76:12 He humbles princes; 1
the kings of the earth regard him as awesome. 2
15:16 Fear and dread 3 will fall 4 on them;
by the greatness 5 of your arm they will be as still as stone 6
until 7 your people pass by, O Lord,
until the people whom you have bought 8 pass by.
23:27 “I will send my terror 9 before you, and I will destroy 10 all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs 11 to you.
30:13 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:
I will destroy the idols,
and put an end to the gods of Memphis.
There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;
so I will make the land of Egypt fearful. 18
1 tn Heb “he reduces the spirit of princes.” According to HALOT 148 s.v. II בצר, the Hebrew verb בָּצַר (batsar) is here a hapax legomenon meaning “reduce, humble.” The statement is generalizing, with the imperfect tense highlighting God’s typical behavior.
2 tn Heb “[he is] awesome to the kings of the earth.”
3 tn The two words can form a nominal hendiadys, “a dreadful fear,” though most English versions retain the two separate terms.
4 tn The form is an imperfect.
5 tn The adjective is in construct form and governs the noun “arm” (“arm” being the anthropomorphic expression for what God did). See GKC 428 §132.c.
6 sn For a study of the words for fear, see N. Waldman, “A Comparative Note on Exodus 15:14-16,” JQR 66 (1976): 189-92.
7 tn Clauses beginning with עַד (’ad) express a limit that is not absolute, but only relative, beyond which the action continues (GKC 446-47 §138.g).
8 tn The verb קָנָה (qanah) here is the verb “acquire, purchase,” and probably not the homonym “to create, make” (see Gen 4:1; Deut 32:6; and Prov 8:22).
9 tn The word for “terror” is אֵימָתִי (’emati); the word has the thought of “panic” or “dread.” God would make the nations panic as they heard of the exploits and knew the Israelites were drawing near. U. Cassuto thinks the reference to “hornets” in v. 28 may be a reference to this fear, an unreasoning dread, rather than to another insect invasion (Exodus, 308). Others suggest it is symbolic of an invading army or a country like Egypt or literal insects (see E. Neufeld, “Insects as Warfare Agents in the Ancient Near East,” Or 49 [1980]: 30-57).
10 tn Heb “kill.”
11 tn The text has “and I will give all your enemies to you [as] a back.” The verb of making takes two accusatives, the second being the adverbial accusative of product (see GKC 371-72 §117.ii, n. 1).
12 tn Heb “under heaven” (so NIV, NRSV).
13 tn Heb “from before you.”
14 tn Heb “an everlasting covenant.” For the rationale for the rendering “agreement” and the nature of the biblical covenants see the study note on 11:2.
15 tn Or “stop being gracious to them” or “stop blessing them with good”; Heb “turn back from them to do good to them.”
16 tn Or “I will make them want to fear and respect me so much that”; Heb “I will put the fear of me in their hearts.” However, as has been noted several times, “heart” in Hebrew is more the center of the volition (and intellect) than the center of emotions as it is in English. Both translations are intended to reflect the difference in psychology.
17 tn The words “never again” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied not only by this translation but by a number of others.
18 tn Heb “I will put fear in the land of Egypt.”