Deuteronomy 9:3

9:3 Understand today that the Lord your God who goes before you is a devouring fire; he will defeat and subdue them before you. You will dispossess and destroy them quickly just as he ¹  has told you.

Deuteronomy 9:2

9:2 They include the Anakites, ²  a numerous ³  and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, “Who is able to resist the Anakites?”

Deuteronomy 5:24

5:24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory ⁴  and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us ⁵  that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living.

Psalms 68:7-8

68:7 O God, when you lead your people into battle, ⁶ 

when you march through the desert, ⁷  (Selah)

68:8 the earth shakes,

yes, the heavens pour down rain

before God, the God of Sinai, ⁸ 

before God, the God of Israel. ⁹ 

Isaiah 52:12

52:12 Yet do not depart quickly

or leave in a panic. ¹⁰ 

For the Lord goes before you;

the God of Israel is your rear guard.

Micah 2:13

2:13 The one who can break through barriers will lead them out ¹¹ 

they will break out, pass through the gate, and leave. ¹² 

Their king will advance ¹³  before them,

The Lord himself will lead them. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style to avoid redundancy.

² sn Anakites. See note on this term in Deut 1:28.

³ tn Heb “great and tall.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “strong,” NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

⁴ tn Heb “his glory and his greatness.”

⁵ tn Heb “this day we have seen.”

⁶ tn Heb “when you go out before your people.” The Hebrew idiom “go out before” is used here in a militaristic sense of leading troops into battle (see Judg 4:14; 9:39; 2 Sam 5:24).

⁷ sn When you march through the desert. Some interpreters think that v. 7 alludes to Israel’s exodus from Egypt and its subsequent travels in the desert. Another option is that v. 7, like v. 8, echoes Judg 5:4, which describes how the God of Sinai marched across the desert regions to do battle with Sisera and his Canaanite army.

⁸ tn Heb “this one of Sinai.” The phrase is a divine title, perhaps indicating that the Lord rules from Sinai.

⁹ sn The language of vv. 7-8 is reminiscent of Judg 5:4-5, which tells how the God of Sinai came in the storm and annihilated the Canaanite forces led by Sisera. The presence of allusion does not mean, however, that this is a purely historical reference. The psalmist is describing God’s typical appearance as a warrior in terms of his prior self-revelation as ancient events are reactualized in the psalmist’s experience. (For a similar literary technique, see Hab 3.)

¹⁰ tn Heb “or go in flight”; NAB “leave in headlong flight.”

¹¹ tn Heb “the one who breaks through goes up before them.” The verb form is understood as a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of this coming event.

¹² tn The three verb forms (a perfect and two preterites with vav [ו] consecutive) indicate certitude.

¹³ tn The verb form (a preterite with vav [ו] consecutive) indicates certitude.

¹⁴ tn Heb “the Lord [will be] at their head.”