15:11 Who is like you, 1 O Lord, among the gods? 2
Who is like you? – majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, 3 working wonders?
33:26 There is no one like God, O Jeshurun, 4
who rides through the sky 5 to help you,
on the clouds in majesty.
33:1 This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.
8:1 You must keep carefully all these commandments 6 I am giving 7 you today so that you may live, increase in number, 8 and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 9
35:10 With all my strength I will say, 10
“O Lord, who can compare to you?
You rescue 11 the oppressed from those who try to overpower them; 12
the oppressed and needy from those who try to rob them.” 13
71:19 Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above; 14
you have done great things. 15
O God, who can compare to you? 16
89:6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings, 17
89:8 O Lord, sovereign God! 18
Who is strong like you, O Lord?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
113:5 Who can compare to the Lord our God,
who sits on a high throne? 19
113:6 He bends down to look 20
at the sky and the earth.
40:18 To whom can you compare God?
To what image can you liken him?
40:25 “To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?”
says the Holy One. 21
46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! 22
Think about it, you rebels! 23
46:9 Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! 24
Truly I am God, I have no peer; 25
I am God, and there is none like me,
1 tn The question is of course rhetorical; it is a way of affirming that no one is comparable to God. See C. J. Labuschagne, The Incomparability of Yahweh in the Old Testament, 22, 66-67, and 94-97.
2 sn Verses 11-17 will now focus on Yahweh as the incomparable one who was able to save Israel from their foes and afterward lead them to the promised land.
3 tn S. R. Driver suggests “praiseworthy acts” as the translation (Exodus, 137).
4 sn Jeshurun is a term of affection referring to Israel, derived from the Hebrew verb יָשַׁר (yashar, “be upright”). See note on the term in Deut 32:15.
5 tn Or “(who) rides (on) the heavens” (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT). This title depicts Israel’s God as sovereign over the elements of the storm (cf. Ps 68:33). The use of the phrase here may be polemical; Moses may be asserting that Israel’s God, not Baal (called the “rider of the clouds” in the Ugaritic myths), is the true divine king (cf. v. 5) who controls the elements of the storm, grants agricultural prosperity, and delivers his people from their enemies. See R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “The Polemic against Baalism in Israel’s Early History and Literature,” BSac 151 (1994): 275.
6 tn The singular term (מִצְוָה, mitsvah) includes the whole corpus of covenant stipulations, certainly the book of Deuteronomy at least (cf. Deut 5:28; 6:1, 25; 7:11; 11:8, 22; 15:5; 17:20; 19:9; 27:1; 30:11; 31:5). The plural (מִצְוֹת, mitsot) refers to individual stipulations (as in vv. 2, 6).
7 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in v. 11).
8 tn Heb “multiply” (so KJV, NASB, NLT); NIV, NRSV “increase.”
9 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 16, 18).
10 tn Heb “all my bones will say.”
11 tn Heb “[the one who] rescues.” The substantival participle in the Hebrew text characterizes God as one who typically rescues the oppressed.
12 tn Heb “from [the one who is] too strong for him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense. The typical oppressed individual and typical oppressor are in view.
13 tn Heb “the oppressed [one] and needy [one] from [the one who] robs him.” As in the previous line, the singular forms are used in a representative sense.
14 tn Heb “your justice, O God, [is] unto the height.” The Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) is here a title for the sky/heavens.
15 tn Heb “you who have done great things.”
16 tn Or “Who is like you?”
17 tn Heb “sons of gods”; or “sons of God.” Though אֵלִים (’elim) is vocalized as a plural form (“gods”) in the Hebrew text, it is likely that the final mem (ם) is actually enclitic rather than a plural marker. In this case one may read “God.” Some, following a Qumran text and the LXX, also propose the phrase occurred in the original text of Deut 32:8. The phrase בְנֵי אֵלִים (vÿney ’elim, “sons of gods” or “sons of God”) occurs only here and in Ps 29:1. Since the “sons of gods/God” are here associated with “the assembly of the holy ones” and “council of the holy ones,” the heavenly assembly (comprised of so-called “angels” and other supernatural beings) appears to be in view. See Job 5:1; 15:15 and Zech 14:5, where these supernatural beings are referred to as “holy ones.” In Canaanite mythological texts the divine council of the high god El is called “the sons of El.” The OT apparently uses the Canaanite phrase, applying it to the supernatural beings that surround the
18 tn Traditionally “God of hosts.” The title here pictures the
19 tn Heb “the one who makes high to sit.”
20 tn Heb “the one who makes low to see.”
21 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
22 tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.
23 tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”
24 tn Heb “remember the former things, from antiquity”; KJV, ASV “the former things of old.”
25 tn Heb “and there is no other” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).