21:32 So they made a treaty 3 at Beer Sheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned 4 to the land of the Philistines. 5
1:9 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Tyre has committed three crimes 6 –
make that four! 7 – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. 8
They sold 9 a whole community 10 to Edom;
they failed to observe 11 a treaty of brotherhood. 12
1 tn Heb “[May there be] a covenant between me and you [as there was] between my father and your father.”
2 tn Heb “so he will go up from upon me.”
3 tn Heb “cut a covenant.”
4 tn Heb “arose and returned.”
5 sn The Philistines mentioned here may not be ethnically related to those who lived in Palestine in the time of the judges and the united monarchy. See D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 238.
6 tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.
7 tn Heb “Because of three violations of Tyre, even because of four.”
8 tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.
9 tn Heb “handed over.”
10 tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.
11 tn Heb “did not remember.”
12 sn A treaty of brotherhood. In the ancient Near Eastern world familial terms were sometimes used to describe treaty partners. In a treaty between superior and inferior parties, the lord would be called “father” and the subject “son.” The partners in a treaty between equals referred to themselves as “brothers.” For biblical examples, see 1 Kgs 9:13; 20:32-33.