20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry 11 and troops 12 who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.
1 tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”
2 tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).
3 tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
4 tn Heb “we have seen.”
5 tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”
6 tn The translation assumes the reference is to Israel’s God in which case the point is this: God’s intervention in Israel’s experience is unique in the sense that he has never intervened in such power for any other people on earth. The focus is on the uniqueness of Israel’s experience. Some understand the divine name here in a generic sense, “a god,” or “any god.” In this case God’s incomparability is the focus (cf. v. 35, where this theme is expressed).
7 tn Heb “tried to go to take for himself.”
8 tn Heb “by testings.” The reference here is the judgments upon Pharaoh in the form of plagues. See Deut 7:19 (cf. v. 18) and 29:3 (cf. v. 2).
9 tn Heb “by strong hand and by outstretched arm.”
11 tn The Hebrew text uses the collective singular in this verse: “my God…lest I die.”
16 tn Heb “horse and chariot.”
17 tn Heb “people.”