expression עַל־פָּנָי (’ al-panay ) has several possible interpretations. S. R. Driver suggests “in front of me,” meaning obliging me to behold them, and also giving a prominence above me ( Exodus , 193-94). W. F. Albright rendered it “You shall not prefer other gods to me” ( From the Stone Age to Christianity , 297, n. 29). B. Jacob ( Exodus , 546) illustrates it with marriage: the wife could belong to only one man while every other man was “another man.” They continued to exist but were not available to her. The point is clear from the Law, regardless of the specific way the prepositional phrase is rendered. God demands absolute allegiance, to the exclusion of all other deities. The preposition may imply some antagonism, for false gods would be opposed to Yahweh. U. Cassuto adds that God was in effect saying that anytime Israel turned to a false god they had to know that the Lord was there – it is always in his presence, or before him ( Exodus , 241).


text: 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.


text: 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).


text: Here the phrase “of anything” has been supplied.


text: Heb “under the earth” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).


text: The combination of these two verbs customarily refers to the worship of pagan deities (e.g., Deut 17:3: 30:17 ; Jer 8:2 ; see J. J. Stamm and M. E. Andrew, The Ten Commandments in Recent Research [SBT], 86). The first verb is לאֹ־תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה ( lo ’ tishtakhaveh ), now to be classified as a hishtaphel imperfect from חָוָה ( khavah ; BDB 1005 s.v. שׁחה ), “to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” It is used of the true worship of God as well. The second verb is וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם ( vÿlo ’ to ’ ovdem ). The two could be taken as a hendiadys: “you will not prostrate yourself to serve them.” In an interesting side comment U. Cassuto ( Exodus , 242) offers an explanation of the spelling of the second verb: he suggests that it was spelled with the qamets khatuf vowel to show contempt for pagan worship, as if their conduct does not even warrant a correct spelling of the word “serve.” Gesenius says that the forms like this are anomalous, but he wonders if they were pointed as if the verb was a Hophal with the meaning “you shall not allow yourself to be brought to worship them” (GKC 161 §60. b ). But this is unlikely.


text: Verses 5 and 6 are very concise, and the word פָּקַד ( paqad ) is difficult to translate. Often rendered “visiting,” it might here be rendered “dealing with” in a negative sense or “punishing,” but it describes positive attention in 13:19 . When used of God, it essentially means that God intervenes in the lives of people for blessing or for cursing. Some would simply translate the participle here as “punishing” the children for the sins of the fathers (cf. Lev 18:25 ; Isa 26:21 ; Jer 29:32; 36:31 ; Hos 1:4 ; Amos 3:2 ). That is workable, but may not say enough. The verse may indicate that those who hate Yahweh and do not keep his commandments will repeat the sins their fathers committed and suffer for them. Deut 24:16 says that individuals will die for their own sins and not their father’s sins (see also Deut 7:10 and ). It may have more to do with patterns of sin being repeated from generation to generation; if the sin and the guilt were not fully developed in the one generation, then left unchecked they would develop and continue in the next. But it may also indicate that the effects of the sins of the fathers will be experienced in the following generations, especially in the case of Israel as a national entity (U. Cassuto, Exodus , 243). God is showing here that his ethical character is displayed in how he deals with sin and righteousness, all of which he describes as giving strong motivation for loyalty to him and for avoiding idolatry. There is a justice at work in the dealings of God that is not present in the pagan world.


text: The Hebrew word for “generations” is not found in v. 5 or 6. The numbers are short for a longer expression, which is understood as part of the description of the children already mentioned (see Deut 7:9 , where “generation” [ דּוֹר , dor ] is present and more necessary, since “children” have not been mentioned).


text: This is an important qualification to the principle. The word rendered “reject” is often translated “hate” and carries with it the idea of defiantly rejecting and opposing God and his word. Such people are doomed to carry on the sins of their ancestors and bear guilt with them.


text: Literally “doing loyal love” ( עֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד , ’ oseh khesed ). The noun refers to God’s covenant loyalty, his faithful love to those who belong to him. These are members of the covenant, recipients of grace, the people of God, whom God will preserve and protect from evil and its effects.


