29:2 Moses proclaimed to all Israel as follows: “You have seen all that the Lord did 10 in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, all his servants, and his land.
1:6 The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb and said, “You have stayed 18 in the area of this mountain long enough.
10:11 He says to himself, 24
“God overlooks it;
he does not pay attention;
he never notices.” 25
10:2 The wicked arrogantly chase the oppressed; 26
the oppressed are trapped 27 by the schemes the wicked have dreamed up. 28
1:3 We always 33 give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
1:1 From Paul, 34 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1 tn The use of the demonstrative pronoun is enclitic, serving as an undeclined particle for emphasis. It gives the sense of “What in the world have you done?” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).
2 sn The Hebrew word order puts the subject (“the serpent”) before the verb here, giving prominence to it.
3 tn This verb (the Hiphil of נָשָׁא, nasha) is used elsewhere of a king or god misleading his people into false confidence (2 Kgs 18:29 = 2 Chr 32:15 = Isa 36:14; 2 Kgs 19:10 = Isa 37:10), of an ally deceiving a partner (Obad 7), of God deceiving his sinful people as a form of judgment (Jer 4:10), of false prophets instilling their audience with false hope (Jer 29:8), and of pride and false confidence producing self-deception (Jer 37:9; 49:16; Obad 3).
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “in his heart.”
6 tn Or “invokes a blessing on himself.” A formalized word of blessing is in view, the content of which appears later in the verse.
7 tn Heb “heart.”
8 tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here.
9 tn Heb “the watered with the parched.” The word “ground” is implied. The exact meaning of the phrase is uncertain although it appears to be figurative. This appears to be a proverbial observation employing a figure of speech (a merism) suggesting totality. That is, the Israelite who violates the letter and even spirit of the covenant will harm not only himself but everything he touches – “the watered and the parched.” Cf. CEV “you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you.”
10 tn The Hebrew text includes “to your eyes,” but this is redundant in English style (cf. the preceding “you have seen”) and is omitted in the translation.
11 tn Heb “when he struck [or “smote”].”
12 sn See Deut 2:26–3:22.
13 tn Heb “who lived.”
14 sn Heshbon is probably modern Tell Hesban, about 7.5 mi (12 km) south southwest of Amman, Jordan.
15 tn Heb “who lived.”
16 sn Ashtaroth is probably Tell àAshtarah, about 22 mi (35 km) due east of the Sea of Galilee.
17 sn Edrei is probably modern Deràa, 60 mi (95 km) south of Damascus (see Num 21:33; Josh 12:4; 13:12, 31).
18 tn Heb “lived”; “dwelled.”
19 tn Or “you.” A number of English versions treat the remainder of this verse and v. 17 as direct discourse rather than indirect discourse (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
20 tn Heb “brothers.” The term “brothers” could, in English, be understood to refer to siblings, so “fellow citizens” has been used in the translation.
21 tn The Hebrew word צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “fairly”) carries the basic idea of conformity to a norm of expected behavior or character, one established by God himself. Fair judgment adheres strictly to that norm or standard (see D. Reimer, NIDOTTE 3:750).
22 tn Heb “between a man and his brother.”
23 tn Heb “his stranger” or “his sojourner”; NAB, NIV “an alien”; NRSV “resident alien.” The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger) commonly means “foreigner.”
24 tn Heb “he says in his heart.” See v. 6.
25 tn Heb “God forgets, he hides his face, he never sees.”
26 tn Heb “because of the pride of [the] wicked he burns [i.e. hotly pursues] [the] oppressed.” The singular forms רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) and עָנִי (’aniy, “oppressed”) are collective and representative, as indicated in the next line, which uses plural verb forms to describe the actions of both.
27 tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 2 describe either what typically happens (from the psalmist’s perspective) or what the psalmist was experiencing at the time he offered this prayer.
28 tn Heb “they are trapped in the schemes which they have thought up.” The referents of the two pronominal suffixes on the verbs have been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent of the first suffix (“they”) is taken as the oppressed, while the referent of the second (“they”) is taken to be the wicked (cf. NIV, which renders “wicked” in the previous line as a collective singular). Others take the referent of both occurrences of “they” in the line to be the wicked (cf. NRSV, “let them be caught in the schemes they have devised”).
29 tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.
30 tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.
31 tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”
32 tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.
33 tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).
34 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
35 tn The participle ἐξαλείψας (exaleiyas) is a temporal adverbial participle of contemporaneous time related to the previous verb συνεζωοποίησεν (sunezwopoihsen), but has been translated as a finite verb because of the complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences. For the meaning “destroy” see BDAG 344-45 s.v. ἐξαλείφω 2.
36 tn On the translation of χειρόγραφον (ceirografon), see BDAG 1083 s.v. which refers to it as “a certificate of indebtedness.”