When my angel goes before you, literally “For my messenger will go to your [singular] face,” uses the word ki, which can mean “For,” “If,” “When,” or “Indeed.” Many translations omit it entirely. This repeats part of verse 20, but here the pronoun my is clearly in the text.

And brings you to the Amorites is literally “and he will cause you to enter unto the Amorite.” What is intended, of course, is “will lead you into the land of the Amorites” (Contemporary English Version). (Good News Translation has “take you” instead of “lead you.”) New Jerusalem Bible has “the home of the Amorites.” As indicated in 3.8, this was the “place,” “the good and broad land,” where these six different ethnic groups lived. Concerning Amorites … Jebusites, see the discussion at 13.5. Note the different order in listing them.

And I blot them out is literally “and I will cause him to be hidden,” or “I will make him disappear.” The singular “him” should be understood as “them” (Good News Translation). The idea is that Yahweh will “destroy them” (Good News Translation), or “wipe them out” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version). Revised English Bible has “I will make an end to them.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “I will annihilate them,” and New Jerusalem Bible even uses the term “exterminate.” In some languages this will be rendered as “wipe them from the ground.” (Note that in Revised Standard Version the sentence continues into the next verse.)

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 .