translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EXO

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “Yahweh.”


text: The form שַׁלַּח ( shallakh ), the Piel imperative, has been traditionally translated “let [my people] go.” The Qal would be “send”; so the Piel “send away, release, dismiss, discharge.” B. Jacob observes, “If a person was dismissed through the use of this verb, then he ceased to be within the power or sphere of influence of the individual who had dismissed him. He was completely free and subsequently acted entirely on his own responsibility” ( Exodus , 115).


text: Heb “Yahweh.” This is a rhetorical question, expressing doubt or indignation or simply a negative thought that Yahweh is nothing (see erotesis in E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech , 944-45). Pharaoh is not asking for information (cf. 1 Sam 25:5-10 ).


text: The relative pronoun introduces the consecutive clause that depends on the interrogative clause (see GKC 318-19 §107. u ).


text: The imperfect tense here receives the classification of obligatory imperfect. The verb שָׁמַע ( shama ’) followed by “in the voice of” is idiomatic; rather than referring to simple audition – “that I should hear his voice” – it conveys the thought of listening that issues in action – “that I should obey him.” sn The construction of these clauses is similar to (ironically) the words of Moses: “Who am I that I should go?” ( 3:11 ).


text: The Piel infinitive construct here has the epexegetical usage with lamed ( ל ); it explains the verb “obey.”


text: The word “journey” is an adverbial accusative telling the distance that Moses wanted the people to go. It is qualified by “three days.” It is not saying that they will be gone three days, but that they will go a distance that will take three days to cover (see Gen 31:22-23 ; Num 10:33; 33:8 ).


text: The purpose clause here is formed with a second cohortative joined with a vav ( ו ): “let us go…and let us sacrifice.” The purpose of the going was to sacrifice. sn Where did Moses get the idea that they should have a pilgrim feast and make sacrifices? God had only said they would serve Him in that mountain. In the OT the pilgrim feasts to the sanctuary three times a year incorporated the ideas of serving the Lord and keeping the commands. So the words here use the more general idea of appearing before their God. They would go to the desert because there was no homeland yet. Moses later spoke of the journey as necessary to avoid offending Egyptian sensibilities ( 8:25-26 ).


text: Heb “And Pharaoh said.” This is not the kind of thing that Pharaoh is likely to have said to Moses, and so it probably is what he thought or reasoned within himself. Other passages (like Exod 2:14; 3:3 ) show that the verb “said” can do this. (See U. Cassuto, Exodus , 67.)


text: Heb “and Pharaoh commanded on that day.”


text: The Greek has “scribes” for this word, perhaps thinking of those lesser officials as keeping records of the slaves and the bricks.


text: The phrase “who were” is supplied for clarity.


text: The construction is a verbal hendiadys: לֹא תֹאסִפוּן לָתֵת ( lo ’ to ’ sifun latet , “you must not add to give”). The imperfect tense acts adverbially, and the infinitive becomes the main verb of the clause: “you must no longer give.”


text: The expression “for making bricks” is made of the infinitive construct followed by its cognate accusative: לִלְבֹּן הַלְּבֵנִים ( lilbon hallÿvenim ).


text: Heb “as yesterday and three days ago” or “as yesterday and before that.” This is idiomatic for “as previously” or “as in the past.”


text: The jussive יֵלְכוּ ( yelÿkhu ) and its following sequential verb would have the force of decree and not permission or advice. He is telling them to go and find straw or stubble for the bricks.


text: The verb is the Qal imperfect of שִׂים ( sim , “place, put”). The form could be an imperfect of instruction: “You will place upon them the quota.” Or, as here, it may be an obligatory imperfect: “You must place.”


text: Heb “yesterday and three days ago” or “yesterday and before that” is idiomatic for “previously” or “in the past.”


text: Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים ( nirpim ) is derived from the verb רָפָה ( rafah ), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.” They had been letting the work go, Pharaoh reasoned, and being idle is why they had time to think about going to worship.


text: Heb “let the work be heavy.”


text: 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.


text: Heb “went out and spoke to the people saying.” Here “the people” has been specified as “the Israelites” for clarity.


text: The construction uses the negative particle combined with a subject suffix before the participle: אֵינֶנִּי נֹתֵן (’ enenni noten , “there is not I – giving”).


text: The independent personal pronoun emphasizes that the people were to get their own straw, and it heightens the contrast with the king. “ You – go get.”


text: The tense in this section could be translated as having the nuance of possibility: “wherever you may find it,” or the nuance of potential imperfect: “wherever you are able to find any.”


text: The verb וַיָּפֶץ ( vayyafets ) is from the hollow root פּוּץ ( puts ) and means “scatter, spread abroad.”


text: Or “pressed.”


