Deuteronomy 9:14

9:14 Stand aside ¹  and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, ²  and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”

Deuteronomy 29:20

29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ³  will rage ⁴  against that man; all the curses ⁵  written in this scroll will fall upon him ⁶  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ⁷ 

Ruth 4:10-12

4:10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife to raise up a descendant who will inherit his property ⁸  so the name of the deceased might not disappear ⁹  from among his relatives and from his village. ¹⁰  You are witnesses today.” 4:11 All the people who were at the gate and the elders replied, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel! May ¹¹  you prosper ¹²  in Ephrathah and become famous ¹³  in Bethlehem. ¹⁴  4:12 May your family ¹⁵  become like the family of Perez ¹⁶  – whom Tamar bore to Judah – through the descendants ¹⁷  the Lord gives you by this young woman.”

Psalms 9:5

9:5 You terrified the nations with your battle cry; ¹⁸ 

you destroyed the wicked; ¹⁹ 

you permanently wiped out all memory of them. ²⁰ 

Psalms 109:13

109:13 May his descendants ²¹  be cut off! ²² 

May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! ²³ 

¹ tn Heb “leave me alone.”

² tn Heb “from under heaven.”

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

⁵ tn Heb “the entire oath.”

⁶ tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

⁷ tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

⁸ tn Heb “in order to raise up the name of the deceased over his inheritance” (NASB similar).

⁹ tn Heb “be cut off” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “may not perish.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and from the gate of his place” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “from the court of his birth place”; NIV “from the town records.”

¹¹ tn Following the jussive, the imperative with prefixed vav indicates purpose or result.

¹² tn The phrase וַעֲשֵׂה־חַיִל (va’aseh-khayil, literally, “do strength”) has been variously translated: (1) financial prosperity: “may you become rich” (TEV), “may you be a rich man” (CEV), “may you achieve wealth” (NASB), “may you prosper” (NKJV, NJPS); (2) social prominence: “may you become powerful” (NCV), “may you have standing” (NIV), “may you be great” (NLT), “may you do well” (NAB); (3) reproductive fertility: “may you produce children” (NRSV); and (4) social activity: “may you do a worthy deed” (REB).

¹³ tc Heb “and call a name.” This statement appears to be elliptical. Usually the person named and the name itself follow this expression. Perhaps וּקְרָא־שֵׁם (uqÿra’-shem) should be emended to וְיִקָּרֵא־שֵׁם (vÿyiqqare’-shem), “and your name will be called out,” that is, “perpetuated” (see Gen 48:16, cf. also Ruth 4:14b). The omission of the suffix with “name” could be explained as virtual haplography (note the letter bet [ב], which is similar to kaf [כ], at the beginning of the next word). The same explanation could account for the omission of the prefixed yod (י) on the verb “call” (yod [י] and vav [ו] are similar in appearance). Whether one reads the imperative (the form in the MT) or the jussive (the emended form), the construction indicates purpose or result following the earlier jussive “may he make.”

¹⁴ map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.

¹⁵ tn Heb “your house” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

¹⁶ tn Heb “and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, from the offspring whom the Lord gives to you from this young woman.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “from the seed” (KJV, ASV both similar); NASB, NIV “through the offspring”; NRSV “through the children.”

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ 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.

²⁰ 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).

²¹ tn Or “offspring.”

²² sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

²³ tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”