17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, 10 the Lord appeared to him and said, 11 “I am the sovereign God. 12 Walk 13 before me 14 and be blameless. 15
26:3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, 16
23:3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, 21 a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.
1 tn Heb “Solomon loved the
2 tn Or “policies, rules.”
3 tn Heb “walk in my ways.”
4 tn Or “keeping.”
5 tn Heb “walked.”
6 tn Heb “I will lengthen your days.”
7 tn Heb “said.”
8 tn Heb “one who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.
9 tn Heb “who walk before you with all their heart.”
10 tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”
11 tn Heb “appeared to Abram and said to him.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) and the final phrase “to him” has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
12 tn The name אֵל שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72. Shaddai/El Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world who grants, blesses, and judges. In the Book of Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name are uncertain (see discussion below) its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. In Gen 17:1-8 he appeared to Abram, introduced himself as El Shaddai, and announced his intention to make the patriarch fruitful. In the role of El Shaddai God repeated these words (now elevated to the status of a decree) to Jacob (35:11). Earlier Isaac had pronounced a blessing on Jacob in which he asked El Shaddai to make Jacob fruitful (28:3). Jacob later prayed that his sons would be treated with mercy when they returned to Egypt with Benjamin (43:14). The fertility theme is not as apparent here, though one must remember that Jacob viewed Benjamin as the sole remaining son of the favored and once-barren Rachel (see 29:31; 30:22-24; 35:16-18). It is quite natural that he would appeal to El Shaddai to preserve Benjamin’s life, for it was El Shaddai’s miraculous power which made it possible for Rachel to give him sons in the first place. In 48:3 Jacob, prior to blessing Joseph’s sons, told him how El Shaddai appeared to him at Bethel (see Gen 28) and promised to make him fruitful. When blessing Joseph on his deathbed Jacob referred to Shaddai (we should probably read “El Shaddai,” along with a few Hebrew
13 tn Or “Live out your life.” The Hebrew verb translated “walk” is the Hitpael; it means “to walk back and forth; to walk about; to live out one’s life.”
14 tn Or “in my presence.”
15 tn There are two imperatives here: “walk…and be blameless [or “perfect”].” The second imperative may be purely sequential (see the translation) or consequential: “walk before me and then you will be blameless.” How one interprets the sequence depends on the meaning of “walk before”: (1) If it simply refers in a neutral way to serving the
16 tn Heb “and my commandments you shall keep and do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8; 25:18, etc.).
17 tn Heb “and my sanctuary you shall fear.” Cf. NCV “respect”; CEV “honor.”
18 tn Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”
19 sn On the “cut off” penalty see the notes on Lev 7:20 and 17:4.
20 tn Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”
21 tn This is a superlative expression, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the Sabbath and certain festival times throughout the chapter (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 155). Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest.”
22 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).
23 tn Heb “these are them, my appointed times.”
24 tn The complex wording of vv. 3-4 requires stating “blood guilt” at the beginning of v. 3 even though it is not mentioned until the middle of v. 4. The Hebrew text has simply “blood,” but in this case it refers to the illegitimate shedding of animal blood, similar to the shedding of the blood of an innocent human being (Deut 19:10, etc.). In order for it to be legitimate the animal must be slaughtered at the tabernacle and its blood handled by the priests in the prescribed way (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:2, 17; 4:5-7; 7:26-27, etc.; cf. vv. 10-16 below for more details).
25 tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 22:18, etc.). See the note on Lev 15:2.
26 tn The original LXX adds “or the sojourners who sojourn in your midst” (cf. Lev 16:29, etc., and note esp. 17:8, 10, and 13 below).
27 tn Heb “or who slaughters from outside to the camp.”
28 tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
29 tn Grk “walking in” (an idiom for one’s lifestyle).
30 tn The predicate adjective has the effect of an adverb here (BDF §243).