text: כַּלּוּ ( kallu ) is the Piel imperative; the verb means “to finish, complete” in the sense of filling up the quota.


text: The quotation is introduced with the common word לֵאמֹר ( le ’ mor , “saying”) and no mention of who said the question.


text: The imperfect tense should be classified here with the progressive imperfect nuance, because the harsh treatment was a present reality.


text: Heb “[they] are saying to us,” the line can be rendered as a passive since there is no expressed subject for the participle.


text: הִנֵּה ( hinneh ) draws attention to the action reflected in the passive participle מֻכִּים ( mukkim ): “look, your servants are being beaten.”


text: The word rendered “fault” is the basic OT verb for “sin” – וְחָטָאת ( vÿkhata ’ t ). The problem is that it is pointed as a perfect tense, feminine singular verb. Some other form of the verb would be expected, or a noun. But the basic word-group means “to err, sin, miss the mark, way, goal.” The word in this context seems to indicate that the people of Pharaoh – the slave masters – have failed to provide the straw. Hence: “fault” or “they failed.” But, as indicated, the line has difficult grammar, for it would literally translate: “and you [fem.] sin your people.” Many commentators (so GKC 206 §74. g ) wish to emend the text to read with the Greek and the Syriac, thus: “you sin against your own people” (meaning the Israelites are his loyal subjects).


text: Heb “And he said.”


text: Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים ( nirpim ) is derived from the verb רָפָה ( rafah ), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.”


text: The text has two imperatives: “go, work.” They may be used together to convey one complex idea (so a use of hendiadys): “go back to work.”


text: The imperfect תִּתֵּנּוּ ( tittennu ) is here taken as an obligatory imperfect: “you must give” or “you must produce.”


text: The common Hebrew verb translated “saw,” like the common English verb for seeing, is also used to refer to mental perception and understanding, as in the question “See what I mean?” The foremen understood how difficult things would be under this ruling.


text: The text has the sign of the accusative with a suffix and then a prepositional phrase: אֹתָם בְּרָע (’ otam bÿra ’), meaning something like “[they saw] them in trouble” or “themselves in trouble.” Gesenius shows a few examples where the accusative of the reflexive pronoun is represented by the sign of the accusative with a suffix, and these with marked emphasis (GKC 439 §135. k ).


text: The clause “when they were told” translates לֵאמֹר ( le ’ mor ), which usually simply means “saying.” The thing that was said was clearly the decree that was given to them.


text: The foremen vented their anger on Moses and Aaron. The two jussives express their desire that the evil these two have caused be dealt with. “May Yahweh look on you and may he judge” could mean only that God should decide if Moses and Aaron are at fault, but given the rest of the comments it is clear the foremen want more. The second jussive could be subordinated to the first – “so that he may judge [you].”


text: Heb “you have made our aroma stink.”


text: Heb “in the eyes of.”


text: Heb “in the eyes of his servants.” This phrase is not repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” The infinitive construct with the lamed ( לָתֶת , latet ) signifies the result (“so that”) of making the people stink. Their reputation is now so bad that Pharaoh might gladly put them to death. The next infinitive could also be understood as expressing result: “put a sword in their hand so that they can kill us.”


text: Heb “and Moses returned.”


text: The designation in Moses’ address is “Lord” ( אֲדֹנָי , ’ adonay ) – the term for “lord” or “master” but pointed as it would be when it represents the tetragrammaton.


text: The verb is הֲרֵעֹתָה ( hare ’ otah ), the Hiphil perfect of רָעַע ( ra ’ a ’). The word itself means “to do evil,” and in this stem “to cause evil” – but evil in the sense of pain, calamity, trouble, or affliction, and not always in the sense of sin. Certainly not here. That God had allowed Pharaoh to oppose them had brought greater pain to the Israelites. sn Moses’ question is rhetorical; the point is more of a complaint or accusation to God, although there is in it the desire to know why. B. Jacob ( Exodus , 139) comments that such frank words were a sign of the man’s closeness to God. God never has objected to such bold complaints by the devout. He then notes how God was angered by his defenders in the book of Job rather than by Job’s heated accusations.


text: The demonstrative pronoun serves for emphasis in the question (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax , 24, §118). This second question continues Moses’ bold approach to God, more chiding than praying. He is implying that if this was the result of the call, then God had no purpose calling him (compare Jeremiah’s similar complaint in ).


text: The Hebrew construction is emphatic: וְהַצֵּל לֹא־הִצַּלְתָּ ( vÿhatsel lo ’ -hitsalta ). The verb נָצַל ( natsal ) means “to deliver, rescue” in the sense of plucking out, even plundering. The infinitive absolute strengthens both the idea of the verb and the negative. God had not delivered this people at all.


text: Heb “your people.” The pronoun (“them”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons here, to avoid redundancy.