text: Heb “to thousands” or “to thousandth.” After “tenth,” Hebrew uses cardinal numbers for ordinals also. This statement is the antithesis of the preceding line. The “thousands” or “thousandth [generation]” are those who love Yahweh and keep his commands. These are descendants from the righteous, and even associates with them, who benefit from the mercy that God extends to his people. S. R. Driver ( Exodus , 195) says that this passage teaches that God’s mercy transcends his wrath; in his providence the beneficial consequences of a life of goodness extend indefinitely further than the retribution that is the penalty for persisting in sin. To say that God’s loyal love extends to thousands of generations or the thousandth generation is parallel to saying that it endures forever (). See also Exod 34:7 ; Deut 5:10; 7:9 ; Ps 18:51; Jer 32:18 .


text: Or “use” (NCV, TEV); NIV, CEV, NLT “misuse”; NRSV “make wrongful use of.”


text: שָׁוְא ( shav ’, “vain”) describes “unreality.” The command prohibits use of the name for any idle, frivolous, or insincere purpose (S. R. Driver, Exodus , 196). This would include perjury, pagan incantations, or idle talk. The name is to be treated with reverence and respect because it is the name of the holy God.


text: Or “leave unpunished.”


text: The text uses the infinitive absolute זָכוֹר ( zakhor ) for the commandment for the Sabbath day, which is the sign of the Sinaitic Covenant. The infinitive absolute functions in place of the emphatic imperative here (see GKC 346 §113. bb ); the absolute stresses the basic verbal idea of the root – remembering. The verb includes the mental activity of recalling and pondering as well as the consequent actions for such remembering.


text: The word “Sabbath” is clearly connected to the verb שָׁבַת ( shavat , “to cease, desist, rest”). There are all kinds of theories as to the origin of the day, most notably in the Babylonian world, but the differences are striking in so far as the pagan world had these days filled with magic. Nevertheless, the pagan world does bear witness to a tradition of a regular day set aside for special sacrifices. See, for example, H. W. Wolff, “The Day of Rest in the Old Testament,” LTQ 7 (1972): 65-76; H. Routtenberg, “The Laws of Sabbath: Biblical Sources,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 41-43, 99-101, 153-55, 204-6; G. Robinson, “The Idea of Rest in the OT and the Search for the Basic Character of Sabbath,” ZAW 92 (1980): 32-42; and M. Tsevat, “The Basic Meaning of the Biblical Sabbath,” ZAW 84 (1972): 447-59.


text: The Piel infinitive construct provides the purpose of remembering the Sabbath day – to set it apart, to make it distinct from the other days. Verses 9 and 10 explain in part how this was to be done. To set this day apart as holy taught Israel the difference between the holy and the profane, that there was something higher than daily life. If an Israelite bent down to the ground laboring all week, the Sabbath called his attention to the heavens, to pattern life after the Creator (B. Jacob, Exodus , 569-70).


text: The text has simply “six days,” but this is an adverbial accusative of time, answering how long they were to work (GKC 374 §118. k ).


text: The imperfect tense has traditionally been rendered as a commandment, “you will labor.” But the point of this commandment is the prohibition of work on the seventh day. The permission nuance of the imperfect works well here.


text: This is the occupation, or business of the work week.


text: The phrase “on it” has been supplied for clarity.


text: The verb כַּבֵּד ( kabbed ) is a Piel imperative; it calls for people to give their parents the respect and honor that is appropriate for them. It could be paraphrased to say, give them the weight of authority that they deserve. Next to God, parents were to be highly valued, cared for, and respected.


text: Heb “that your days may be long.”


text: The verb רָצַח ( ratsakh ) refers to the premeditated or accidental taking of the life of another human being; it includes any unauthorized killing (it is used for the punishment of a murderer, but that would not be included in the prohibition). This commandment teaches the sanctity of all human life. See J. H. Yoder, “ Exodus 20,13 : ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’,” Int 34 (1980): 394-99; and A. Phillips, “Another Look at Murder,” JJS 28 (1977): 105-26.


text: Heb “answer” as in a court of law.


