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Exodus 3:2-6
New English Translation

2 The angel of the Lord[a] appeared[b] to him in[c] a flame of fire from within a bush.[d] He looked,[e] and[f] the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed![g] 3 So Moses thought,[h] “I will turn aside to see[i] this amazing[j] sight. Why does the bush not burn up?”[k] 4 When the Lord[l] saw that[m] he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”[n] And Moses[o] said, “Here I am.” 5 God[p] said, “Do not approach any closer![q] Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy[r] ground.”[s] 6 He added, “I am the God of your father,[t] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look[u] at God.

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 3:2 sn The designation “the angel of the Lord” (Heb “the angel of Yahweh”) occurred in Genesis already (16:7-13; 21:17; 22:11-18). There is some ambiguity in the expression, but it seems often to be interchangeable with God’s name itself, indicating that it refers to the Lord.
  2. Exodus 3:2 tn The verb וַיֵּרָא (vayyeraʾ) is the Niphal preterite of the verb “to see.” For similar examples of רָאָה (raʾah) in Niphal where the subject “appears,” that is, allows himself to be seen, or presents himself, see Gen 12:7; 35:9; 46:29; Exod 6:3; and 23:17. B. Jacob notes that God appears in this way only to individuals and never to masses of people; it is his glory that appears to the masses (Exodus, 49).
  3. Exodus 3:2 tn Gesenius rightly classifies this as a bet (ב) essentiae (GKC 379 §119.i); it would then indicate that Yahweh appeared to Moses “as a flame.”
  4. Exodus 3:2 sn Fire frequently accompanies the revelation of Yahweh in Exodus as he delivers Israel, guides her, and purifies her. The description here is unique, calling attention to the manifestation as a flame of fire from within the bush. Philo was the first to interpret the bush as Israel, suffering under the persecution of Egypt but never consumed. The Bible leaves the interpretation open. However, in this revelation the fire is coming from within the bush, not from outside, and it represents the Lord who will deliver his people from persecution. See further E. Levine, “The Evolving Symbolism of the Burning Bush,” Dor le Dor 8 (1979): 185-93.
  5. Exodus 3:2 tn Heb “And he saw.”
  6. Exodus 3:2 tn The text again uses the deictic particle with vav, וְהִנֵּה (vehinneh), traditionally rendered “and behold.” The particle goes with the intense gaze, the outstretched arm, the raised eyebrow—excitement and intense interest: “look, over there.” It draws the reader into the immediate experience of the subject.
  7. Exodus 3:2 tn The construction uses the suffixed negative אֵינֶנּוּ (ʾenennu) to convey the subject of the passive verb: “It was not” consumed. This was the amazing thing, for nothing would burn faster in the desert than a thornbush on fire.
  8. Exodus 3:3 tn Heb “And Moses said.” The implication is that Moses said this to himself.
  9. Exodus 3:3 tn The construction uses the cohortative אָסֻרָה־נָּא (ʾasura-nnaʾ) followed by an imperfect with vav (וְאֶרְאֶה, veʾerʾeh) to express the purpose or result (logical sequence): “I will turn aside in order that I may see.”
  10. Exodus 3:3 tn Heb “great.” The word means something extraordinary here. In using this term Moses revealed his reaction to the strange sight and his anticipation that something special was about to happen. So he turned away from the flock to investigate.
  11. Exodus 3:3 tn The verb is an imperfect. Here it has the progressive nuance—the bush is not burning up.
  12. Exodus 3:4 tn The preterite with the vav (ו) is subordinated as a temporal clause to the main point of the verse, that God called to him. The language is anthropomorphic, as if God’s actions were based on his observing what Moses did.
  13. Exodus 3:4 tn The particle כִּי (ki, “that”) introduces the noun clause that functions as the direct object of the verb “saw” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 81, §490).
  14. Exodus 3:4 sn The repetition of the name in God’s call is emphatic, making the appeal direct and immediate (see also Gen 22:11; 46:2). The use of the personal name shows how specifically God directed the call and that he knew this person. The repetition may have stressed even more that it was indeed he whom the Lord wanted. It would have been an encouragement to Moses that this was in fact the Lord who was meeting him.
  15. Exodus 3:4 tn Heb “And he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  16. Exodus 3:5 tn Heb “And he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  17. Exodus 3:5 sn Even though the Lord was drawing near to Moses, Moses could not casually approach him. There still was a barrier between God and human, and God had to remind Moses of this with instructions. The removal of sandals was, and still is in the East, a sign of humility and reverence in the presence of the Holy One. It was a way of excluding the dust and dirt of the world. But it also took away personal comfort and convenience and brought the person more closely in contact with the earth.
  18. Exodus 3:5 sn The word קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) indicates “set apart, distinct, unique.” What made a mountain or other place holy was the fact that God chose that place to reveal himself or to reside among his people. Because God was in this place, the ground was different—it was holy.
  19. Exodus 3:5 tn The causal clause includes within it a typical relative clause, which is made up of the relative pronoun, then the independent personal pronoun with the participle, and then the preposition with the resumptive pronoun. It would literally be “which you are standing on it,” but the relative pronoun and the resumptive pronoun are combined and rendered, “on which you are standing.”
  20. Exodus 3:6 sn This self-revelation by Yahweh prepares for the revelation of the holy name. While no verb is used here, the pronoun and the predicate nominative are a construction used throughout scripture to convey the “I am” disclosures—“I [am] the God of….” But the significant point here is the naming of the patriarchs, for this God is the covenant God, who will fulfill his promises.
  21. Exodus 3:6 tn The clause uses the Hiphil infinitive construct with a preposition after the perfect tense: יָרֵא מֵהַבִּיט (yareʾ mehabbit, “he was afraid from gazing”) meaning “he was afraid to gaze.” The preposition מִן (min) is used before infinitives after verbs like the one to complete the verb (see BDB 583 s.v. 7b).
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Exodus 2
Exodus 4
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Exodus 20:22-26
New English Translation

