Exodus 18:22-24

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Exodus 18:22 tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, making it equivalent to the imperfect of instruction in the preceding verse.
2. Exodus 18:22 tn Heb “in every time,” meaning “in all normal cases” or “under normal circumstances.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.
3. Exodus 18:22 tn Heb “great thing.”
4. Exodus 18:22 tn Heb “thing.”
5. Exodus 18:22 tn The vav here shows the result or the purpose of the instructions given.
6. Exodus 18:22 tn The expression וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ (v^ehaqel meʿalekha) means literally “and make it light off yourself.” The word plays against the word for “heavy” used earlier—since it was a heavy or burdensome task, Moses must lighten the load.
7. Exodus 18:22 tn Here “the burden” has been supplied.
8. Exodus 18:23 tn The form is a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the same nuance as the preceding imperfect in the conditional clause.
9. Exodus 18:23 tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive now appears in the apodosis of the conditional sentence—“if you do this…then you will be able.”
10. Exodus 18:23 tn Heb “to stand.” B. Jacob (Exodus, 501) suggests that there might be a humorous side to this: “you could even do this standing up.”
11. Exodus 18:23 tn Literally “this people.”
12. Exodus 18:23 tn The verb is the simple imperfect, “will go,” but given the sense of the passage a potential nuance seems in order.
13. Exodus 18:23 tn Heb “his place.”
14. Exodus 18:23 tn Heb “in peace.”sn See further T. D. Weinshall, “The Organizational Structure Proposed by Jethro to Moses (Ex. 18:17),” Public Administration in Israel and Abroad 12 (1972): 9-13; and H. Reviv, “The Traditions Concerning the Inception of the Legal System in Israel: Significance and Dating,” ZAW 94 (1982): 566-75.
15. Exodus 18:24 tn The idiom “listen to the voice of” means “obey, comply with, heed.”