25:17 Ishmael lived a total of 6 137 years. He breathed his last and died; then he joined his ancestors. 7
49:33 When Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet up onto the bed, breathed his last breath, and went 8 to his people.
7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you 18 as he promised 19 your ancestors.
1 tn The vav with the pronoun before the verb calls special attention to the subject in contrast to the preceding subject.
2 sn You will go to your ancestors. This is a euphemistic expression for death.
3 tn Heb “in a good old age.”
4 tn Heb “old and full.”
5 tn Heb “And he was gathered to his people.” In the ancient Israelite view he joined his deceased ancestors in Sheol, the land of the dead.
7 tn Heb “And these are the days of the years of Ishmael.”
8 tn Heb “And he was gathered to his people.” In the ancient Israelite view he joined his deceased ancestors in Sheol, the land of the dead.
10 tn Heb “was gathered.”
13 tn The first verb is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, and the second verb is also. In such parallel clauses, the first may be subordinated, here as a temporal clause.
14 tn Heb “people.”
15 tn Heb “was gathered.” The phrase “to his ancestors” is elided in the Hebrew text, but is an implied repetition from the beginning of the verse, and has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
16 tn Heb “lie down with your fathers” (so NASB); NRSV “ancestors.”
17 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style. The third person singular also occurs in the Hebrew text twice more in this verse, three times in v. 17, once in v. 18, five times in v. 20, and four times in v. 21. Each time it is translated as third person plural for stylistic reasons.
18 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
19 tn Or “abandon” (TEV, NLT).
20 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
19 tn Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”
22 tn Heb “will keep with you the covenant and loyalty.” On the construction used here, see v. 9.
23 tn Heb “which he swore on oath.” The relative pronoun modifies “covenant,” so one could translate “will keep faithfully the covenant (or promise) he made on oath to your ancestors.”
25 tn The participle ὑπηρετήσας (Juphrethsa") is taken temporally.
26 tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for the death of a believer.
27 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “was gathered to his fathers” (a Semitic idiom).
28 tn Grk “saw,” but the literal translation of the phrase “saw decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “looked at decay,” while here “saw decay” is really figurative for “experienced decay.” This remark explains why David cannot fulfill the promise.