20:35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
20:36 Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the sovereign Lord.
20:37 I will make you pass under 1 the shepherd’s staff, 2 and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
1 tn This is the same Hebrew verb used to describe the passing of the children through the fire.
2 sn The metaphor may be based in Lev 27:32 (see also Jer 33:13; Matt 25:32-33). A shepherd would count his sheep as they passed beneath his staff.