Exodus 20:2

20:2 “I, ¹  the Lord, am your God, ²  who brought you ³  from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 11:4

11:4 Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors ⁵  to keep ⁶  when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace. ⁷  I said at that time, ⁸  “Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement ⁹  exactly as I commanded you. If you do, ¹⁰  you will be my people and I will be your God. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 31:31-33

31:31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, ¹²  “when I will make a new covenant ¹³  with the people of Israel and Judah. ¹⁴  31:32 It will not be like the old ¹⁵  covenant that I made with their ancestors ¹⁶  when I delivered them ¹⁷  from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” ¹⁸  says the Lord. ¹⁹  31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ²⁰  after I plant them back in the land,” ²¹  says the Lord. ²²  “I will ²³  put my law within them ²⁴  and write it on their hearts and minds. ²⁵  I will be their God and they will be my people. ²⁶ 

[20:2]  ¹ sn The revelation of Yahweh here begins with the personal pronoun. “I” – a person, a living personality, not an object or a mere thought. This enabled him to address “you” – Israel, and all his people, making the binding stipulations for them to conform to his will (B. Jacob, Exodus, 544).

[20:2]  ² tn Most English translations have “I am Yahweh your God.” But the preceding chapters have again and again demonstrated how he made himself known to them. Now, the emphasis is on “I am your God” – and what that would mean in their lives.

[20:2]  ³ tn The suffix on the verb is second masculine singular. It is this person that will be used throughout the commandments for the whole nation. God addresses them all as his people, but he addresses them individually for their obedience. The masculine form is not, thereby, intended to exclude women.

[20:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the house of slaves” meaning “the land of slavery.”

[11:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 5, 7, 10).

[11:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “does not listen…this covenant which I commanded your fathers.” The sentence is broken up this way in conformity with contemporary English style.

[11:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.”

[11:4]  ⁸ tn In place of the words “I said at that time” the Hebrew text has “saying.” The sentence is again being restructured in English to avoid the long, confusing style of the Hebrew original.

[11:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “Obey me and carry them out.” The “them” refers back to the terms of the covenant which they were charged to keep according to the preceding. The referent is made specific to avoid ambiguity.

[11:4]  ¹⁰ tn The words, “If you do” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to break up a long sentence consisting of an imperative followed by a consequential sentence.

[11:4]  ¹¹ sn Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement…and I will be your God. This refers to the Mosaic law which was instituted at Sinai and renewed on the Plains of Moab before Israel entered into the land. The words “the terms of the covenant” are explicitly used for the Ten Commandments in Exod 34:28 and for the additional legislation given in Deut 28:69; 29:8. The formulation here is reminiscent of Deut 29:9-14 (29:10-15 HT). The book of Deuteronomy is similar in its structure and function to an ancient Near Eastern treaty. In these the great king reminded his vassal of past benefits that he had given to him, charged him with obligations (the terms or stipulations of the covenant) chief among which was absolute loyalty and sole allegiance, promised him future benefits for obeying the stipulations (the blessings), and placed him under a curse for disobeying them. Any disobedience was met with stern warnings of punishment in the form of destruction and exile. Those who had witnessed the covenant were called in to confirm the continuing goodness of the great king and the disloyalty of the vassal. The vassal was then charged with a list of particular infringements of the stipulations and warned to change his actions or suffer the consequences. This is the background for Jer 11:1-9. Jeremiah is here functioning as a messenger from the Lord, Israel’s great king, and charging both the fathers and the children with breach of covenant.

[31:31]  ¹² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:31]  ¹³ tn Or “a renewed covenant” (also in vv. 22-23).

[31:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”

[31:32]  ¹⁵ tn The word “old” is not in the text but is implicit in the use of the word “new.” It is supplied in the translation for greater clarity.

[31:32]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fathers.”

[31:32]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “when I took them by the hand and led them out.”

[31:32]  ¹⁸ tn Or “I was their master.” See the study note on 3:14.

[31:32]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ²⁰ tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.

[31:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.

[31:33]  ²² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ²³ tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the Lord, ‘I will….’” The sentence has been reworded and restructured to avoid the awkwardness of the original style.

[31:33]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.

[31:33]  ²⁵ tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.

[31:33]  ²⁶ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.