1 Kings 8:23

8:23 He prayed: ¹  “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You maintain covenantal loyalty ²  to your servants who obey you with sincerity. ³ 

Exodus 24:10

24:10 and they saw ⁴  the God of Israel. Under his feet ⁵  there was something like a pavement ⁶  made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself. ⁷ 

Exodus 24:1

The Lord Ratifies the Covenant

24:1 ⁸ But to Moses the Lord ⁹  said, “Come up ¹⁰  to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance. ¹¹ 

Exodus 1:17

1:17 But ¹²  the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. ¹³ 

Psalms 41:13

41:13 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise ¹⁴ 

in the future and forevermore! ¹⁵ 

We agree! We agree! ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 41:17

41:17 The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none;

their tongues are parched from thirst.

I, the Lord, will respond to their prayers; ¹⁷ 

I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.

Isaiah 45:3

45:3 I will give you hidden treasures, ¹⁸ 

riches stashed away in secret places,

so you may recognize that I am the Lord,

the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel.

[8:23]  ¹ tn Heb “said.”

[8:23]  ² tn Heb “one who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[8:23]  ³ tn Heb “who walk before you with all their heart.”

[24:10]  ⁴ sn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 254) wishes to safeguard the traditional idea that God could not be seen by reading “they saw the place where the God of Israel stood” so as not to say they saw God. But according to U. Cassuto there is not a great deal of difference between “and they saw the God” and “the Lord God appeared” (Exodus, 314). He thinks that the word “God” is used instead of “Yahweh” to say that a divine phenomenon was seen. It is in the LXX that they add “the place where he stood.” In v. 11b the LXX has “and they appeared in the place of God.” See James Barr, “Theophany and Anthropomorphism in the Old Testament,” VTSup 7 (1959): 31-33. There is no detailed description here of what they saw (cf. Isa 6; Ezek 1). What is described amounts to what a person could see when prostrate.

[24:10]  ⁵ sn S. R. Driver suggests that they saw the divine Glory, not directly, but as they looked up from below, through what appeared to be a transparent blue sapphire pavement (Exodus, 254).

[24:10]  ⁶ tn Or “tiles.”

[24:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and like the body of heaven for clearness.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven” or “sky” depending on the context; here, where sapphire is mentioned (a blue stone) “sky” seems more appropriate, since the transparent blueness of the sapphire would appear like the blueness of the cloudless sky.

[24:1]  ⁸ sn Exod 24 is the high point of the book in many ways, but most importantly, here Yahweh makes a covenant with the people – the Sinaitic Covenant. The unit not only serves to record the event in Israel’s becoming a nation, but it provides a paradigm of the worship of God’s covenant people – entering into the presence of the glory of Yahweh. See additionally W. A. Maier, “The Analysis of Exodus 24 According to Modern Literary, Form, and Redaction Critical Methodology,” Springfielder 37 (1973): 35-52. The passage may be divided into four parts for exposition: vv. 1-2, the call for worship; vv. 3-8, the consecration of the worshipers; vv. 9-11, the confirmation of the covenant; and vv. 12-18, the communication with Yahweh.

[24:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “And he;” the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:1]  ¹⁰ sn They were to come up to the Lord after they had made the preparations that are found in vv. 3-8.

[24:1]  ¹¹ sn These seventy-four people were to go up the mountain to a certain point. Then they were to prostrate themselves and worship Yahweh as Moses went further up into the presence of Yahweh. Moses occupies the lofty position of mediator (as Christ in the NT), for he alone ascends “to Yahweh” while everyone waits for his return. The emphasis of “bowing down” and that from “far off” stresses again the ominous presence that was on the mountain. This was the holy God – only the designated mediator could draw near to him.

[1:17]  ¹² tn Heb “and they [fem. pl.] feared”; the referent (the midwives) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ¹³ tn The verb is the Piel preterite of חָיָה (khaya, “to live”). The Piel often indicates a factitive nuance with stative verbs, showing the cause of the action. Here it means “let live, cause to live.” The verb is the exact opposite of Pharaoh’s command for them to kill the boys.

[41:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21.

[41:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from everlasting to everlasting.” See 1 Chr 16:36; Neh 9:5; Pss 90:2; 106:48.

[41:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “surely and surely” (אָמֵן וְאָמֵן [’amen vÿ’amen], i.e., “amen and amen”). This is probably a congregational response to the immediately preceding statement about the propriety of praising God.

[41:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will answer them” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[45:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “treasures of darkness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “treasures from dark, secret places.”