So Moses cried to the LORD means that he “prayed earnestly to the LORD” (Good News Translation), perhaps audibly. (See the same expression in 14.10.) Durham has “Moses then called out to Yahweh for help,” and Translator’s Old Testament has “Moses cried out in prayer.” The Hebrew also has “to say” (Good News Translation “and said”), which Revised Standard Version omits. What shall I do with this people uses the singular this because people is singular in form, but in some languages it is necessary to say “these people” (Good News Translation). This is a cry of despair, which New Jerusalem Bible expresses as “How am I to deal with these people?”

They are almost ready to stone me is literally “Yet a little and they will stone me.” Stoning was a common means of execution, where the accusers threw stones at the accused until the person died. So Durham has “A little more, and they will be stoning me to death!” One may also say “They are about to throw stones at me to kill me.”

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 .