7:16 They turn to Baal; 1
they are like an unreliable bow.
Their leaders will fall by the sword
because their prayers to Baal 2 have made me angry.
So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. 3
28:1 “If you indeed 4 obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving 5 you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.
1 tc The MT reads the enigmatic יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא עָל (yashuvu lo’ ’al) which is taken variously: “they turn, but not upward” (NASB); “they do not turn to the Most High” (NIV); “they return, but not to the most High” (KJV). The BHS editors suggest יָשׁוּבוּ לַבַּעַל (yashuvu labba’al, “they turn to Baal”; so RSV) or יָשׁוּבוּ לַבְּלִיַּעַל (yashuvu labbÿliyya’al, “they turn to Belial”) which is reflected by the LXX.
2 tn Heb “because their tongue.” The term “tongue” is used figuratively, as a metonymy of cause (tongue) for the effect (prayers to Baal).
3 tn Heb “this [will] be for scorn in the land of Egypt”; NIV “they will be ridiculed (NAB shall be mocked) in the land of Egypt.”
4 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”
5 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).
6 tc The translation follows the LXX in reading the first person pronoun. The MT, followed by many English versions, has a second person masculine singular pronoun, “your.”
7 tn Heb “hardened his spirit” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV “made his spirit stubborn.”
8 tn Heb “made his heart obstinate” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “made his heart defiant.”
9 tn Heb “into your hand.”
10 tn Heb “his face.” See v. 19 as well.
11 sn The commander is probably the Roman commander, Lucius Cornelius Scipio.
12 tn The Hebrew here is difficult in that the negative בִּלְתִּי (biltiy, “not”) is used in an unusual way. The sense is not entirely clear.
13 tn Heb “his shameful conduct he will return to him.”