Saying introduces what Yahweh said to the people at Marah. The long sentence that follows includes four conditions and then a promise. The If introduces all four conditions, which are here identified as a), b), c), and d).

a) If you will diligently hearken is literally “if listening you listen,” and the you is singular but means that he is speaking to the people collectively. This is an emphatic form meaning “if you listen carefully” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “if you will really pay attention” (Childs), or “If you will obey … completely” (Good News Translation). To the voice of the LORD your God is another example of Yahweh referring to himself in the third person. (See also 12.14.) Good News Translation changes to the first person but drops the LORD your God completely. It is possible to say “If you will really listen to what I, Yahweh your God, have to say.” Your God may be rendered as “the God whom you worship.”

b) And do that which is right in his eyes is literally “and the straight [thing] in his eyes you do.” It is more natural to say “and do what he considers right” or “by doing what I consider right” (Good News Translation).

c) And give heed to his commandments, literally “and you listen to his commands,” means to “pay attention to his commandments” (New Jerusalem Bible). This is similar to the fourth condition. One may also say “pay attention to what I command.” The word for commandments (mitswah) is discussed in the introduction to 20.22-26.

d) And keep all his statutes is literally “and you guard all his statutes,” using the same word for “statute” (chuqqah) as in verse 25. It may be more natural to combine c) and d), as Good News Translation has done: “and by keeping my commands.” Contemporary English Version has “by following my laws and teachings.” In some languages the idea of keeping a commandment or obeying a law may be translated in the form of a verb phrase; for example, “Pay attention to what I teach you and tell you to do.”

The promise is now stated in negative terms. I will put none of the diseases upon you which I put upon the Egyptians is literally “all the sickness which I put on the Egyptians I will not put upon you.” Diseases is a noun that comes from the verb meaning to become weak or ill. Here it obviously refers to the plagues that Yahweh inflicted on the Egyptians, so it may be understood in the broader sense of “sufferings” (Revised English Bible). Therefore one may say “I will not make you suffer as I did the Egyptians.” However, since Yahweh speaks about healing the diseases of the Israelites, disease is probably in focus here. Perhaps one may say “I will not hurt you by causing you to become sick as I did the Egyptians.”

But diseases also points to the final self-introductory formula, I am the LORD, your healer, which is literally “I Yahweh your healer.” Your healer is a participle meaning “the one who heals you.” (A verse similar to this one is Deut 7.15.)

It is possible to put the final sentence at the beginning of the verse as follows:

• Then he said, “I am Yahweh your God, and I heal your diseases. If you obey me by doing the things I consider to be right [or, good], and follow all my laws, I won’t hurt you with the diseases that I caused the Egyptians to suffer.”

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 .