translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EXO

label: NET translator note

text: The two imperfects follow the imperative and therefore express purpose. The point in the verses is that Yahweh was giving the orders for the direction of the march and the encampment by the sea.


text: Heb “and Pharaoh will say.”


text: The expression has also been translated “the desert has shut [the way] for them,” and more freely “[the Israelites are] hemmed in by the desert.”


text: In this place the verb חָזַק ( hazaq ) is used; it indicates that God would make Pharaoh’s will strong or firm.


text: The form is וְאִכָּבְדָה ( vÿ ’ ikkavÿda ), the Niphal cohortative; coming after the perfect tenses with vav ( ו ) consecutives expressing the future, this cohortative indicates the purpose of the hardening and chasing. Yahweh intended to gain glory by this final and great victory over the strength of Pharaoh. There is irony in this expression since a different form of the word was used frequently to describe Pharaoh’s hard heart. So judgment will not only destroy the wicked – it will reveal the glory and majesty of the sovereignty of God.


text: This is the perfect tense with the vav ( ו ) consecutive. But it announces the fulfillment of an long standing purpose – that they might know.


text: Heb “and they did so.”


text: Heb “and it was told.” The present translation uses “reported,” since this involves information given to a superior.


text: The verb must be given a past perfect translation because the fleeing occurred before the telling.


text: Heb “and they said.” The referent (the king and his servants) is supplied for clarity.


text: The question literally is “What is this we have done?” The demonstrative pronoun is used as an enclitic particle for emphasis (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax , 24, §118).


text: Heb “released Israel.” By metonymy the name of the nation is used collectively for the people who constitute it (the Israelites).


text: Heb “bound.”


text: Heb “his people.”


text: The passive participle of the verb “to choose” means that these were “choice” or superb chariots.


text: Heb “every chariot of Egypt.” After the mention of the best chariots, the meaning of this description is “all the other chariots.”


text: The word שָׁלִשִׁם ( shalishim ) means “officers” or some special kind of military personnel. At one time it was taken to mean a “three man chariot,” but the pictures of Egyptian chariots only show two in a chariot. It may mean officers near the king, “men of the third rank” (B. Jacob, Exodus , 394). So the chariots and the crew represented the elite. See the old view by A. E. Cowley that linked it to a Hittite word (“A Hittite Word in Hebrew,” JTS 21 [1920]: 326), and the more recent work by P. C. Craigie connecting it to Egyptian “commander” (“An Egyptian Expression in the Song of the Sea: Exodus XV.4,” VT 20 [1970]: 85).


text: Heb “with a high hand”; the expression means “defiantly,” “boldly,” or “with confidence.” The phrase is usually used for arrogant sin and pride, the defiant fist, as it were. The image of the high hand can also mean the hand raised to deliver a blow ( Job 38:15 ). So the narrative here builds tension between these two resolute forces.


text: The disjunctive vav introduces a circumstantial clause here.


text: Heb “drew near.”


text: Heb “lifted up their eyes,” an expression that indicates an intentional and careful looking – they looked up and fixed their sights on the distance.


text: The construction uses הִנֵּה ( hinneh ) with the participle, traditionally rendered “and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them.” The deictic particle calls attention in a dramatic way to what was being seen. It captures the surprise and the sudden realization of the people.


text: The verb “feared” is intensified by the adverb מְאֹד ( mÿ ’ od ): “they feared greatly” or “were terrified.” In one look their defiant boldness seems to have evaporated.


text: The demonstrative pronoun has the enclitic use again, giving a special emphasis to the question (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax , 24, §118).


text: The Hebrew term לְהוֹצִּיאָנוּ ( lÿhotsi ’ anu ) is the Hiphil infinitive construct with a suffix, “to bring us out.” It is used epexegetically here, explaining the previous question.


text: Heb “Is not this the word that we spoke to you.”


text: Heb “better for us to serve.”


text: Since Hebrew does not use quotation marks to indicate the boundaries of quotations, there is uncertainty about whether the Israelites’ statement in Egypt includes the end of v. 12 or consists solely of “leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians.” In either case, the command to Moses to leave them alone rested on the assumption, spoken or unspoken, that serving Egypt would be less risky than what Moses was proposing. Now with the Egyptian army on the horizon, the Israelites are sure that their worst predictions are about to take place.


text: The use of אַל (’ al ) with the jussive has the force of “stop fearing.” It is a more immediate negative command than לֹא ( lo ’) with the imperfect (as in the Decalogue).


