9:10 “And now what are we able to say after this, our God? For we have forsaken your commandments 9:11 which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: 12 ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! 13 With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.
9:13 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments. 9:14 You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and law to them through 14 Moses your servant. 9:15 You provided bread from heaven for them in their time of hunger, and you brought forth water from the rock for them in their time of thirst. You told them to enter in order to possess the land that you had sworn 15 to give them.
9:16 “But they – our ancestors 16 – behaved presumptuously; they rebelled 17 and did not obey your commandments. 9:17 They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. 18 But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. 19 You did not abandon them,
1:1 After God spoke long ago 20 in various portions 21 and in various ways 22 to our ancestors 23 through the prophets,
1 tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”
2 tn Heb “our fathers” (also in vv. 8, 16). The Hebrew term translated “father” can refer to more distant relationships such as grandfathers or ancestors.
3 tn Heb “people.”
4 tc This phrase, repeated from v. 1, is absent in Theodotion.
5 tn The Hebrew text has “books”; the word “sacred” has been added in the translation to clarify that it is Scriptures that are referred to.
6 sn The tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters which constitute the divine Name, YHWH) appears eight times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the book of Daniel.
7 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
8 tn Heb “let our appearance be seen before you.”
9 tn Heb “the appearance of.”
10 tn Heb “delicacies of the king.” So also in v. 15.
11 tn Heb “your servants.”
12 tn Heb “through your servants the prophets, saying.”
13 tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”
14 tn Heb “by the hand of.”
15 tn Heb “had lifted your hand.”
16 tn Heb “and our fathers.” The vav is explicative.
17 tn Heb “they stiffened their neck” (so also in the following verse).
18 tc The present translation follows a few medieval Hebrew
19 tc The translation follows the Qere reading חֶסֶד (khesed, “loyal love”) rather than the Kethib reading וְחֶסֶד (vÿkhesed, “and loyal love”) of the MT.
20 tn Or “spoke formerly.”
21 tn Or “parts.” The idea is that God’s previous revelation came in many parts and was therefore fragmentary or partial (L&N 63.19), in comparison with the final and complete revelation contained in God’s Son. However, some interpret πολυμερῶς (polumerw") in Heb 1:1 to mean “on many different occasions” and would thus translate “many times” (L&N 67.11). This is the option followed by the NIV: “at many times and in various ways.” Finally, this word is also understood to refer to the different manners in which something may be done, and would then be translated “in many different ways” (L&N 89.81). In this last case, the two words πολυμερῶς and πολυτρόπως (polutropw") mutually reinforce one another (“in many and various ways,” NRSV).
22 tn These two phrases are emphasized in Greek by being placed at the beginning of the sentence and by alliteration.
23 tn Grk “to the fathers.”