Exodus 15:25

15:25 He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him ¹  a tree. ²  When Moses ³  threw it into the water, the water became safe to drink. There the Lord ⁴  made for them ⁵  a binding ordinance, ⁶  and there he tested ⁷  them.

Exodus 24:3

24:3 Moses came ⁸  and told the people all the Lord’s words ⁹  and all the decisions. All the people answered together, ¹⁰  “We are willing to do ¹¹  all the words that the Lord has said,”

Exodus 24:7-8

24:7 He took the Book of the Covenant ¹²  and read it aloud ¹³  to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey ¹⁴  all that the Lord has spoken.” 24:8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on ¹⁵  the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant ¹⁶  that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Deuteronomy 5:2-3

5:2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 5:3 He ¹⁷  did not make this covenant with our ancestors ¹⁸  but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now.

Deuteronomy 29:1

Narrative Interlude

29:1 (28:69) ¹⁹  These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. ²⁰ 

Deuteronomy 29:10-15

29:10 You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, ²¹  your elders, your officials, every Israelite man, 29:11 your infants, your wives, and the ²²  foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water – 29:12 so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today. ²³  29:13 Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, ²⁴  just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors ²⁵  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29:14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath, 29:15 but with whoever stands with us here today before the Lord our God as well as those not with us here today. ²⁶ 

Deuteronomy 29:2

The Exodus, Wandering, and Conquest Reviewed

29:2 Moses proclaimed to all Israel as follows: “You have seen all that the Lord did ²⁷  in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, all his servants, and his land.

Deuteronomy 11:17

11:17 Then the anger of the Lord will erupt ²⁸  against you and he will close up the sky ²⁹  so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed ³⁰  from the good land that the Lord ³¹  is about to give you.

Deuteronomy 11:2

11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking ³²  to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments ³³  of the Lord your God, which revealed ³⁴  his greatness, strength, and power. ³⁵ 

Deuteronomy 15:12

Release of Debt Slaves

15:12 If your fellow Hebrew ³⁶  – whether male or female ³⁷  – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant ³⁸  go free. ³⁹ 

Deuteronomy 15:15

15:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today.

Deuteronomy 15:2

15:2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; ⁴⁰  he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, ⁴¹  for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.”

Deuteronomy 23:16

23:16 Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages ⁴²  he prefers; you must not oppress him.

Deuteronomy 29:10

29:10 You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God – the heads of your tribes, ⁴³  your elders, your officials, every Israelite man,

Deuteronomy 34:1

The Death of Moses

34:1 Then Moses ascended from the deserts of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. ⁴⁴  The Lord showed him the whole land – Gilead to Dan,

Nehemiah 9:38

The People Pledge to be Faithful

9:38 (10:1) ⁴⁵  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ⁴⁶  in written form; ⁴⁷  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ⁴⁸  on the sealed document.”

Nehemiah 10:28-29

10:28 “Now the rest of the people – the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples ⁴⁹  because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand – 10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ⁵⁰  and enter into a curse and an oath ⁵¹  to adhere to ⁵²  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ⁵³  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ⁵⁴  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

[15:25]  ¹ tn The verb is וַיּוֹרֵהוּ (vayyorehu, “and he showed him”). It is the Hiphil preterite from יָרָה (yarah), which has a basic meaning of “to point, show, direct.” It then came to mean “to teach”; it is the verb behind the noun “Law” (תּוֹרָה, torah).

[15:25]  ² tn Or “a [piece of] wood” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV); NLT “a branch.”

[15:25]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “there he”; the referent (the Lord) is supplied for clarity.

[15:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “for him” (referring to Israel as a whole).

[15:25]  ⁶ tn This translation interprets the two nouns as a hendiadys: “a statute and an ordinance” becomes “a binding ordinance.”

[15:25]  ⁷ tn The verb נִסָּהוּ (nissahu, “and he tested him [them]”) is from the root נָסָה (nasah). The use of this word in the Bible indicates that there is question, doubt, or uncertainty about the object being tested.

[24:3]  ⁸ sn The general consensus among commentators is that this refers to Moses’ coming from the mountain after he made the ascent in 20:21. Here he came and told them the laws (written in 20:22-23:33), and of the call to come up to Yahweh.

[24:3]  ⁹ sn The Decalogue may not be included here because the people had heard those commands themselves earlier.

[24:3]  ¹⁰ tn The text simply has “one voice” (קוֹל אֶחָד, qol ’ekhad); this is an adverbial accusative of manner, telling how the people answered – “in one voice,” or unanimously (see GKC 375 §118.q).

[24:3]  ¹¹ tn The verb is the imperfect tense (נַעֲשֶׂה, na’aseh), although the form could be classified as a cohortative. If the latter, they would be saying that they are resolved to do what God said. If it is an imperfect, then the desiderative would make the most sense: “we are willing to do.” They are not presumptuously saying they are going to do all these things.

[24:7]  ¹² tn The noun “book” would be the scroll just written containing the laws of chaps. 20-23. On the basis of this scroll the covenant would be concluded here. The reading of this book would assure the people that it was the same that they had agreed to earlier. But now their statement of willingness to obey would be more binding, because their promise would be confirmed by a covenant of blood.

[24:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “read it in the ears of.”

