Here in the middle of verse 9 it is best to begin a new paragraph. The reason for this is that Moses is again reporting to Yahweh what the people said, as in verse 8b. But there is no record of what they said this time, so it seems likely that between 9a and 9b Moses has gone down to the people and back up again to Yahweh for the third time. (See verses 3 and 8.)

Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD uses a word meaning to announce or report. A few translations omit this line entirely (Moffatt, Living Bible), assuming that it only duplicates the last line of verse 8, but this is not recommended. Some translations connect this line with verse 10, either as a temporal clause or as an independent clause. New Revised Standard Version has “When Moses told … the LORD said….” (Similar are Revised English Bible and New American Bible.) Good News Translation has “Moses told the LORD … and the LORD said.” (Similar are New English Bible and Translator’s Old Testament.) This seems to solve the problem.

And the LORD said to Moses introduces the third speech of Yahweh to Moses. (See verses 3 and 9a.) Go to the people is a command to Moses. Since the people are at the foot of the mountain, and Yahweh is at the top, Moses keeps moving up and down between the two. It is therefore appropriate to say “Go down to the people” (Translator’s Old Testament), or even “Go back down to the people.”

And consecrate them is a second command that literally means “you [singular] cause them to be holy.” “Holy” here means “ritually pure” and thus belonging to Yahweh. It is not clear just how Moses was to do this, although the fact that the people were to wash their clothes and abstain from sexual intercourse seems to be closely related to their consecration (verses 14-15). Today and tomorrow indicates that consecrating the people would take two days. Some translations interpret consecrate them to mean “have them sanctify themselves” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), but the Hebrew verb clearly specifies Moses as the actor. (See also verse 14.) Other translations have Moses acting merely as a supervisor: “warn them to stay pure” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and “order them to spend today and tomorrow purifying themselves” (Translator’s Old Testament). (See also Good News Translation.) New English Bible and Revised English Bible have “hallow them today and tomorrow,” but this is as unclear as Revised Standard Version. Contemporary English Version has “that today and tomorrow they must get themselves ready to meet me.”

We should assume, therefore, that Moses had a special responsibility beyond simply giving orders. There may have been a ceremony or ritual act on his part, as Durham suggests: “set them apart for holiness today and tomorrow.” Of course the people had to do things themselves. A possible way to show Moses’ part in consecrating the people is to translate “and help them today and tomorrow to purify themselves to worship me” or “cause them today and tomorrow to get themselves ready to be my people.” Let them wash their garments is literally “and they will wash their mantles [outer garments].” (See 12.34 where the same word is used.) This is an indirect command to the Israelites through Moses: “They must wash their clothes” (Good News Translation). The word for wash suggests the act of beating, kneading, or trampling the clothes, since soap was not available in ancient times. A different word is used for bathing. (See 29.4 and the comment.)

An alternative translation model for verses 9b and 10 is:

• Again Moses told the people what the LORD had said to him. Then once more the LORD spoke to him. He said, “Go back down, and today and tomorrow get the people ready to be my people. They must wash their outer garments….”

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 .