9:25 I lay flat on the ground before the Lord for forty days and nights, 1 for he 2 had said he would destroy you.
10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. 3
33:8 Of Levi he said:
Your Thummim and Urim 4 belong to your godly one, 5
whose authority you challenged at Massah, 6
and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah. 7
33:12 Of Benjamin he said:
The beloved of the Lord will live safely by him;
he protects him all the time,
and the Lord 8 places him on his chest. 9
1 tn The Hebrew text includes “when I prostrated myself.” Since this is redundant, it has been left untranslated.
2 tn Heb “the
1 tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.
1 sn Thummim and Urim. These terms, whose meaning is uncertain, refer to sacred stones carried in a pouch on the breastplate of the high priest and examined on occasion as a means of ascertaining God’s will or direction. See Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8; Num 27:21; 1 Sam 28:6. See also C. Van Dam, NIDOTTE 1:329-31.
2 tn Heb “godly man.” The reference is probably to Moses as representative of the whole tribe of Levi.
3 sn Massah means “testing” in Hebrew; the name is a wordplay on what took place there. Cf. Exod 17:7; Deut 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8-9.
4 sn Meribah means “contention, argument” in Hebrew; this is another wordplay on the incident that took place there. Cf. Num 20:13, 24; Ps 106:32.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
2 tn Heb “between his shoulders.” This suggests the scene in John 13:23 with Jesus and the Beloved Disciple.