[24:7]  ¹⁴ tn A second verb is now added to the people’s response, and it is clearly an imperfect and not a cohortative, lending support for the choice of desiderative imperfect in these commitments – “we want to obey.” This was their compliance with the covenant.

[24:8]  ¹⁵ tn Given the size of the congregation, the preposition might be rendered here “toward the people” rather than on them (all).

[24:8]  ¹⁶ sn The construct relationship “the blood of the covenant” means “the blood by which the covenant is ratified” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 254). The parallel with the inauguration of the new covenant in the blood of Christ is striking (see, e.g., Matt 26:28, 1 Cor 11:25). When Jesus was inaugurating the new covenant, he was bringing to an end the old.

[5:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[5:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “fathers.”

[29:1]  ¹⁹ sn Beginning with 29:1, the verse numbers through 29:29 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:1 ET = 28:69 HT, 29:2 ET = 29:1 HT, 29:3 ET = 29:2 HT, etc., through 29:29 ET = 29:28 HT. With 30:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[29:1]  ²⁰ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (which some English versions substitute here for clarity, cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[29:10]  ²¹ tc Heb “your heads, your tribes.” The Syriac presupposes either “heads of your tribes” or “your heads, your judges,” etc. (reading שֹׁפְטֵכֶם [shofÿtekhem] for שִׁבְטֵיכֶם [shivtekhem]). Its comparative difficulty favors the originality of the MT reading. Cf. KJV “your captains of your tribes”; NRSV “the leaders of your tribes”; NLT “your tribal leaders.”

[29:11]  ²² tn Heb “your.”

[29:12]  ²³ tn Heb “for you to pass on into the covenant of the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God is cutting with you today.”

[29:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in order to establish you today to him for a people and he will be to you for God.” Verses 10-13 are one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[29:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).

[29:15]  ²⁶ tn This is interpreted by some English versions as a reference to generations not yet born (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[29:2]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew text includes “to your eyes,” but this is redundant in English style (cf. the preceding “you have seen”) and is omitted in the translation.

[11:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “will become hot”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “will be kindled”; NAB “will flare up”; NIV, NLT “will burn.”

[11:17]  ²⁹ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[11:17]  ³⁰ tn Or “be destroyed”; NAB, NIV “will soon perish.”

[11:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 11:4.

[11:2]  ³² tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[11:2]  ³³ tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.

[11:2]  ³⁴ tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.

[11:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”

[15:12]  ³⁶ sn Elsewhere in the OT, the Israelites are called “Hebrews” (עִבְרִי, ’ivriy) by outsiders, rarely by themselves (cf. Gen 14:13; 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exod 1:15, 16, 19; 2:6, 7, 11, 13; 1 Sam 4:6; Jonah 1:9). Thus, here and in the parallel passage in Exod 21:2-6 the term עִבְרִי may designate non-Israelites, specifically a people well-known throughout the ancient Near East as ’apiru or habiru. They lived a rather vagabond lifestyle, frequently hiring themselves out as laborers or mercenary soldiers. While accounting nicely for the surprising use of the term here in an Israelite law code, the suggestion has against it the unlikelihood that a set of laws would address such a marginal people so specifically (as opposed to simply calling them aliens or the like). More likely עִבְרִי is chosen as a term to remind Israel that when they were “Hebrews,” that is, when they were in Egypt, they were slaves. Now that they are free they must not keep their fellow Israelites in economic bondage. See v. 15.

[15:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “your brother, a Hebrew (male) or Hebrew (female).”

[15:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “him.” The singular pronoun occurs throughout the passage.

[15:12]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew text includes “from you.”

[15:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “his neighbor,” used idiomatically to refer to another person.

[15:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “his neighbor and his brother.” The words “his brother” may be a scribal gloss identifying “his neighbor” (on this idiom, see the preceding note) as a fellow Israelite (cf. v. 3). In this case the conjunction before “his brother” does not introduce a second category, but rather has the force of “that is.”

[23:16]  ⁴² tn Heb “gates.”

[29:10]  ⁴³ tc Heb “your heads, your tribes.” The Syriac presupposes either “heads of your tribes” or “your heads, your judges,” etc. (reading שֹׁפְטֵכֶם [shofÿtekhem] for שִׁבְטֵיכֶם [shivtekhem]). Its comparative difficulty favors the originality of the MT reading. Cf. KJV “your captains of your tribes”; NRSV “the leaders of your tribes”; NLT “your tribal leaders.”

[34:1]  ⁴⁴ sn For the geography involved, see note on the term “Pisgah” in Deut 3:17.

[9:38]  ⁴⁵ sn Beginning with 9:38, the verse numbers through 10:39 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:38 ET = 10:1 HT, 10:1 ET = 10:2 HT, 10:2 ET = 10:3 HT, etc., through 10:39 ET = 10:40 HT. Beginning with 11:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:38]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “we are cutting.”

[9:38]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and writing.”

[9:38]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “our leaders, our Levites, and our priests on the sealed document.” The Hebrew text is elliptical here; the words “have affixed their names” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons. Cf. v. 2.

[10:28]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “from the peoples of the lands.” Cf. vv. 30, 31.

[10:29]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ⁵¹ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ⁵² tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ⁵³ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ⁵⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).