Exodus 17:10-13 New English Translation
10 So Joshua fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him,[a] and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses would raise his hands,[b] then Israel prevailed, but whenever he would rest[c] his hands, then Amalek prevailed. 12 When[d] the hands of Moses became heavy,[e] they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other,[f] and so his hands were steady[g] until the sun went down. 13 So Joshua destroyed[h] Amalek and his army[i] with the sword.[j]
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- Exodus 17:10 tn The line in Hebrew reads literally: And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, to fight with Amalek. The infinitive construct is epexegetical, explaining what Joshua did that was in compliance with Moses’ words.
- Exodus 17:11 tn The two verbs in the temporal clauses are by וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר (vehayah kaʾasher, “as long as” or, “and it was that whenever”). This indicates that the two imperfect tenses should be given a frequentative translation, probably a customary imperfect.
- Exodus 17:11 tn Or “lower.”
- Exodus 17:12 tn Literally “now the hands of Moses,” the disjunctive vav (ו) introduces a circumstantial clause here—of time.
- Exodus 17:12 tn The term used here is the adjective כְּבֵדִים (kevedim). It means “heavy,” but in this context the idea is more that of being tired. This is the important word that was used in the plague stories: when the heart of Pharaoh was hard, then the Israelites did not gain their freedom or victory. Likewise here, when the staff was lowered because Moses’ hands were “heavy,” Israel started to lose.
- Exodus 17:12 tn Heb “from this, one, and from this, one.”
- Exodus 17:12 tn The word “steady” is אֱמוּנָה (ʾemunah) from the root אָמַן (ʾaman). The word usually means “faithfulness.” Here is a good illustration of the basic idea of the word—firm, steady, reliable, dependable. There may be a double entendre here; on the one hand it simply says that his hands were stayed so that Israel might win, but on the other hand it is portraying Moses as steady, firm, reliable, faithful. The point is that whatever God commissioned as the means or agency of power—to Moses a staff, to the Christians the Spirit—the people of God had to know that the victory came from God alone.
- Exodus 17:13 tn The verb means “disabled, weakened, prostrated.” It is used a couple of times in the Bible to describe how man dies and is powerless (see Job 14:10; Isa 14:12).
- Exodus 17:13 tn Or “people.”
- Exodus 17:13 tn Heb “mouth of the sword.” It means as the sword devours—without quarter (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 159).
New English Translation (NET)
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