It was a night of watching is literally “A night of watchings that.” The Hebrew uses a collective plural noun form of the verb meaning both “to watch or guard” and “to observe.” King James Version, American Standard Version, and New American Standard Bible have taken it to mean “to observe,” that is, to be observed by the people. However, “kept watch,” or “guarded,” is the more probable rendering. New American Bible and New English Bible have “This was a night of vigil.”

By the LORD is literally “to [or, for] Yahweh,” but the preposition often shows possession, so that it can mean “Yahweh’s night of vigil.” This is the interpretation followed by most translations. New Revised Standard Version has “That was for the LORD a night of vigil”; and Revised English Bible has “This was the night when the LORD kept vigil,” which is similar to “a night when the LORD kept watch” (Good News Translation), or “On that night the LORD kept watch for them” (Contemporary English Version). To bring them out of the land of Egypt should be understood as “in order for Yahweh to cause the Israelites to go out of Egypt.” The renderings night of watching by the LORD or “the LORD kept watch for them” will be difficult to understand in some languages. An alternative model for this first sentence is “On that night the LORD guarded them as he led them out of Egypt.”

So this same night begins an independent clause that can be considered a new sentence, as in New Revised Standard Version. A night of watching … to the LORD uses the same word as the first clause, but here it plays on the other meaning, “to observe.” The word kept has been added here to bring out this meaning (New Revised Standard Version “a vigil to be kept”). To the LORD is identical in the Hebrew to by the LORD in the first clause, but here the preposition clearly means “for the LORD” (New Revised Standard Version) or “dedicated to the LORD.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh interprets it as possessive, “that same night is the LORD’s.” So one may translate “will always dedicate that night to the LORD.”

Kept … by all the people of Israel, literally “all the sons of Israel,” means of course “all the Israelites” (New Revised Standard Version). Throughout their generations means “for all time to come.”

Alternative translation models for this verse are:

• On that night the LORD kept watch for [or, guarded] them as he led them out of Egypt. And on that same night each year forever the Israelites will always keep watch in order to honor the LORD.

• … And so each year forever the Israelites will dedicate that night to the LORD.

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 .