Deuteronomy 29:20

29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ¹  will rage ²  against that man; all the curses ³  written in this scroll will fall upon him ⁴  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ⁵ 

Exodus 32:32-33

32:32 But now, if you will forgive their sin…, ⁶  but if not, wipe me out ⁷  from your book that you have written.” ⁸  32:33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me – that person I will wipe out of my book.

Psalms 9:5

9:5 You terrified the nations with your battle cry; ⁹ 

you destroyed the wicked; ¹⁰ 

you permanently wiped out all memory of them. ¹¹ 

Psalms 109:13

109:13 May his descendants ¹²  be cut off! ¹³ 

May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 10:7

10:7 The memory ¹⁵  of the righteous is a blessing,

but the reputation ¹⁶  of the wicked will rot. ¹⁷ 

Revelation 3:5

3:5 The one who conquers ¹⁸  will be dressed like them ¹⁹  in white clothing, ²⁰  and I will never ²¹  erase ²²  his name from the book of life, but ²³  will declare ²⁴  his name before my Father and before his angels.

¹ tn Heb “the wrath of the Lord and his zeal.” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.

² tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

³ tn Heb “the entire oath.”

⁴ tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

⁵ tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

⁶ tn The apodosis is not expressed; it would be understood as “good.” It is not stated because of the intensity of the expression (the figure is aposiopesis, a sudden silence). It is also possible to take this first clause as a desire and not a conditional clause, rendering it “Oh that you would forgive!”

⁷ tn The word “wipe” is a figure of speech indicating “remove me” (meaning he wants to die). The translation “blot” is traditional, but not very satisfactory, since it does not convey complete removal.

⁸ sn The book that is referred to here should not be interpreted as the NT “book of life” which is portrayed (figuratively) as a register of all the names of the saints who are redeemed and will inherit eternal life. Here it refers to the names of those who are living and serving in this life, whose names, it was imagined, were on the roster in the heavenly courts as belonging to the chosen. Moses would rather die than live if these people are not forgiven (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 356).

⁹ tn The verb גָּעַר (ga’ar) is often understood to mean “rebuke” and in this context taken to refer to the Lord’s “rebuke” of the nations. In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 18:15; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

¹⁰ tn The singular form is collective (note “nations” and “their name”). In the psalms the “wicked” (רְשָׁעִים, rÿsha’im) are typically proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). In this context the hostile nations who threaten Israel/Judah are in view.

¹¹ tn Heb “their name you wiped out forever and ever.” The three perfect verbal forms in v. 5 probably refer to a recent victory (definite past or present perfect use), although they might express what is typical (characteristic use).

¹² tn Or “offspring.”

¹³ sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

¹⁴ tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”

¹⁵ sn “Memory” (זֵכֶר, zekher) and “name” are often paired as synonyms. “Memory” in this sense has to do with reputation, fame. One’s reputation will be good or bad by righteousness or wickedness respectively.

¹⁶ tn Heb “name.” The term “name” often functions as a metonymy of association for reputation (BDB 1028 s.v. שֵׁם 2.b).

¹⁷ tn The editors of BHS suggest a reading “will be cursed” to make a better parallelism, but the reading of the MT is more striking as a metaphor.

¹⁸ tn Or “who overcomes.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “thus.”

²⁰ tn Or “white robes.”

²¹ tn The negation here is with οὐ μή (ou mh), the strongest possible form of negation in Koine Greek.

²² tn Or “will never wipe out.”

²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

²⁴ tn Grk “will confess.”