Exodus 3:21

Summary

The verse states that God will give this people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when they depart, they will not leave empty-handed. It combines a promise (divine action toward Egyptian perception) with a consequence (the manner of Israel's departure).

Key words

• na.ta.Ti ("I will give", H5414G) — qal sequential perfect, first person; continues the narrative sequence from prior verses, framing this as a future action following what precedes.
• chen ("favor of", H2580) — masculine singular construct; grammatically bound to what follows, meaning "favor of [the people]" rather than a free-standing noun.
• 'ei.Nei ("eyes of", H5869H) — feminine dual construct; the dual form reflects the paired body part (eyes), construct links it to mitz.Ra.yim ("Egypt", H4713).
• te.le.Khu + paragogic n (H1980G, H9013) — imperfect second person plural "you will go," with an added nun that in this list is marked as adding emphasis; appears in the conditional clause "when you go."
• rei.Kam ("empty", H7387) — adverb modifying the verb "go," describing the manner of departure rather than its cause.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav on na.ta.Ti ("I will give," H5414G), a qal sequential perfect that carries the storyline forward from what precedes. The direct object is chen ("favor of," H2580) in construct with ha.'om ha.Zeh ("the people, this," H5971A + H2088), meaning literally "the favor of this people" — the favor belongs to the people, not to a generic feeling. This construct phrase is then located "in the eyes of Egypt" (be.'ei.Nei mitz.Ra.yim), using the dual construct 'ei.Nei (H5869H) for "eyes," a common Hebrew idiom for how one is perceived by another.

The second half begins with another narrative vav on ha.Yah ("it will be," H1961), introducing a conditional structure marked by ki ("that/if," H3588A): "when you go" (te.le.Khu, with paragogic nun, H1980G + H9013). This is followed by a negated form of the same verb root, lo' te.le.Khu ("you will not go," H3808 + H1980G), modified by the adverb rei.Kam ("empty," H7387). The repetition of the verb halakh ("to go") in both the conditional and result clauses ties the condition (departure) directly to its outcome (manner of departure — not empty).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the construct phrase differently, using χάριν ("favor") governed by a dative τῷ λαῷ ("to the people") rather than the Hebrew's construct "favor of the people." The Hebrew's dual construct 'ei.Nei ("eyes of," H5869H) becomes the LXX's prepositional phrase ἐναντίον τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ("before the Egyptians"), losing the explicit "eyes" imagery. The Vulgate's coram Ægyptiis ("in the presence of the Egyptians") similarly does not preserve the "eyes" idiom found in the Hebrew. The paragogic nun on te.le.Khu (H9013), marked here as emphatic, has no distinct counterpart represented in the LXX or Vulgate renderings, which use standard verb forms for "you go/depart."