And as soon as he came near the camp is literally “And it was as he approached unto the camp.” The he refers to Moses; nothing more is said about Joshua. One may also translate “As Moses came closer to the camp where the people were staying….” American Standard Version has “And it came to pass….” And saw the calf refers to the “bull-calf” (Good News Translation) mentioned in verse 4. And the dancing suggests a type of whirling movement, and many cultures will have dance forms using this movement. Good News Translation adds “to see the people dancing.” The same term is used of Miriam and the women in 15.20. It is associated with occasions of joy and celebration. Contemporary English Version has “dancing around.”

Moses’ anger burned hot is literally “and the nose of Moses became hot.” The same expression is used of Yahweh in verses 10-11. (See the comment at 4.14.) And he threw the tables out of his hands is literally “and he threw down from his hand the slabs.” (As in verse 15, “hand” is singular.) Since the word for threw already implies the use of the hands, Good News Translation simply has “he threw down the tablets he was carrying” (similarly New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Revised English Bible). However, Moses must have used great force to shatter the stones when he threw them to the ground. If translators have a word in the receptor language that implies using great force, that should be used here.

And broke them at the foot of the mountain is literally “and he shattered them under the mountain.” The word for broke has the intensive form, so New International Version has “breaking them to pieces.” Foot of the mountain refers to where the mountain begins to rise. (See the comment at 24.4.) The final part of the verse may be alternatively rendered as “What he saw [or, This] made him so angry that he threw the stones down and broke them into pieces at the foot of the mountain.”

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 .