1 Kings 18:36-37

18:36 When it was time for the evening offering, ¹  Elijah the prophet approached the altar ²  and prayed: “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove ³  today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 18:37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are the true God ⁴  and that you are winning back their allegiance.” ⁵ 

Exodus 17:4

17:4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with ⁶  this people? – a little more ⁷  and they will stone me!” ⁸ 

Exodus 17:1

Water at Massa and Meribah

17:1 ⁹ The whole community ¹⁰  of the Israelites traveled on their journey ¹¹  from the Desert of Sin according to the Lord’s instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. ¹²  Now ¹³  there was no water for the people to drink. ¹⁴ 

Exodus 7:8-9

7:8 The Lord said ¹⁵  to Moses and Aaron, ¹⁶  7:9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Do ¹⁷  a miracle,’ and you say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down ¹⁸  before Pharaoh,’ it will become ¹⁹  a snake.”

Exodus 7:2

7:2 You are to speak ²⁰  everything I command you, ²¹  and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh that he must release ²²  the Israelites from his land.

Exodus 19:4

19:4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles’ wings ²³  and brought you to myself. ²⁴ 

Exodus 19:15

19:15 He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day. Do not go near your wives.” ²⁵ 

Psalms 99:6

99:6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests;

Samuel was one of those who prayed to him. ²⁶ 

They ²⁷  prayed to the Lord and he answered them.

Matthew 21:22

21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, ²⁸  you will receive.”

James 5:15-18

5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up – and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ²⁹  5:16 So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. ³⁰  5:17 Elijah was a human being ³¹  like us, and he prayed earnestly ³²  that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! 5:18 Then ³³  he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest.

[18:36]  ¹ tn Heb “at the offering up of the offering.”

[18:36]  ² tn The words “the altar” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[18:36]  ³ tn Heb “let it be known.”

[18:37]  ⁴ tn Heb “the God.”

[18:37]  ⁵ tn Heb “that you are turning their heart[s] back.”

[17:4]  ⁶ tn The preposition lamed (ל) is here specification, meaning “with respect to” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 49, §273).

[17:4]  ⁷ tn Or “they are almost ready to stone me.”

[17:4]  ⁸ tn The perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive almost develops an independent force; this is true in sentences where it follows an expression of time, as here (see GKC 334 §112.x).

[17:1]  ⁹ sn This is the famous story telling how the people rebelled against Yahweh when they thirsted, saying that Moses had brought them out into the wilderness to kill them by thirst, and how Moses with the staff brought water from the rock. As a result of this the name was called Massa and Meribah because of the testing and the striving. It was a challenge to Moses’ leadership as well as a test of Yahweh’s presence. The narrative in its present form serves an important point in the argument of the book. The story turns on the gracious provision of God who can give his people water when there is none available. The narrative is structured to show how the people strove. Thus, the story intertwines God’s free flowing grace with the sad memory of Israel’s sins. The passage can be divided into three parts: the situation and the complaint (1-3), the cry and the miracle (4-6), and the commemoration by naming (7).

[17:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “congregation” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[17:1]  ¹¹ tn The text says that they journeyed “according to their journeyings.” Since the verb form (and therefore the derived noun) essentially means to pull up the tent pegs and move along, this verse would be saying that they traveled by stages, or, from place to place.

[17:1]  ¹² sn The location is a bit of a problem. Exod 19:1-2 suggests that it is near Sinai, whereas it is normally located near Kadesh in the north. Without any details provided, M. Noth concludes that two versions came together (Exodus [OTL], 138). S. R. Driver says that the writer wrote not knowing that they were 24 miles apart (Exodus, 157). Critics have long been bothered by this passage because of the two names given at the same place. If two sources had been brought together, it is not possible now to identify them. But Noth insisted that if there were two names there were two different locations. The names Massah and Meribah occur alone in Scripture (Deut 9:22, and Num 20:1 for examples), but together in Ps 95 and in Deut 33:8. But none of these passages is a clarification of the difficulty. Most critics would argue that Massah was a secondary element that was introduced into this account, because Exod 17 focuses on Meribah. From that starting point they can diverge greatly on the interpretation, usually having something to do with a water test. But although Num 20 is parallel in several ways, there are major differences: 1) it takes place 40 years later than this, 2) the name Kadesh is joined to the name Meribah there, and 3) Moses is punished there. One must conclude that if an event could occur twice in similar ways (complaint about water would be a good candidate for such), then there is no reason a similar name could not be given.

[17:1]  ¹³ tn The disjunctive vav introduces a parenthetical clause that is essential for this passage – there was no water.

[17:1]  ¹⁴ tn Here the construction uses a genitive after the infinitive construct for the subject: “there was no water for the drinking of the people” (GKC 353-54 §115.c).

[7:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And Yahweh said.”

[7:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “said to Moses and Aaron, saying.”

[7:9]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is תְּנוּ (tÿnu), literally “give.” The imperative is followed by an ethical dative that strengthens the subject of the imperative: “you give a miracle.”

[7:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and throw it.” The direct object, “it,” is implied.

[7:9]  ¹⁹ tn The form is the jussive יְהִי ( yÿhi). Gesenius notes that frequently in a conditional clause, a sentence with a protasis and apodosis, the jussive will be used. Here it is in the apodosis (GKC 323 §109.h).

[7:2]  ²⁰ tn The imperfect tense here should have the nuance of instruction or injunction: “you are to speak.” The subject is singular (Moses) and made emphatic by the presence of the personal pronoun “you.”

[7:2]  ²¹ tn The phrase translated “everything I command you” is a noun clause serving as the direct object of the verb “speak.” The verb in the clause (אֲצַוֶּךָ, ’atsavvekha) is the Piel imperfect. It could be classified as a future: “everything that I will command you.” A nuance of progressive imperfect also fits well: “everything that I am commanding you.”

[7:2]  ²² tn The form is וְשִׁלַּח (vÿshillakh), a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive. Following the imperfects of injunction or instruction, this verb continues the sequence. It could be taken as equal to an imperfect expressing future (“and he will release”) or subordinate to express purpose (“to release” = “in order that he may release”).

[19:4]  ²³ tn The figure compares the way a bird would teach its young to fly and leave the nest with the way Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt. The bird referred to could be one of several species of eagles, but more likely is the griffin-vulture. The image is that of power and love.

[19:4]  ²⁴ sn The language here is the language of a bridegroom bringing the bride to the chamber. This may be a deliberate allusion to another metaphor for the covenant relationship.

[19:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “do not go near a woman”; NIV “Abstain from sexual relations.”

[99:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “among those who called on his name.”

[99:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “those who.” The participle is in apposition to the phrase “those who called on his name” in the preceding line.

[21:22]  ²⁸ tn Grk “believing”; the participle here is conditional.

[5:15]  ²⁹ tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”

[5:16]  ³⁰ tn Or “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful”; Grk “is very powerful in its working.”

[5:17]  ³¹ tn Although it is certainly true that Elijah was a “man,” here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") has been translated as “human being” because the emphasis in context is not on Elijah’s masculine gender, but on the common humanity he shared with the author and the readers.

[5:17]  ³² tn Grk “he prayed with prayer” (using a Hebrew idiom to show intensity).

[5:18]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events.