And when Moses had finished speaking with them is literally “And Moses finished from speaking with them.” Most translations follow the same pattern of making this a temporal clause (when) and using the English pluperfect (had finished).

He put a veil on his face uses a word found only here and the next two verses, so its meaning is not certain. The context makes clear that it was a covering of some kind. Some scholars have suggested it may have been a face mask, similar to what the Egyptian priests wore to represent the “face” of their god. But this theory has not been widely accepted, so most translations call it a veil, which suggests a cloth covering that would conceal his face but still allow him to see. Translator’s Old Testament simply calls it “a covering.”

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 .