Genesis 27:8

27:8 Now then, my son, do ¹  exactly what I tell you! ² 

Genesis 27:13

27:13 So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, ³  my son! Just obey me! ⁴  Go and get them for me!”

Genesis 28:7

28:7 Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan Aram.

Proverbs 30:17

30:17 The eye ⁵  that mocks at a father

and despises obeying ⁶  a mother –

the ravens of the valley will peck it out

and the young vultures will eat it. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 35:14

35:14 Jonadab son of Rechab ordered his descendants not to drink wine. His orders have been carried out. ⁸  To this day his descendants have drunk no wine because they have obeyed what their ancestor commanded them. But I ⁹  have spoken to you over and over again, ¹⁰  but you have not obeyed me!

Acts 5:29

5:29 But Peter and the apostles replied, ¹¹  “We must obey ¹²  God rather than people. ¹³ 

¹ tn Heb “listen to my voice.” The Hebrew idiom means “to comply; to obey.”

² tn Heb “to that which I am commanding you.”

³ tn Heb “upon me your curse.”

⁴ tn Heb “only listen to my voice.”

⁵ sn The “eye” as the organ that exhibits the inner feelings most clearly, here represents a look of scorn or disdain that speaks volumes (a metonymy of cause or of adjunct). It is comparable to the “evil eye” which is stinginess (28:22).

⁶ tn The Hebrew word לִיקֲּהַת (liqqahat, “obeying”) occurs only here and in Gen 49:10; it seems to mean “to receive” in the sense of “receiving instruction” or “obeying.” C. H. Toy suggests emending to “to old age” (לְזִקְנַת, lÿziqnat) of the mother (Proverbs [ICC], 530). The LXX with γῆρας (ghra", “old age”) suggests that a root lhq had something to do with “white hair.” D. W. Thomas suggests a corruption from lhyqt to lyqht; it would have read, “The eye that mocks a father and despises an aged mother” (“A Note on לִיקֲּהַת in Proverbs 30:17,” JTS 42 [1941]: 154-55); this is followed by NAB “or scorns an aged mother.”

⁷ sn The sternest punishment is for the evil eye. The punishment is talionic – eye for eye. The reference to “the valley” may indicate a place where people are not be given decent burials and the birds of prey pick the corpses clean. It is an image the prophets use in judgment passages.

⁸ tn Heb “The words of Jonadab son of Rechab which he commanded his descendants not to drink wine have been carried out.” (For the construction of the accusative of subject after a passive verb illustrated here see GKC 388 §121.b.) The sentence has been broken down and made more direct to better conform to contemporary English style.

⁹ tn The vav (ו) plus the independent pronoun before the verb is intended to mark a sharp contrast. It is difficult, if not impossible to mark this in English other than “But I.”

¹⁰ tn On this idiom (which occurs again in the following verse) see the translator’s note on 7:13 for this idiom and compare its use in 7:13, 25; 11:7; 25:3, 4; 26:5; 29:19; 32:33; 35:14, 15; 44:9.

¹¹ tn Grk “apostles answered and said.”

¹² sn Obey. See 4:19. This response has Jewish roots (Dan 3:16-18; 2 Macc 7:2; Josephus, Ant. 17.6.3 [17.159].

¹³ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).