text: The expression עֵד שָׁקֶר (’ ed shaqer ) means “a lying witness” (B. S. Childs, Exodus [OTL], 388). In this verse the noun is an adverbial accusative, “you will not answer as a lying witness.” The prohibition is against perjury. While the precise reference would be to legal proceedings, the law probably had a broader application to lying about other people in general (see Lev 5:1 ; Hos 4:2 ).


text: The verb חָמַד ( khamad ) focuses not on an external act but on an internal mental activity behind the act, the motivation for it. The word can be used in a very good sense ( Ps 19:10; 68:16 ), but it has a bad connotation in contexts where the object desired is off limits. This command is aimed at curtailing the greedy desire for something belonging to a neighbor, a desire that leads to the taking of it or the attempt to take it. It was used in the story of the Garden of Eden for the tree that was desired.


text: The participle is used here for durative action in the past time (GKC 359 §116. o ).


text: The verb “to see” ( רָאָה , ra ’ ah ) refers to seeing with all the senses, or perceiving. W. C. Kaiser suggests that this is an example of the figure of speech called zeugma because the verb “saw” yokes together two objects, one that suits the verb and the other that does not. So, the verb “heard” is inserted here to clarify (“Exodus,” EBC 2:427).


text: The verb “saw” is supplied here because it is expected in English (see the previous note on “heard”).


text: The preterite with vav ( ו ) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the following clause, which receives the prominence.


text: The meaning of נוּעַ ( nua ’) is “to shake, sway to and fro” in fear. Compare Isa 7:2 – “and his heart shook…as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”


text: Heb “and they stood from/at a distance.”


text: The verb is a Piel imperative. In this context it has more of the sense of a request than a command. The independent personal pronoun “you” emphasizes the subject and forms the contrast with God’s speaking.


text: נַסּוֹת ( nassot ) is the Piel infinitive construct; it forms the purpose of God’s coming with all the accompanying phenomena. The verb can mean “to try, test, prove.” The sense of “prove” fits this context best because the terrifying phenomena were intended to put the fear of God in their hearts so that they would obey. In other words, God was inspiring them to obey, not simply testing to see if they would.


text: The suffix on the noun is an objective genitive, referring to the fear that the people would have of God (GKC 439 §135. m ).


text: The negative form לְבִלְתִּי ( lÿvilti ) is used here with the imperfect tense (see for other examples GKC 483 §152. x ). This gives the imperfect the nuance of a final imperfect: that you might not sin. Others: to keep you from sin.


text: Heb “and they stood”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “and Yahweh said.”


text: The direct object of the verb must be “gods of silver.” The prepositional phrase modifies the whole verse to say that these gods would then be alongside the one true God.


text: Heb “neither will you make for you gods of gold.” sn U. Cassuto explains that by the understanding of parallelism each of the halves apply to the whole verse, so that “with me” and “for you” concern gods of silver or gods of gold ( Exodus , 255).


text: Gesenius lists this as one of the few places where the noun in construct seems to be indefinite in spite of the fact that the genitive has the article. He says בְּכָל־הַמָּקוֹם ( bÿkhol-hammaqom ) means “in all the place, sc. of the sanctuary, and is a dogmatic correction of “in every place” ( כָּל־מָקוֹם , kol-maqom ). See GKC 412 §127. e .


text: The verb is זָכַר ( zakhar , “to remember”), but in the Hiphil especially it can mean more than remember or cause to remember (remind) – it has the sense of praise or honor. B. S. Childs says it has a denominative meaning, “to proclaim” ( Exodus [OTL], 447). The point of the verse is that God will give Israel reason for praising and honoring him, and in every place that occurs he will make his presence known by blessing them.


text: Heb “them” referring to the stones.


text: Heb “of hewn stones.” Gesenius classifies this as an adverbial accusative – “you shall not build them (the stones of the altar) as hewn stones.” The remoter accusative is in apposition to the nearer (GKC 372 §117. kk ).


text: The verb is a preterite with vav ( ו ) consecutive. It forms the apodosis in a conditional clause: “if you lift up your tool on it…you have defiled it.”


text: Heb “uncovered” (so ASV, NAB).