Exodus 3:19

3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, ¹  not even under force. ² 

Exodus 9:15

9:15 For by now I could have stretched out ³  my hand and struck you and your people with plague, and you would have been destroyed ⁴  from the earth.

Exodus 13:14

13:14 ⁵ In the future, ⁶  when your son asks you ⁷  ‘What is this?’ ⁸  you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand ⁹  the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 3:24

3:24 “O, Lord God, ¹¹  you have begun to show me ¹²  your greatness and strength. ¹³  (What god in heaven or earth can rival your works and mighty deeds?)

Deuteronomy 4:34

4:34 Or has God ¹⁴  ever before tried to deliver ¹⁵  a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, ¹⁶  signs, wonders, war, strength, power, ¹⁷  and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

Deuteronomy 11:2-3

11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking ¹⁸  to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments ¹⁹  of the Lord your God, which revealed ²⁰  his greatness, strength, and power. ²¹  11:3 They did not see ²²  the awesome deeds he performed ²³  in the midst of Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole land,

Deuteronomy 11:2

11:2 Bear in mind today that I am not speaking ²⁴  to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments ²