24:3 Moses came 1 and told the people all the Lord’s words 2 and all the decisions. All the people answered together, 3 “We are willing to do 4 all the words that the Lord has said,”
24:24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship 5 the Lord our God and obey him.” 6
1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:
1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:
8:2 Obey the king’s command, 10
because you took 11 an oath before God 12 to be loyal to him. 13
4:2 You must be truthful, honest and upright
when you take an oath saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’ 14
If you do, 15 the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are
and will make him the object of their boasting.” 16
1 sn The general consensus among commentators is that this refers to Moses’ coming from the mountain after he made the ascent in 20:21. Here he came and told them the laws (written in 20:22-23:33), and of the call to come up to Yahweh.
2 sn The Decalogue may not be included here because the people had heard those commands themselves earlier.
3 tn The text simply has “one voice” (קוֹל אֶחָד, qol ’ekhad); this is an adverbial accusative of manner, telling how the people answered – “in one voice,” or unanimously (see GKC 375 §118.q).
4 tn The verb is the imperfect tense (נַעֲשֶׂה, na’aseh), although the form could be classified as a cohortative. If the latter, they would be saying that they are resolved to do what God said. If it is an imperfect, then the desiderative would make the most sense: “we are willing to do.” They are not presumptuously saying they are going to do all these things.
5 tn Or “will serve.”
6 tn Heb “and listen to his voice.”
7 tn Heb “your fathers.”
8 tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Or “served.”
10 tc The Leningrad Codex (the basis of BHS) reads אֲנִי (’ani, 1st person common singular independent personal pronoun): “I obey the king’s command.” Other medieval Hebrew
11 tn The phrase “you took” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.
12 tn The genitive-construct שְׁבוּעַת אֱלֹהִים (shÿvu’at ’elohim, “an oath of God”) functions as a genitive of location (“an oath before God”) or an adjectival genitive of attribute (“a supreme oath”).
13 tn The words “to be loyal to him” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.
14 tn Heb “If you [= you must, see the translator’s note on the word “do” later in this verse] swear/take an oath, ‘As the
15 tn 4:1-2a consists of a number of “if” clauses, two of which are formally introduced by the Hebrew particle אִם (’im) while the others are introduced by the conjunction “and,” followed by a conjunction (“and” = “then”) with a perfect in 4:2b which introduces the consequence. The translation “You must…. If you do,” was chosen to avoid a long and complicated sentence.
16 tn Heb “bless themselves in him and make their boasts in him.”