Exodus 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ¹  book, and rehearse ²  it in Joshua’s hearing; ³  for I will surely wipe out ⁴  the remembrance ⁵  of Amalek from under heaven.

Deuteronomy 31:19

31:19 Now write down for yourselves the following song and teach it to the Israelites. Put it into their very mouths so that this song may serve as my witness against the Israelites!

Deuteronomy 31:2

31:2 He said to them, “Today I am a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, ⁶  and the Lord has said to me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’

Deuteronomy 34:1

The Death of Moses

34:1 Then Moses ascended from the deserts of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. ⁷  The Lord showed him the whole land – Gilead to Dan,

Job 31:35

Job’s Appeal

31:35 “If only I had ⁸  someone to hear me!

Here is my signature – ⁹ 

let the Almighty answer me!

If only I had an indictment ¹⁰ 

that my accuser had written. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 51:60-64

51:60 Jeremiah recorded ¹²  on one scroll all the judgments ¹³  that would come upon Babylon – all these prophecies ¹⁴  written about Babylon. 51:61 Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, make sure ¹⁵  you read aloud all these prophecies. ¹⁶  51:62 Then say, ‘O Lord, you have announced that you will destroy this place so that no people or animals live in it any longer. Certainly it will lie desolate forever!’ 51:63 When you finish reading this scroll aloud, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River. ¹⁷  51:64 Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the judgments ¹⁸  I am ready to bring upon her; they will grow faint.’”

The prophecies of Jeremiah end here. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 51:1

51:1 The Lord says,

“I will cause a destructive wind ²⁰  to blow

against ²¹  Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia. ²² 

Colossians 1:21-22

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ²³  minds ²⁴  as expressed through ²⁵  your evil deeds, 1:22 but now he has reconciled you ²⁶  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him –

Revelation 20:12

20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then ²⁷  books were opened, and another book was opened – the book of life. ²⁸  So ²⁹  the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. ³⁰ 

[17:14]  ¹ tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.

[17:14]  ² tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ³ tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ⁴ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.

[17:14]  ⁵ sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.

[31:2]  ⁶ tn Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”

[34:1]  ⁷ sn For the geography involved, see note on the term “Pisgah” in Deut 3:17.

[31:35]  ⁸ tn The optative is again introduced with “who will give to me hearing me? – O that someone would listen to me!”

[31:35]  ⁹ tn Heb “here is my ‘tav’” (הֵן תָּוִי, hen tavi). The letter ת (tav) is the last letter of the alphabet in Hebrew. In paleo-Hebrew the letter was in the form of a cross or an “X,” and so used for one making a mark or a signature. In this case Job has signed his statement and delivered it to the court – but he has yet to be charged. Kissane thought that this being the last letter of the alphabet, Job was saying, “This is my last word.” Others take the word to mean “desire” – “this is my desire, that God would answer me” (see E. F. Sutcliffe, “Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 71-72; G. R. Driver, AJSL 3 [1935/36]: 166; P. P. Saydon, “Philological and Textual Notes to the Maltese Translation of the Old Testament,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 252). R. Gordis (Job, 355) also argues strongly for this view.

[31:35]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a scroll,” in the context referring to a scroll containing the accusations of Job’s legal adversary (see the next line).

[31:35]  ¹¹ tn The last line is very difficult; it simply says, “a scroll [that] my [legal] adversary had written.” The simplest way to handle this is to see it as a continuation of the optative (RSV).

[51:60]  ¹² tn Or “wrote.”

[51:60]  ¹³ tn Or “disaster”; or “calamity.”

[51:60]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “words” (or “things”).

[51:61]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “see [that].”

[51:61]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “words” (or “things”).

[51:63]  ¹⁷ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied for clarity.

[51:64]  ¹⁸ tn Or “disaster”; or “calamity.”

[51:64]  ¹⁹ sn The final chapter of the book of Jeremiah does not mention Jeremiah or record any of his prophecies.

[51:1]  ²⁰ sn The destructive wind is a figurative reference to the “foreign people” who will “winnow” Babylon and drive out all the people (v. 2). This figure has already been used in 4:11-12 and in 49:36. See the study note on 4:11-12 and the translator’s notes on 22:22 and 49:36.

[51:1]  ²¹ tn Or “I will arouse the spirit of hostility of a destroying nation”; Heb “I will stir up against Babylon…a destroying wind [or the spirit of a destroyer].” The word רוּחַ (ruakh) can refer to either a wind (BDB 924 s.v. רוּחַ 2.a) or a spirit (BDB 925 s.v. רוּחַ 2.g). It can be construed as either a noun followed by an adjectival participle (so, “a destroying wind”) or a noun followed by another noun in the “of” relationship (a construct or genitival relationship; so, “spirit of a destroyer”). The same noun with this same verb is translated “stir up the spirit of” in 1 Chr 5:26; 2 Chr 21:16; 36:22; Hag 1:14; and most importantly in Jer 51:11 where it refers to the king of the Medes. However, the majority of the exegetical tradition (all the commentaries consulted and all the English versions except NASB and NIV) opt for the “destructive wind” primarily because of the figure of winnowing that is found in the next verse. The translation follows the main line exegetical tradition here for that same reason.

[51:1]  ²² sn Heb “the people who live in Leb-qamai.” “Leb-qamai” is a code name for “Chaldeans” formed on the principle of substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the next to the last for the second, and so on. This same principle is used in referring to Babylon in 25:26 and 51:41 as “Sheshach.” See the study note on 25:26 where further details are given. There is no consensus on why the code name is used because the terms Babylon and Chaldeans (= Babylonians) have appeared regularly in this prophecy or collection of prophecies.

[1:21]  ²³ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[1:21]  ²⁴ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

[1:21]  ²⁵ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.

[1:22]  ²⁶ tc Some of the better representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts have a passive verb here instead of the active ἀποκατήλλαξεν (apokathllaxen, “he has reconciled”): ἀποκατηλλάγητε (apokathllaghte) in (Ì⁴⁶) B, ἀποκατήλλακται [sic] (apokathllaktai) in 33, and ἀποκαταλλαγέντες (apokatallagente") in D* F G. Yet the active verb is strongly supported by א A C D² Ψ 048 075 [0278] 1739 1881 Ï lat sy. Internally, the passive creates an anacoluthon in that it looks back to the accusative ὑμᾶς (Juma", “you”) of v. 21 and leaves the following παραστῆσαι (parasthsai) dangling (“you were reconciled…to present you”). The passive reading is certainly the harder reading. As such, it may well explain the rise of the other readings. At the same time, it is possible that the passive was produced by scribes who wanted some symmetry between the ποτε (pote, “at one time”) of v. 21 and the νυνὶ δέ (nuni de, “but now”) of v. 22: Since a passive periphrastic participle is used in v. 21, there may have a temptation to produce a corresponding passive form in v. 22, handling the ὑμᾶς of v. 21 by way of constructio ad sensum. Since παραστῆσαι occurs ten words later, it may not have been considered in this scribal modification. Further, the Western reading (ἀποκαταλλαγέντες) hardly seems to have arisen from ἀποκατηλλάγητε (contra TCGNT 555). As difficult as this decision is, the preferred reading is the active form because it is superior externally and seems to explain the rise of all forms of the passive readings.

[20:12]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[20:12]  ²⁸ tn Grk “another book was opened, which is of life.”

[20:12]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the books being opened.

[20:12]  ³⁰ tn Grk “from the things written in the books according to their works.”