Exodus 3:6

3:6 He added, “I am the God of your father, ¹  the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look ²  at God.

Exodus 3:15

3:15 God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord ³  – the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you. This is my name ⁴  forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’ ⁵ 

Exodus 4:5

4:5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

Matthew 22:32

22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ⁶  He is not the God of the dead but of the living!” ⁷ 

Acts 3:13

3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ⁸  the God of our forefathers, ⁹  has glorified ¹⁰  his servant ¹¹  Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected ¹²  in the presence of Pilate after he had decided ¹³  to release him.

¹ sn This self-revelation by Yahweh prepares for the revelation of the holy name. While no verb is used here, the pronoun and the predicate nominative are a construction used throughout scripture to convey the “I am” disclosures – “I [am] the God of….” But the significant point here is the naming of the patriarchs, for this God is the covenant God, who will fulfill his promises.

² tn The clause uses the Hiphil infinitive construct with a preposition after the perfect tense: יָרֵא מֵהַבִּיט (yare’ mehabbit, “he was afraid from gazing”) meaning “he was afraid to gaze.” The preposition min (מִן) is used before infinitives after verbs like the one to complete the verb (see BDB 583 s.v. 7b).

³ sn Heb “Yahweh,” traditionally rendered “the Lord.” First the verb “I AM” was used (v. 14) in place of the name to indicate its meaning and to remind Moses of God’s promise to be with him (v. 12). Now in v. 15 the actual name is used for clear identification: “Yahweh…has sent me.” This is the name that the patriarchs invoked and proclaimed in the land of Canaan.

⁴ sn The words “name” and “memorial” are at the heart of the two parallel clauses that form a poetic pair. The Hebrew word “remembrance” is a poetical synonym for “name” (cf. Job 18:17; Ps 135:13; Prov 10:7; Isa 26:8) and conveys the idea that the nature or character of the person is to be remembered and praised (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 24).

⁵ tn The repetition of “generation” in this expression serves as a periphrasis for the superlative: “to the remotest generation” (GKC 432 §133.l).

⁶ sn A quotation from Exod 3:6.

⁷ sn He is not God of the dead but of the living. Jesus’ point was that if God could identify himself as God of the three old patriarchs, then they must still be alive when God spoke to Moses; and so they must be raised.

⁸ tc ‡ The repetition of ὁ θεός (Jo qeos, “God”) before the names of Isaac and Jacob is found in Ì⁷⁴ א C (A D without article) 36 104 1175 pc lat. The omission of the second and third ὁ θεός is supported by B E Ψ 33 1739 Ï pc. The other time that Exod 3:6 is quoted in Acts (7:32) the best witnesses also lack the repeated ὁ θεός, but the three other times this OT passage is quoted in the NT the full form, with the thrice-mentioned θεός, is used (Matt 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). Scribes would be prone to conform the wording here to the LXX; the longer reading is thus most likely not authentic. NA²⁷ has the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

⁹ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

¹⁰ sn Has glorified. Jesus is alive, raised and active, as the healing illustrates so dramatically how God honors him.

¹¹ sn His servant. The term servant has messianic connotations given the context of the promise, the note of suffering, and the titles and functions noted in vv. 14-15.

¹² tn Or “denied,” “disowned.”

¹³ tn This genitive absolute construction could be understood as temporal (“when he had decided”) or concessive (“although he had decided”).