translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EXO

label: NET translator note

text: The two imperatives underscore the immediacy of the demand: “go, go up,” meaning “get going up” or “be on your way.”


text: Or “the land which I swore.”


text: Heb “seed.”


text: 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.


text: This is a strong adversative here, “but.”


text: 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.


text: Or “bad news” (NAB, NCV).


text: The verse simply begins “And Yahweh said.” But it is clearly meant to be explanatory for the preceding action of the people.


text: The construction is formed with a simple imperfect in the first half and a perfect tense with vav ( ו ) in the second half. Heb “[in] one moment I will go up in your midst and I will destroy you.” The verse is certainly not intended to say that God was about to destroy them. That, plus the fact that he has announced he will not go in their midst, leads most commentators to take this as a conditional clause: “If I were to do such and such, then….”


text: The Hebrew text also has “from on you.”


text: The form is the cohortative with a vav ( ו ) following the imperative; it therefore expresses the purpose or result: “strip off…that I may know.” The call to remove the ornaments must have been perceived as a call to show true repentance for what had happened. If they repented, then God would know how to deal with them.


text: This last clause begins with the interrogative “what,” but it is used here as an indirect interrogative. It introduces a noun clause, the object of the verb “know.”


text: Heb “and Moses took.”


text: The infinitive absolute is used here as an adverb (see GKC 341 §113. h ).


text: The clause begins with “and it was,” the perfect tense with the vav conjunction. The imperfect tenses in this section are customary, describing what used to happen (others describe the verbs as frequentative). See GKC 315 §107. e .


text: The form is the Piel participle. The seeking here would indicate seeking an oracle from Yahweh or seeking to find a resolution for some difficulty (as in 2 Sam 21:1 ) or even perhaps coming with a sacrifice. B. Jacob notes that the tent was even here a place of prayer, for the benefit of the people ( Exodus , 961). It is not known how long this location was used.


text: The clause is introduced again with “and it was.” The perfect tense here with the vav ( ו ) is used to continue the sequence of actions that were done repeatedly in the past (see GKC 331-32 §112. e ). The temporal clause is then formed with the infinitive construct of יָצָא ( yatsa ’), with “Moses” as the subjective genitive: “and it was according to the going out of Moses.”


text: Or “rise up.”


text: The subject of this verb is specified with the individualizing use of “man”: “and all Israel would station themselves, each person (man) at the entrance to his tent.”


text: The perfect tense with the vav ( ו ) continues the sequence of the customary imperfect. The people “would gaze” (after) Moses until he entered the tent.


text: This is a temporal clause using an infinitive construct with a suffixed subject.


text: Heb “and it was when.”


text: Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Both verbs, “stand” and “speak,” are perfect tenses with vav ( ו ) consecutive.


text: All the main verbs in this verse are perfect tenses continuing the customary sequence (see GKC 337 §112. kk ). The idea is that the people would get up (rise) when the cloud was there and then worship, meaning in part bow down. When the cloud was not there, there was access to seek God.


text: “Face to face” is circumstantial to the action of the verb, explaining how they spoke (see GKC 489-90 §156. c ). The point of this note of friendly relationship with Moses is that Moses was “at home” in this tent speaking with God. Moses would derive courage from this when he interceded for the people (B. Jacob, Exodus , 966).


text: The verb in this clause is a progressive imperfect.


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The Hiphil imperative is from the same verb that has been used before for bringing the people up from Egypt and leading them to Canaan.


text: That is, “chosen you.”


text: The prayer uses the Hiphil imperative of the verb “to know.” “Cause me to know” is “show me, reveal to me, teach or inform me.” Moses wanted to know more of God’s dealings with people, especially after all that has happened in the preceding chapter.


text: The imperfect tense of the verb “to know” with the vav follows the imperative of this root, and so this indicates the purpose clause (final imperfect): “in order that I may know you.” S. R. Driver summarizes it this way: that I may understand what your nature and character is, and shape my petitions accordingly, so that I may find grace in your sight, and my future prayers may be answered ( Exodus , 361).


text: The purpose clause simply uses the imperfect, “that I may find.” But since he already has found favor in God’s eyes, he is clearly praying that it be so in the future as well as now.


text: The verb “see” (an imperative) is a request for God to acknowledge Israel as his people by providing the divine leadership needed. So his main appeal will be for the people and not himself. To underscore this, he repeats “see” the way the section opened.


text: Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The phrase “with you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.


text: Heb “and he said”; the referent ( Moses ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The construction uses the active participle to stress the continual going of the presence: if there is not your face going.


text: “with us” has been supplied.


text: Heb “from this.”


text: The verb in this place is a preterite with the vav ( ו ) consecutive, judging from the pointing. It then follows in sequence the verb “you have found favor,” meaning you stand in that favor, and so it means “I have known you” and still do (equal to the present perfect). The emphasis, however, is on the results of the action, and so “I know you.”


text: The expression “make proclamation in the name of Yahweh” (here a perfect tense with vav [ ו ] consecutive for future) means to declare, reveal, or otherwise make proclamation of who Yahweh is. The “name of Yahweh” (rendered “the name of the Lord ” throughout) refers to his divine attributes revealed to his people, either in word or deed. What will be focused on first will be his grace and compassion.


text: In view of the use of the verb “can, be able to” in the first clause, this imperfect tense is given a potential nuance.


text: Gesenius notes that sometimes a negative statement takes the place of a conditional clause; here it is equal to “if a man sees me he does not live” (GKC 498 §159. gg ). The other passages that teach this are Gen 32:30 ; Deut 4:33, 5:24, 26 ; Judg 6:22, 13:22 , and Isa 6:5 .


text: The deictic particle is used here simply to call attention to a place of God’s knowing and choosing.


text: Heb “and you will,” or interpretively, “where you will.”


text: The circumstantial clause is simply, “my hand [being] over you.” This protecting hand of Yahweh represents a fairly common theme in the Bible.


text: The construction has a preposition with an infinitive construct and a suffix: “while [or until] I pass by” ( Heb “in the passing by of me”).


text: The plural “my backs” is according to Gesenius an extension plural (compare “face,” a dual in Hebrew). The word denotes a locality in general, but that is composed of numerous parts (see GKC 397 §124. b ). W. C. Kaiser says that since God is a spirit, the meaning of this word could just as easily be rendered “after effects” of his presence (“Exodus,” EBC 2:484). As S. R. Driver says, though, while this may indicate just the “afterglow” that he leaves behind him, it was enough to suggest what the full brilliancy of his presence must be ( Exodus , 363; see also Job 26:14 ).


text: The Niphal imperfect could simply be rendered “will not be seen,” but given the emphasis of the preceding verses, it is more binding than that, and so a negated obligatory imperfect fits better: “it must not be seen.” It would also be possible to render it with a potential imperfect tense: “it cannot be seen.”