Behold, I will stand before you there is literally “Behold me standing to your face there.” Behold is used here to strengthen what follows, so New Revised Standard Version has “I will be standing there in front of you.” On the rock at Horeb may refer to a single boulder or to a large rocky area, but here a specific rock is suggested by the definite article the, which Good News Translation changes to the indefinite article “a,” as in “a rock.” Translators should try to keep the definite article if at all possible, by using either the equivalent of the or a demonstrative such as “that”; for example, “When you get to the [or, that] rock at Sinai, I will be standing on it.” Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version change Horeb to “Mount Sinai,” since that is the more familiar name. (See 3.1 and comments.) But 19.1-2 indicates that they had not yet reached Mount Sinai. This is a problem that cannot be resolved in translation.

And you shall strike the rock does not use the imperative mood in the Hebrew, but it may be understood as an instruction, “Strike the rock” (Good News Translation). Jerusalem Bible has “You must strike the rock.” One may also say “When you strike the rock” (so Moffatt). It is implied that Moses was to strike it with his rod (see verse 5). In some languages it will be necessary to say “Strike the rock with your stick,” or even “Use your stick to strike the rock.” And water shall come out of it may be expressed as “water will flow from it” (New American Bible). That the people may drink is literally “and the people will drink,” but the idea is “in order that” or “for the people to drink” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

And Moses did so means that he followed all these instructions. In the sight of the elders of Israel, literally “for the eyes of the elders of Israel,” means as Good News Translation translates, “in the presence of the leaders of Israel.” One may also say “Moses did this while the leaders watched” (Contemporary English Version).

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 .