7:20

In this verse, both lines provide additional evidence that the husband will not return unexpectedly from his journey.

20a He took with him a bag of money

20b and will not return till the moon is full.”

7:20a

He took with him a bag of money: The word bag can refer to any pouch or bag. In this case, it was used for carrying money, literally “silver.” This was probably silver that would need to be weighed. It was probably not silver coins. Other ways to translate the phrase a bag of money are:

a bag of silver (Revised English Bible)
-or-
a wallet full of money (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
a lot of money (New Century Version)

7:20b

and will not return till the moon is full: On the night of this story, it was quite dark (7:9a–b), probably around new moon. So the moon is full would be in “two weeks” (Good News Translation).

If you translate this as “full moon,” it is recommended that you add a footnote containing something similar to the first two sentences of this note. If you translate this as “two weeks,” it is recommended that you add a footnote saying, “What it says in Hebrew is ⌊literally⌋ the day of the full moon.”

The woman’s words end with this verse. In some languages, it may be necessary to indicate this in some way. For example:

and it will be full moon before he returns home.” ⌊That is what she said.⌋

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