But Moses said uses the conjunction waw, which here shows that Moses is bargaining with the king. It would not be right to do so means it is not legitimate or proper. New Jerusalem Bible has “That would never do,” New English Bible has “That we cannot do,” and Contemporary English Version has “That’s impossible!” For, or “because” (Good News Translation), introduces the reason this would not be right.
We shall sacrifice … abominable to the Egyptians is a difficult sentence. Literally the Hebrew says “we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians.” The word “abomination” means “something detestable or offensive.” It is not clear whether it was the kind of animal or the act of sacrificing that was abominable. New English Bible understands it to be the animal and translates “the victim we shall sacrifice … is an abomination to the Egyptians.” But since the Egyptians worshiped bulls and rams, we may assume that “the abomination of the Egyptians” would not refer to the animals themselves but to the act of sacrificing sacred animals. Abominable to the Egyptians may also be expressed as “that disgust the Egyptians” or “that the Egyptians hate.”
For this reason Good News Translation suggests it was not the sacrifices but “our sacrificing” that was abominable. And it was not simply the act of sacrificing, but it was “sacrificing the animals that we offer” (Good News Translation). In other words, what was offensive to the Egyptians was the act of sacrificing a kind of animal they believed should not be sacrificed. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “what we sacrifice … is untouchable to the Egyptians.” And Jerusalem Bible has “We sacrifice … animals which Egyptians count it sacrilege to slaughter.” Good News Translation uses the subjunctive “would be” rather than “will be,” because the Israelites had evidently not yet worshiped the LORD in this way. Moses assumes that “the Egyptians would be offended” because of “the animals that we offer” (Good News Translation). Contemporary English Version says “Any sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God would disgust the Egyptians.”
Therefore if we sacrifice introduces a situation that Moses wants to avoid. Before their eyes suggests that there was no place within Egypt where they could do this without the people seeing them. This is Moses’ main argument in rejecting the king’s offer to let them sacrifice within the boundaries of Egypt.
Offerings abominable to the Egyptians, as explained above, probably refers to animals that the people of Egypt thought should not be killed in this way. Will they not stone us is therefore a rhetorical question, and the answer to a rhetorical question must always be obvious. Stone us here means more than just throwing stones; it was a means of execution. So the question may be changed to a clear prediction, “they will stone us to death” (Good News Translation), or one may say “they will throw stones at us to kill us.”
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 .