32:11 But Moses sought the favor 1 of the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
63:16 For you are our father,
though Abraham does not know us
and Israel does not recognize us.
You, Lord, are our father;
you have been called our protector from ancient times. 7
63:17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray 8 from your ways, 9
and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? 10
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your inheritance!
63:18 For a short time your special 11 nation possessed a land, 12
but then our adversaries knocked down 13 your holy sanctuary.
63:19 We existed from ancient times, 14
but you did not rule over them,
they were not your subjects. 15
64:8 Yet, 16 Lord, you are our father.
We are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the product of your labor. 17
64:9 Lord, do not be too angry!
Do not hold our sins against us continually! 18
Take a good look at your people, at all of us! 19
64:10 Your chosen 20 cities have become a desert;
Zion has become a desert,
Jerusalem 21 is a desolate ruin.
64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, 22
the place where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire;
all our prized possessions have been destroyed. 23
64:12 In light of all this, 24 how can you still hold back, Lord?
How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?
14:20 Lord, we confess that we have been wicked.
We confess that our ancestors have done wrong. 25
We have indeed 26 sinned against you.
14:21 For the honor of your name, 27 do not treat Jerusalem 28 with contempt.
Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. 29
Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it! 30
1 tn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 351) draws on Arabic to show that the meaning of this verb (חָלָה, khalah) was properly “make sweet the face” or “stroke the face”; so here “to entreat, seek to conciliate.” In this prayer, Driver adds, Moses urges four motives for mercy: 1) Israel is Yahweh’s people, 2) Israel’s deliverance has demanded great power, 3) the Egyptians would mock if the people now perished, and 4) the oath God made to the fathers.
2 tn Heb “the
3 tn Heb “Lord
4 tn Heb “your inheritance”; NLT “your special (very own NRSV) possession.” Israel is compared to landed property that one would inherit from his ancestors and pass on to his descendants.
5 tn Heb “you have redeemed in your greatness.”
6 tn Heb “by your strong hand.”
7 tn Heb “our protector [or “redeemer”] from antiquity [is] your name.”
8 tn Some suggest a tolerative use of the Hiphil here, “[why do] you allow us to stray?” (cf. NLT). Though the Hiphil of תָעָה (ta’ah) appears to be tolerative in Jer 50:6, elsewhere it is preferable or necessary to take it as causative. See Isa 3:12; 9:15; and 30:28, as well as Gen 20:13; 2 Kgs 21:9; Job 12:24-25; Prov 12:26; Jer 23:13, 32; Hos 4:12; Amos 2:4; Mic 3:5.
9 tn This probably refers to God’s commands.
10 tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
11 tn Or “holy” (ASV, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT).
12 tn Heb “for a short time they had a possession, the people of your holiness.”
13 tn Heb “your adversaries trampled on.”
14 tn Heb “we were from antiquity” (see v. 16). The collocation עוֹלָם + מִן + הָיָה (hayah + min + ’olam) occurs only here.
15 tn Heb “you did not rule them, your name was not called over them.” The expression “the name is called over” indicates ownership; see the note at 4:1. As these two lines stand they are very difficult to interpret. They appear to be stating that the adversaries just mentioned in v. 18 have not been subject to the Lord’s rule in the past, perhaps explaining why they could commit the atrocity described in v. 18b.
16 tn On the force of וְעַתָּה (vÿ’attah) here, see HALOT 902 s.v. עַתָּה.
17 tn Heb “the work of your hand.”
18 tn Heb “do not remember sin continually.”
19 tn Heb “Look, gaze at your people, all of us.” Another option is to translate, “Take a good look! We are all your people.”
20 tn Heb “holy” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT); NIV “sacred.”
21 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
22 tn Heb “our source of pride.”
23 tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”
24 tn Heb “because of these”; KJV, ASV “for these things.”
25 tn Heb “We acknowledge our wickedness [and] the iniquity of our [fore]fathers.” For the use of the word “know” to mean “confess,” “acknowledge” cf. BDB 394 s.v. יָדַע, Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Jer 3:13.
26 tn This is another example of the intensive use of כִּי (ki). See BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e.
27 tn Heb “For the sake of your name.”
28 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
29 tn English versions quite commonly supply “us” as an object for the verb in the first line. This is probably wrong. The Hebrew text reads: “Do not treat with contempt for the sake of your name; do not treat with disdain your glorious throne.” This is case of poetic parallelism where the object is left hanging until the second line. For an example of this see Prov 13:1 in the original and consult E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 103-4. There has also been some disagreement whether “your glorious throne” refers to the temple (as in 17:12) or Jerusalem (as in 3:17). From the beginning of the prayer in v. 19 where a similar kind of verb has been used with respect to Zion/Jerusalem it would appear that the contextual referent is Jerusalem. The absence of an object from the first line makes it possible to retain part of the metaphor in the translation and still convey some meaning.
30 tn Heb “Remember, do not break your covenant with us.”