text: The force of this verb in the Hitpael is “to station oneself” or “stand firm” without fleeing.


text: The form is an imperative with a vav ( ו ). It could also be rendered “stand firm and you will see ” meaning the result, or “stand firm that you may see ” meaning the purpose.


text: Or “victory” (NAB) or “deliverance” (NIV, NRSV).


text: Heb “do,” i.e., perform or accomplish.


text: The construction uses a verbal hendiadys consisting of a Hiphil imperfect (“you will not add”) and a Qal infinitive construct with a suffix (“to see them”) – “you will no longer see them.” Then the clause adds “again, for ever.” sn U. Cassuto ( Exodus , 164) notes that the antithetical parallelism between seeing salvation and seeing the Egyptians, as well as the threefold repetition of the word “see” cannot be accidental; so too the alliteration of the last three words beginning with ayin ( ע ).


text: The word order places emphasis on “the Lord ” ( Heb “Yahweh”).


text: The imperfect tense needs to be interpreted in contrast to all that Yahweh will be doing. It may be given a potential imperfect nuance (as here), or it may be obligatory to follow the command to stand firm: “you must be still.”


text: The text literally says, “speak to the Israelites that they may journey.” The intent of the line, using the imperative with the subordinate jussive or imperfect expressing purpose is that the speaking is the command to move.


text: The conjunction plus pronoun (“and you”) is emphatic – “and as for you” – before the imperative “lift up.” In contrast, v. 17 begins with “and as for me, I….”


text: The imperfect (or jussive) with the vav ( ו ) is sequential, coming after the series of imperatives instructing Moses to divide the sea; the form then gives the purpose (or result) of the activity – “that they may go.”


text: הִנְנִי ( hinni ) before the participle gives it the force of a futur instans participle, meaning “I am about to harden” or “I am going to harden” their heart.


text: The form again is the imperfect tense with vav ( ו ) to express the purpose or the result of the hardening. The repetition of the verb translated “come” is interesting: Moses is to divide the sea in order that the people may cross, but God will harden the Egyptians’ hearts in order that they may follow.


text: For the comments on this verb see the discussion in v. 4 . God would get glory by defeating Egypt.


text: Or “I will get glory over.”


text: The construction is unusual in that it says, “And Egypt will know.” The verb is plural, and so “Egypt” must mean “the Egyptians.” The verb is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive, showing that this recognition or acknowledgment by Egypt will be the result or purpose of the defeat of them by God.


text: The form is בְּהִכָּבְדִי ( bÿhikkavÿdi ), the Niphal infinitive construct with a preposition and a suffix. For the suffix on a Niphal, see GKC 162-63 §61. c . The word forms a temporal clause in the line.


text: The two nouns “cloud” and “darkness” form a nominal hendiadys: “and it was the cloud and the darkness” means “and it was the dark cloud.” Perhaps this is what the Egyptians saw, preventing them from observing Moses and the Israelites.


text: Heb “this to this”; for the use of the pronouns in this reciprocal sense of “the one to the other,” see GKC 448 §139. e , n. 3.


label: NET textual note

text: The LXX reads very differently at the end of this verse: “and there was darkness and blackness and the night passed.” B. S. Childs ( Exodus [OTL], 218) summarizes three proposals: (1) One takes the MT as it stands and explains it along the lines of the Targum and Jewish exegesis, that there was one cloud that was dark to one group and light to the other. (2) Another tries to reconstruct a verb from the noun “darkness” or make some use of the Greek verb. (3) A third seeks a different meaning for the verb “lit,” “gave light” by comparative philology, but no consensus has been reached. Given that there is no easy solution apart from reconstructing the text, and given that the MT can be interpreted as it is, the present translation follows the MT.


text: Or “drove the sea back” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV). The verb is simply the Hiphil of הָלַךְ ( halakh , “to walk, go”). The context requires that it be interpreted along the lines of “go back, go apart.”


text: The clause literally reads, “and the waters [were] for them a wall.” The word order in Hebrew is disjunctive, with the vav ( ו ) on the noun introducing a circumstantial clause. sn S. R. Driver ( Exodus , 119), still trying to explain things with natural explanations, suggests that a northeast wind is to be thought of (an east wind would be directly in their face he says), such as a shallow ford might cooperate with an ebb tide in keeping a passage clear. He then quotes Dillmann about the “wall” of water: “A very summary poetical and hyperbolical (xv. 8) description of the occurrence, which at most can be pictured as the drying up of a shallow ford, on both sides of which the basin of the sea was much deeper, and remained filled with water.” There is no way to “water down” the text to fit natural explanations; the report clearly shows a miraculous work of God making a path through the sea – a path that had to be as wide as half a mile in order for the many people and their animals to cross between about 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:389). The text does not say that they actually only started across in the morning watch, however.


