1 Kings 8:53

8:53 After all, ¹  you picked them out of all the nations of the earth to be your special possession, ²  just as you, O sovereign Lord, announced through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”

Exodus 32:11-12

32:11 But Moses sought the favor ³  of the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 32:12 Why ⁴  should the Egyptians say, ⁵  ‘For evil ⁶  he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy ⁷  them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger, and relent ⁸  of this evil against your people.

Numbers 14:13-19

14:13 Moses said to the Lord, “When the Egyptians hear ⁹  it – for you brought up this people by your power from among them – 14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants ¹⁰  of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, ¹¹  that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night. 14:15 If you kill ¹²  this entire people at once, ¹³  then the nations that have heard of your fame will say, 14:16 ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to them, he killed them in the wilderness.’ 14:17 So now, let the power of my Lord ¹⁴  be great, just as you have said, 14:18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, ¹⁵  forgiving iniquity and transgression, ¹⁶  but by no means clearing ¹⁷  the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’ ¹⁸  14:19 Please forgive ¹⁹  the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love, ²⁰  just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.”

Deuteronomy 9:26-29

9:26 I prayed to him: ²¹  O, Lord God, ²²  do not destroy your people, your valued property ²³  that you have powerfully redeemed, ²⁴  whom you brought out of Egypt by your strength. ²⁵  9:27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; ignore the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of these people. 9:28 Otherwise the people of the land ²⁶  from which you brought us will say, “The Lord was unable to bring them to the land he promised them, and because of his hatred for them he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.” ²⁷  9:29 They are your people, your valued property, ²⁸  whom you brought out with great strength and power. ²⁹ 

Deuteronomy 9:2

9:2 They include the Anakites, ³⁰  a numerous ³¹  and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, “Who is able to resist the Anakites?”

Deuteronomy 6:1

Exhortation to Keep the Covenant Principles

6:1 Now these are the commandments, ³²  statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed ³³ 

Nehemiah 1:10

1:10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your mighty strength and by your powerful hand.

Isaiah 63:16-18

63:16 For you are our father,

though Abraham does not know us

and Israel does not recognize us.

You, Lord, are our father;

you have been called our protector from ancient times. ³⁴ 

63:17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray ³⁵  from your ways, ³⁶ 

and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? ³⁷ 

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your inheritance!

63:18 For a short time your special ³⁸  nation possessed a land, ³⁹ 

but then our adversaries knocked down ⁴⁰  your holy sanctuary.

Isaiah 64:9

64:9 Lord, do not be too angry!

Do not hold our sins against us continually! ⁴¹ 

Take a good look at your people, at all of us! ⁴² 

Jeremiah 51:19

51:19 The Lord, who is the portion of the descendants of Jacob, is not like them.

For he is the one who created everything,

including the people of Israel whom he claims as his own. ⁴³ 

He is known as the Lord who rules over all. ⁴⁴ 

[8:53]  ¹ tn Or “For.”

[8:53]  ² tn Heb “your inheritance.”

[32:11]  ³ tn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 351) draws on Arabic to show that the meaning of this verb (חָלָה, khalah) was properly “make sweet the face” or “stroke the face”; so here “to entreat, seek to conciliate.” In this prayer, Driver adds, Moses urges four motives for mercy: 1) Israel is Yahweh’s people, 2) Israel’s deliverance has demanded great power, 3) the Egyptians would mock if the people now perished, and 4) the oath God made to the fathers.

[32:12]  ⁵ tn The question is rhetorical; it really forms an affirmation that is used here as a reason for the request (see GKC 474 §150.e).

[32:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “speak, saying.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[32:12]  ⁷ tn The word “evil” means any kind of life-threatening or fatal calamity. “Evil” is that which hinders life, interrupts life, causes pain to life, or destroys it. The Egyptians would conclude that such a God would have no good intent in taking his people to the desert if now he destroyed them.

[32:12]  ⁸ tn The form is a Piel infinitive construct from כָּלָה (kalah, “to complete, finish”) but in this stem, “bring to an end, destroy.” As a purpose infinitive this expresses what the Egyptians would have thought of God’s motive.

[32:12]  ⁹ tn The verb “repent, relent” when used of God is certainly an anthropomorphism. It expresses the deep pain that one would have over a situation. Earlier God repented that he had made humans (Gen 6:6). Here Moses is asking God to repent/relent over the judgment he was about to bring, meaning that he should be moved by such compassion that there would be no judgment like that. J. P. Hyatt observes that the Bible uses so many anthropomorphisms because the Israelites conceived of God as a dynamic and living person in a vital relationship with people, responding to their needs and attitudes and actions (Exodus [NCBC], 307). See H. V. D. Parunak, “A Semantic Survey of NHM,” Bib 56 (1975): 512-32.

[14:13]  ⁷ tn The construction is unusual in that we have here a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive with no verb before it to establish the time sequence. The context requires that this be taken as a vav (ו) consecutive. It actually forms the protasis for the next verse, and would best be rendered “when…then they will say.”

[14:14]  ⁹ tn The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land.

[14:14]  ¹⁰ tn “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possible.

[14:15]  ¹¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of מוּת (mut), וְהֵמַתָּה (vÿhemattah). The vav (ו) consecutive makes this also a future time sequence verb, but again in a conditional clause.

[14:15]  ¹² tn Heb “as one man.”

[14:17]  ¹³ tc The form in the text is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay), the word that is usually used in place of the tetragrammaton. It is the plural form with the pronominal suffix, and so must refer to God.

[14:18]  ¹⁵ tn The expression is רַב־חֶסֶד (rav khesed) means “much of loyal love,” or “faithful love.” Some have it “totally faithful,” but that omits the aspect of his love.

[14:18]  ¹⁶ tn Or “rebellion.”

[14:18]  ¹⁷ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the verbal activity of the imperfect tense, which here serves as a habitual imperfect. Negated it states what God does not do; and the infinitive makes that certain.

[14:18]  ¹⁸ sn The Decalogue adds “to those who hate me.” The point of the line is that the effects of sin, if not the sinful traits themselves, are passed on to the next generation.

[14:19]  ¹⁷ tn The verb סְלַח־נָא (selakh-na’), the imperative form, means “forgive” (see Ps 130:4), “pardon,” “excuse.” The imperative is of course a prayer, a desire, and not a command.

[14:19]  ¹⁸ tn The construct unit is “the greatness of your loyal love.” This is the genitive of specification, the first word being the modifier.

[9:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 9:3.

[9:26]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Lord Lord” (אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה, ’adonay yÿhvih). The phrase is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God” (אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהִים, ’adonay ’elohim). See also the note on the phrase “Lord God” in Deut 3:24.

[9:26]  ²¹ tn Heb “your inheritance”; NLT “your special (very own NRSV) possession.” Israel is compared to landed property that one would inherit from his ancestors and pass on to his descendants.

[9:26]  ²² tn Heb “you have redeemed in your greatness.”

[9:26]  ²³ tn Heb “by your strong hand.”

[9:28]  ²¹ tc The MT reads only “the land.” Smr supplies עַם (’am, “people”) and LXX and its dependents supply “the inhabitants of the land.” The truncated form found in the MT is adequate to communicate the intended meaning; the words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:28]  ²² tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[9:29]  ²³ tn Heb “your inheritance.” See note at v. 26.

[9:29]  ²⁴ tn Heb “an outstretched arm.”

[9:2]  ²⁵ sn Anakites. See note on this term in Deut 1:28.

[9:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “great and tall.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “strong,” NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[6:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.

[6:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”

[63:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “our protector [or “redeemer”] from antiquity [is] your name.”

[63:17]  ³¹ tn Some suggest a tolerative use of the Hiphil here, “[why do] you allow us to stray?” (cf. NLT). Though the Hiphil of תָעָה (ta’ah) appears to be tolerative in Jer 50:6, elsewhere it is preferable or necessary to take it as causative. See Isa 3:12; 9:15; and 30:28, as well as Gen 20:13; 2 Kgs 21:9; Job 12:24-25; Prov 12:26; Jer 23:13, 32; Hos 4:12; Amos 2:4; Mic 3:5.

[63:17]  ³² tn This probably refers to God’s commands.

[63:17]  ³³ tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[63:18]  ³³ tn Or “holy” (ASV, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[63:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “for a short time they had a possession, the people of your holiness.”

[63:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “your adversaries trampled on.”

[64:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “do not remember sin continually.”

[64:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Look, gaze at your people, all of us.” Another option is to translate, “Take a good look! We are all your people.”

[51:19]  ³⁷ tn Heb “For he is the former of all [things] and the tribe of his inheritance.” This is the major exception to the verbatim repetition of 10:12-16 in 51:15-19. The word “Israel” appears before “the tribe of his inheritance” in 10:16. It is also found in a number of Hebrew mss, in the Lucianic recension of the LXX (the Greek version), the Aramaic Targums, and the Latin Vulgate. Most English versions and many commentaries assume it here. However, it is easier to explain why the word is added in a few of the versions and some Hebrew than to explain why it was left out. It is probable that the word is not original here because the addressees are different and the function of this hymnic piece is slightly different (see the study note on the next line for details). Here it makes good sense to understand that the Lord is being called the creator of the special tribe of people he claims as his own property (see the study note on the first line of 10:16).

[51:19]  ³⁸ sn With the major exception discussed in the translator’s note on the preceding line vv. 15-19 are a verbatim repetition of 10:12-16 with a few minor variations in spelling. There the passage was at the end of a section in which the Lord was addressing the Judeans and trying to convince them that the worship of idols was vain – the idols were impotent but he is all powerful. Here the passage follows a solemn oath by the Lord who rules over all and is apparently directed to the Babylonians, emphasizing the power of the Lord to carry out his oath.