4:32 Indeed, ask about the distant past, starting from the day God created humankind 16 on the earth, and ask 17 from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has ever been such a great thing as this, or even a rumor of it.
5:22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said. 22 Then he inscribed the words 23 on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build,
1 tn Heb “turn”; NAB “Leave here”; NIV, TEV “Break camp.”
2 tn Heb “go (to).”
3 tn Heb “its dwelling places.”
4 tn Heb “the Arabah” (so ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
5 tn Heb “lowlands” (so TEV) or “steppes”; NIV, CEV, NLT “the western foothills.”
6 sn The Hebrew term Negev means literally “desert” or “south” (so KJV, ASV). It refers to the area south of Beer Sheba and generally west of the Arabah Valley between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.
7 tn Heb “you,” and throughout the verse (cf. NASB, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “the small,” but referring to social status, not physical stature.
13 tn The Hebrew text does not have the first person pronoun; it has been supplied for purposes of English style (the Lord is speaking here).
14 tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”
15 tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.
16 tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”
17 tn Heb “the
19 tn Heb “it is wisdom and understanding.”
20 tn Heb “wise and understanding.”
25 tn The Hebrew term אָדָם (’adam) may refer either to Adam or, more likely, to “man” in the sense of the human race (“mankind,” “humankind”). The idea here seems more universal in scope than reference to Adam alone would suggest.
26 tn The verb is not present in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarification. The challenge has both temporal and geographical dimensions. The people are challenged to (1) inquire about the entire scope of past history and (2) conduct their investigation on a worldwide scale.
31 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).
32 tn Heb “tried to go to take for himself.”
33 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).
34 tn Heb “by strong hand and by outstretched arm.”
37 tn Heb “and he added no more” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NLT “This was all he said at that time.”
38 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the words spoken by the
43 tn Heb “testings” (so NAB), a reference to the plagues. See note at 4:34.
44 tn Heb “the strong hand and outstretched arm.” See 4:34.
45 tn Heb “the
49 tn The Hebrew text uses the collective singular in this verse: “my God…lest I die.”
55 tn Though the Hebrew term אָבַד (’avad) generally means “to perish” or the like (HALOT 2-3 s.v.; BDB 1-2 s.v.; cf. KJV “a Syrian ready to perish”), a meaning “to go astray” or “to be lost” is also attested. The ambivalence in the Hebrew text is reflected in the versions where LXX Vaticanus reads ἀπέβαλεν (apebalen, “lose”) for a possibly metathesized reading found in Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus, ἀπέλαβεν (apelaben, “receive”); others attest κατέλειπεν (kateleipen, “leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9) and is the meaning followed by many English versions.
56 sn A wandering Aramean. This is a reference to Jacob whose mother Rebekah was an Aramean (Gen 24:10; 25:20, 26) and who himself lived in Aram for at least twenty years (Gen 31:41-42).
57 tn Heb “father.”
58 tn Heb “sojourned there few in number.” The words “with a household” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
61 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
62 tn Heb “plaster” (so KJV, ASV; likewise in v. 4). In the translation “cover” has been used for stylistic reasons.