1 Kings 3:7-9

3:7 Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in my father David’s place, even though I am only a young man and am inexperienced. ¹  3:8 Your servant stands ²  among your chosen people; ³  they are a great nation that is too numerous to count or number. 3:9 So give your servant a discerning mind ⁴  so he can make judicial decisions for ⁵  your people and distinguish right from wrong. ⁶  Otherwise ⁷  no one is able ⁸  to make judicial decisions for ⁹  this great nation of yours.” ¹⁰ 

Exodus 3:12

3:12 He replied, ¹¹  “Surely I will be with you, ¹²  and this will be the sign ¹³  to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve ¹⁴  God on this mountain.”

Joshua 1:5

1:5 No one will be able to resist you ¹⁵  all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not abandon you or leave you alone.

Joshua 1:17

1:17 Just as we obeyed ¹⁶  Moses, so we will obey you. But ¹⁷  may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses!

Joshua 1:1

The Lord Commissions Joshua

1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:

Joshua 20:1

Israel Designates Cities of Refuge

20:1 The Lord instructed Joshua:

Joshua 20:1

Israel Designates Cities of Refuge

20:1 The Lord instructed Joshua:

Joshua 1:1-2

The Lord Commissions Joshua

1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: 1:2 “Moses my servant is dead. Get ready! ¹⁸  Cross the Jordan River! ¹⁹  Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them. ²⁰ 

Joshua 1:1

The Lord Commissions Joshua

1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:

Psalms 46:7

46:7 The Lord who commands armies is on our side! ²¹ 

The God of Jacob ²²  is our protector! ²³  (Selah)

Psalms 46:11

46:11 The Lord who commands armies is on our side! ²⁴ 

The God of Jacob ²⁵  is our protector! ²⁶  (Selah)

Isaiah 8:10

8:10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted!

Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ²⁷ 

For God is with us! ²⁸ 

Matthew 1:23

1:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him ²⁹  Emmanuel,” ³⁰  which means ³¹  “God with us.” ³² 

Romans 8:31

8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

[3:7]  ¹ tn Heb “and I do not know going out or coming in.”

[3:8]  ² tn There is no verb expressed in the Hebrew text; “stands” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:8]  ³ tn Heb “your people whom you have chosen.”

[3:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “a hearing heart.” (The Hebrew term translated “heart” often refers to the mental faculties.)

[3:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “to judge.”

[3:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “to understand between good and evil.”

[3:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “for”; the word “otherwise” is used to reflect the logical sense of the statement.

[3:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “who is able?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[3:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “to judge.”

[3:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your numerous people.”

[3:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And he said”; the word “replied” clarifies for English readers that speaker is God.

[3:12]  ¹² tn The particle כִּי (ki) has the asseverative use here, “surely, indeed,” which is frequently found with oaths (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449). The imperfect tense אֶהְיֶה (’ehyeh) could be rendered as the future tense, “I will be” or the present tense “I am” with you. The future makes the better sense in this case, since the subject matter is the future mission. But since it is a stative verb, the form will also lend itself nicely to explaining the divine name – he is the One who is eternally present – “I am with you always.”

[3:12]  ¹³ sn In view of Moses’ hesitancy, a sign is necessary to support the promise. A sign is often an unusual or miraculous event that introduces, authenticates, or illustrates the message. One expects a direct connection between the sign and the message (for a helpful discussion, see S. Porúbcan, “The Word ’OT in Isaia 7,14,” CBQ 22 [1960]: 144-49). In this passage the sign is a confirming one, i.e., when Israel worships at the mountain that will be the proof that God delivered them from Egypt. Thus, the purpose of the exodus that makes possible the worship will be to prove that it was God who brought it about. In the meantime, Moses will have to trust in Yahweh.

[3:12]  ¹⁴ tn The verb תַּעַבְדוּן (ta’avdun, “you will serve”) is one of the foremost words for worship in the Torah. Keeping the commandments and serving Yahweh usually sum up the life of faith; the true worshiper seeks to obey him. The highest title anyone can have in the OT is “the servant of Yahweh.” The verb here could be rendered interpretively as “worship,” but it is better to keep it to the basic idea of serving because that emphasizes an important aspect of worship, and it highlights the change from Israel’s serving Egypt, which has been prominent in the earlier chapters. The words “and they” are supplied to clarify for English readers that the subject of the verb is plural (Moses and the people), unlike the other second person forms in vv. 10 and 12, which are singular.

