But he answered: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst yesterday kill the Egyptian? Moses feared, and said: How is this come to be known?
Rashi
מי שמך לאיש WHO MADE THEE A PERSONAGE (lit., a man), and you are yet only a boy (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 10).
הלהרגני אתה אמר lit. WILT THOU SPEAK IN ORDER TO SLAY ME — From this we may learn that he had killed him by the mere utterance of the “Shem Hamephorash” (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 10; Exodus Rabbah 1:30).
ויירא משה AND MOSES FEARED — Explain it in its literal sense: he was afraid of Pharaoh. A Midrashic explanation is: he felt distressed because he saw that there were wicked men among the Israelites — common informers. He said: Since this is so (מעתה), perhaps they are not worthy to be delivered from bondage (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 10).
אכן נדע הדבר SURELY THE THING IS KNOWN — Explain it in its literal sense: the fact that I have killed the Egyptian is known. A Midrashic explanation is: now there is known to me that matter about which I have been puzzled — how has Israel sinned more than all the seventy nations, that they should be oppressed by this crushing servitude? But now I see that they deserve this (Exodus Rabbah 1:30).
Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.