And the LORD said to Moses seems unnecessary, since Yahweh continues to speak. Good News Translation omits this phrase entirely, but New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh adds “The LORD further said to Moses.”

I have seen this people uses the same verb as 3.7, but the verb may also be understood in the present tense, “I see” (New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). And in this context “to see” takes on the meaning of “to know,” so New Jerusalem Bible has “I know these people,” meaning “I know what these people are like.” This people uses the singular this, since the word people is singular in form, but “these people” (Good News Translation) sounds better in English. And behold is difficult to translate here, and so it is usually omitted. Its function is to stress the words that follow.

It is a stiff-necked people is literally “a people hard of neck he [or, this].” The word for “neck” refers to the back of the neck. This is a figure of speech that means to be stubborn or obstinate. The word for “hard” or “stiff” is used twice as a verb to describe the stubbornness of the Pharaoh (see 7.3 [“I will harden”] and 13.15 [“stubbornly refused”]). But this same expression, a stiff-necked people, is used four times in chapters 32–34 to describe the Israelites. (See also 33.3, 5; 34.9.) In some languages stiff-necked will be rendered more naturally by other figurative expressions; for example, “hard-hearted.” If, however, these figures are not clearly understood in translation, it is better to say, as Good News Translation does, “I know how stubborn these people are.” (Here Good News Translation has captured the entire verse.) Contemporary English Version is similar: “Moses, I have seen how stubborn these people are.”

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 .