The Altar

22 [a] The Lord said[b] to Moses, “Thus you will tell the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven. 23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me,[c] nor make gods of gold for yourselves.[d]

24 “‘You must make for me an altar made of earth,[e] and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings,[f] your sheep and your cattle. In every place[g] where I cause my name to be honored[h] I will come to you and I will bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it[i] of stones shaped with tools,[j] for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it.[k] 26 And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’[l]

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 20:22 sn Based on the revelation of the holy sovereign God, this pericope instructs Israel on the form of proper worship of such a God. It focuses on the altar, the centerpiece of worship. The point of the section is this: those who worship this holy God must preserve holiness in the way they worship—they worship where he permits, in the manner he prescribes, and with the blessings he promises. This paragraph is said to open the Book of the Covenant, which specifically rules on matters of life and worship.
  2. Exodus 20:22 tn Heb “and Yahweh said.”
  3. Exodus 20:23 tn 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.
  4. Exodus 20:23 tn 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).
  5. Exodus 20:24 sn The instructions here call for the altar to be made of natural things, not things manufactured or shaped by man. The altar was either to be made of clumps of earth or natural, unhewn rocks.
  6. Exodus 20:24 sn The “burnt offering” is the offering prescribed in Lev 1. Everything of this animal went up in smoke as a sweet aroma to God. It signified complete surrender by the worshiper who brought the animal, and complete acceptance by God, thereby making atonement. The “peace offering” is legislated in Lev 3 and 7. This was a communal meal offering to celebrate being at peace with God. It was made usually for thanksgiving, for payment of vows, or as a freewill offering.
  7. Exodus 20:24 tn 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 (bekhol 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.
  8. Exodus 20:24 tn 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.
  9. Exodus 20:25 tn Heb “them” referring to the stones.
  10. Exodus 20:25 tn 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).
  11. Exodus 20:25 tn 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.”
  12. Exodus 20:26 tn Heb “uncovered” (so ASV, NAB).
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Exodus 19
Exodus 21
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2 Chronicles 3:1-2
New English Translation

The Building of the Temple

3 Solomon began building the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord[a] had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David prepared at the threshing floor of Ornan[b] the Jebusite. 2 He began building on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 3:1 tn Heb “where he.” “Lord” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
  2. 2 Chronicles 3:1 tn In 2 Sam 24:16 this individual is called אֲרַוְנָא (ʾaravna; traditionally “Araunah”). The form of the name found here also occurs in 1 Chr 21:15; 18-28.
  3. 2 Chronicles 3:2 sn This would be April-May, 966 b.c. by modern reckoning.
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