[1:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “A man will not stand before you.” The second person pronouns in this verse are singular, indicating Joshua is the addressee.

[1:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “listened to.”

[1:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Only.” Here and in v. 18 this word qualifies what precedes (see also v. 7).

[1:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Get up!”

[1:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “this Jordan”; the word “River” has been supplied in the translation for clarity (likewise in v. 11).

[1:2]  ²⁰ tc Heb “Cross over this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land that I am giving to them, to the children of Israel.” The final phrase, “to the children of Israel,” is probably a later scribal addition specifying the identity of “these people/them.”

[46:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “the Lord of hosts is with us.” The title “Lord of hosts” here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle (see Ps 24:10). The military imagery is further developed in vv. 8-9.

[46:7]  ²² tn That is, Israel, or Judah (see Ps 20:1).

[46:7]  ²³ tn Heb “our elevated place” (see Pss 9:9; 18:2).

[46:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the Lord of hosts is with us.” The title “Lord of hosts” here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle (see Ps 24:10). The military imagery is further developed in vv. 8-9.

[46:11]  ²⁵ tn That is, Israel, or Judah (see Ps 20:1).

[46:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “our elevated place” (see Pss 9:9; 18:2).

[8:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “speak a word, but it will not stand.”

[8:10]  ²⁸ sn In these vv. 9-10 the tone shifts abruptly from judgment to hope. Hostile nations like Assyria may attack God’s people, but eventually they will be destroyed, for God is with his people, sometimes to punish, but ultimately to vindicate. In addition to being a reminder of God’s presence in the immediate crisis faced by Ahaz and Judah, Immanuel (whose name is echoed in this concluding statement) was a guarantee of the nation’s future greatness in fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises. Eventually God would deliver his people from the hostile nations (vv. 9-10) through another child, an ideal Davidic ruler who would embody God’s presence in a special way (see 9:6-7). Jesus the Messiah is the fulfillment of the Davidic ideal prophesied by Isaiah, the one whom Immanuel foreshadowed. Through the miracle of the incarnation he is literally “God with us.” Matthew realized this and applied Isaiah’s ancient prophecy of Immanuel’s birth to Jesus (Matt 1:22-23). The first Immanuel was a reminder to the people of God’s presence and a guarantee of a greater child to come who would manifest God’s presence in an even greater way. The second Immanuel is “God with us” in a heightened and infinitely superior sense. He “fulfills” Isaiah’s Immanuel prophecy by bringing the typology intended by God to realization and by filling out or completing the pattern designed by God. Of course, in the ultimate fulfillment of the type, the incarnate Immanuel’s mother must be a virgin, so Matthew uses a Greek term (παρθένος, parqenos), which carries that technical meaning (in contrast to the Hebrew word עַלְמָה [’almah], which has the more general meaning “young woman”). Matthew draws similar analogies between NT and OT events in 2:15, 18. The linking of these passages by analogy is termed “fulfillment.” In 2:15 God calls Jesus, his perfect Son, out of Egypt, just as he did his son Israel in the days of Moses, an historical event referred to in Hos 11:1. In so doing he makes it clear that Jesus is the ideal Israel prophesied by Isaiah (see Isa 49:3), sent to restore wayward Israel (see Isa 49:5, cf. Matt 1:21). In 2:18 Herod’s slaughter of the infants is another illustration of the oppressive treatment of God’s people by foreign tyrants. Herod’s actions are analogous to those of the Assyrians, who deported the Israelites, causing the personified land to lament as inconsolably as a mother robbed of her little ones (Jer 31:15).

[1:23]  ²⁹ tn Grk “they will call his name.”

[1:23]  ³⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 7:14.

[1:23]  ³¹ tn Grk “is translated.”

[1:23]  ³² sn An allusion to Isa 8:8, 10 (LXX).