Moreover (literally “And also”) adds a new thought with some emphasis on the I. It may be understood either as “Furthermore” (New Jerusalem Bible) or as “Now” (Good News Translation), showing the contrast of the present situation (“Now I have heard”) with the situation at the time of the patriarchs (verses 3-4). If it is understood as “Now,” one may also translate as “At this time I have heard….” I have heard should be understood as the English present perfect rather than as the simple past tense. Thus New American Bible has “And now that I have heard.” The groaning refers to the desperate cry or “moaning” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) of the people. (The same word is used in 2.24.) The people of Israel were “the Israelites,” of course.

Whom the Egyptians hold in bondage is a nonrestrictive clause and should be set off by commas, as in Good News Translation; it refers to all “the Israelites” and does not suggest that some of them were not doing hard labor. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh avoids this possible confusion by translating whom as “because” (“because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage”). Hold in bondage means that the Egyptians were the ones forcing the Israelites to work. Thus the Israelites were the ones “whom the Egyptians have enslaved” (Good News Translation). (New International Version has “are enslaving.”)

And I have remembered means “I am mindful of” (New American Bible), or “I have called my covenant to mind” (New English Bible). (See 2.24.) My covenant is discussed in verse 4. (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “I will fulfill my promise.”) Another way to express this is “I will do for them what I promised to do.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• At this time I have heard the Israelites groaning, because the Egyptians are making them work hard like slaves. I will keep my promise to them.

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 .