Then the LORD said introduces a new paragraph and the basis for Moses’ commission. I have seen is emphatic in the Hebrew, so New English Bible and others have “I have indeed seen.” Durham has “I have seen clearly.” This emphasis is brought out in Good News Translation in connection with what follows: “I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated.” This seems more natural than finding a noun for affliction, but “misery” or “miserable state” have been used. In languages that do not use the passive voice, one may say, for example, “I have seen how the Egyptians are treating my people very cruelly.”

My people who are in Egypt are the Israelites, who are now in Egypt. God had chosen them from all other people for a special covenant relationship. The relative clause (who …) seems to mean that all the chosen people were then in Egypt—except Moses, of course. One may restructure this first sentence as follows: “I have seen how cruelly the Egyptians are treating my people” (similarly Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

Have heard means more than a passive listening, so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “have heeded.” One may also say “I have paid attention to” or “I am aware of the fact that.” Their cry was a wailing, a cry for help. The verb form of this word for cry (“cried out”) is used in 2.23, where a synonym is also used as a noun. Because of their taskmasters identifies the basis for their cry, so Good News Translation has “I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave drivers.” Their taskmasters were the Egyptian “slave drivers” rather than the Israelite foremen, as explained in the comment at 5.6. But Translator’s Old Testament understands them here to be “their oppressors” in general. (For taskmasters see the comment at 1.11a.) An alternative translation model for have heard their cry because of their taskmasters is “I am aware of the fact that they cry out for me to rescue them from their taskmasters [or, from people who force them to do hard work].”

I know their sufferings implies “I am deeply concerned at their anguish” (Translator’s Old Testament). The word for know suggests intimate understanding and concern, so Good News Translation has “I know all about their sufferings.” This clause is joined to what follows in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, but a number of translations prefer a full stop here.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .