Exodus 14:31

14:31 When Israel saw ¹  the great power ²  that the Lord had exercised ³  over the Egyptians, they ⁴  feared the Lord, and they believed in ⁵  the Lord and in his servant Moses. ⁶ 

Exodus 20:20

20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, ⁷  that the fear of him ⁸  may be before you so that you do not ⁹  sin.”

Deuteronomy 6:2

6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ¹⁰  that I am giving ¹¹  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days.

Psalms 76:6-8

76:6 At the sound of your battle cry, ¹²  O God of Jacob,

both rider ¹³  and horse “fell asleep.” ¹⁴ 

76:7 You are awesome! Yes, you!

Who can withstand your intense anger? ¹⁵ 

76:8 From heaven you announced what their punishment would be. ¹⁶ 

The earth ¹⁷  was afraid and silent

Psalms 89:7

89:7 a God who is honored ¹⁸  in the great angelic assembly, ¹⁹ 

and more awesome than ²⁰  all who surround him?

Jeremiah 10:6-7

10:6 I said, ²¹ 

“There is no one like you, Lord. ²² 

You are great.

And you are renowned for your power. ²³ 

10:7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, ²⁴ 

because you deserve to be revered. ²⁵ 

For there is no one like you

among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 32:40

32:40 I will make a lasting covenant ²⁷  with them that I will never stop doing good to them. ²⁸  I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that ²⁹  they will never again turn ³⁰  away from me.

[14:31]  ¹ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive introduces a clause that is subordinate to the main points that the verse is making.

[14:31]  ² tn Heb “the great hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for work or power. The word play using “hand” contrasts the Lord’s hand/power at work on behalf of the Israelites with the hand/power of Egypt that would have killed them.

[14:31]  ³ tn Heb “did, made.”

[14:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the people feared.”

[14:31]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil preterite of אָמַן (’aman).

[14:31]  ⁶ sn Here the title of “servant” is given to Moses. This is the highest title a mortal can have in the OT – the “servant of Yahweh.” It signifies more than a believer; it describes the individual as acting on behalf of God. For example, when Moses stretched out his hand, God used it as his own (Isa 63:12). Moses was God’s personal representative. The chapter records both a message of salvation and of judgment. Like the earlier account of deliverance at the Passover, this chapter can be a lesson on deliverance from present troubles – if God could do this for Israel, there is no trouble too great for him to overcome. The passage can also be understood as a picture (at least) of the deliverance at the final judgment on the world. But the Israelites used this account for a paradigm of the power of God: namely, God is able to deliver his people from danger because he is the sovereign Lord of creation. His people must learn to trust him, even in desperate situations; they must fear him and not the situation. God can bring any threat to an end by bringing his power to bear in judgment on the wicked.

[20:20]  ⁷ tn נַסּוֹת (nassot) is the Piel infinitive construct; it forms the purpose of God’s coming with all the accompanying phenomena. The verb can mean “to try, test, prove.” The sense of “prove” fits this context best because the terrifying phenomena were intended to put the fear of God in their hearts so that they would obey. In other words, God was inspiring them to obey, not simply testing to see if they would.

[20:20]  ⁸ tn The suffix on the noun is an objective genitive, referring to the fear that the people would have of God (GKC 439 §135.m).

[20:20]  ⁹ tn The negative form לְבִלְתִּי (lÿvilti) is used here with the imperfect tense (see for other examples GKC 483 §152.x). This gives the imperfect the nuance of a final imperfect: that you might not sin. Others: to keep you from sin.

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[76:6]  ¹² tn Heb “from your shout.” The noun is derived from the Hebrew verb גָּעַר (ga’ar), which is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 9:5; 18:15; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[76:6]  ¹³ tn Or “chariot,” but even so the term is metonymic for the charioteer.

[76:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he fell asleep, and [the] chariot and [the] horse.” Once again (see v. 5) “sleep” refers here to the “sleep” of death.

[76:7]  ¹⁵ tc Heb “and who can stand before you from the time of your anger?” The Hebrew expression מֵאָז (me’az, “from the time of”) is better emended to מֵאֹז (me’oz, “from [i.e., “because of”] the strength of your anger”; see Ps 90:11).

[76:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a [legal] decision,” or “sentence.”

[76:8]  ¹⁷ tn “The earth” stands here by metonymy for its inhabitants.

[89:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “feared.”

[89:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in the great assembly of the holy ones.”

[89:7]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps “feared by.”

[10:6]  ²¹ tn The words “I said” are not in the Hebrew text, but there appears to be a shift in speaker. Someone is now addressing the Lord. The likely speaker is Jeremiah, so the words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[10:6]  ²² tn The form that introduces this line has raised debate. The form מֵאֵין (me’en) normally means “without” and introduces a qualification of a term expressing desolation or “so that not” and introduces a negative result (cf. BDB 35 s.v. II אַיִן 6.b). Neither of these nuances fit either this verse or the occurrence in v. 7. BDB 35 s.v. II אַיִן 6.b.γ notes that some have explained this as a strengthened form of אַיִן (’ayin) which occurs in a similar phrase five other times (cf., e.g., 1 Kgs 8:23). Though many including BDB question the validity of this solution it is probably better than the suggestion that BDB gives of repointing to מֵאַיִן (me’ayin, “whence”), which scarcely fits the context of v. 7, or the solution of HALOT 41 s.v. I אַיִן, which suggests that the מ (mem) is a double writing (dittograph) of the final consonant from the preceding word. That would assume that the scribe made the same error twice or was influenced the second time by the first erroneous writing.

[10:6]  ²³ tn Heb “Great is your name in power.”

[10:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Who should not revere you…?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[10:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “For it is fitting to you.”

[10:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “their royalty/dominion.” This is a case of substitution of the abstract for the concrete “royalty, royal power” for “kings” who exercise it.

[32:40]  ²⁷ 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.

[32:40]  ²⁸ tn Or “stop being gracious to them” or “stop blessing them with good”; Heb “turn back from them to do good to them.”

[32:40]  ²⁹ 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.

[32:40]  ³⁰ 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.