text: The night was divided into three watches of about four hours each, making the morning watch about 2:00-6:00 a.m. The text has this as “the watch of the morning,” the genitive qualifying which of the night watches was meant.


text: This particular verb, שָׁקַף ( shaqaf ) is a bold anthropomorphism: Yahweh looked down. But its usage is always with some demonstration of mercy or wrath. S. R. Driver ( Exodus , 120) suggests that the look might be with fiery flashes to startle the Egyptians, throwing them into a panic. Ps 77:17-19 pictures torrents of rain with lightning and thunder.


text: Heb “camp.” The same Hebrew word is used in Exod 14:20 . Unlike the English word “camp,” it can be used of a body of people at rest (encamped) or on the move.


text: Heb “camp.”


text: The verb הָמַם ( hamam ) means “throw into confusion.” It is used in the Bible for the panic and disarray of an army before a superior force ( Josh 10:10 ; Judg 4:15 ).


text: The word in the text is וַיָּסַר ( vayyasar ), which would be translated “and he turned aside” with the sense perhaps of removing the wheels. The reading in the LXX, Smr, and Syriac suggests a root אָסַר (’ asar , “to bind”). The sense here might be “clogged – presumably by their sinking in the wet sand” (S. R. Driver, Exodus , 120).


text: The clause is וַיְנַהֲגֵהוּ בִּכְבֵדֻת ( vaynahagehu bikhvedut ). The verb means “to drive a chariot”; here in the Piel it means “cause to drive.” The suffix is collective, and so the verbal form can be translated “and caused them to drive.” The idea of the next word is “heaviness” or “hardship”; it recalls the previous uses of related words to describe Pharaoh’s heart. Here it indicates that the driving of the crippled chariots was with difficulty.


text: The cohortative has the hortatory use here, “Let’s flee.” Although the form is singular, the sense of it is plural and so hortatory can be used. The form is singular to agree with the singular subject, “Egypt,” which obviously means the Egyptian army. The word for “flee” is used when someone runs from fear of immanent danger and is a different word than the one used in 14:5 .


text: The form is the Niphal participle; it is used as the predicate here, that is, the verbal use: “the Lord is fighting.” This corresponds to the announcement in v. 14 .


text: The verb, “and they will return,” is here subordinated to the imperative preceding it, showing the purpose of that act.


text: The Hebrew term לְאֵיתָנוֹ ( lÿ ’ etano ) means “to its place,” or better, “to its perennial state.” The point is that the sea here had a normal level, and now when the Egyptians were in the sea on the dry ground the water would return to that level.


text: Heb “at the turning of the morning”; NASB, NIV, TEV, CEV “at daybreak.”


text: The clause begins with the disjunctive vav ( ו ) on the noun, signaling either a circumstantial clause or a new beginning. It could be rendered, “Although the Egyptians…Yahweh…” or “as the Egyptians….”


text: The verb means “shake out” or “shaking off.” It has the significance of “throw downward.” See Neh 5:13 or Job 38:13 .


text: Heb “that was coming after them into the sea.” The referent of “them” (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “not was left among them as much as one.”


text: The Hebrew term וַיּוֹשַׁע ( vayyosha ’) is the key summation of the chapter, and this part of the book: “So Yahweh saved Israel.” This is the culmination of all the powerful works of God through these chapters.


text: Heb “the hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for power.


text: The participle “dead” is singular, agreeing in form with “Egypt.”


text: The preterite with the vav ( ו ) consecutive introduces a clause that is subordinate to the main points that the verse is making.


text: Heb “the great hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for work or power. The word play using “hand” contrasts the Lord’s hand/power at work on behalf of the Israelites with the hand/power of Egypt that would have killed them.


text: Heb “did, made.”


text: Heb “and the people feared.”


text: The verb is the Hiphil preterite of אָמַן (’ aman ). sn S. R. Driver says that the belief intended here is not simply a crediting of a testimony concerning a person or a thing, but a laying firm hold morally on a person or a thing ( Exodus , 122). Others take the Hiphil sense to be declarative, and that would indicate a considering of the object of faith trustworthy or dependable, and therefore to be acted on. In this passage it does not mean that here they came to faith, but that they became convinced that he would save them in the future.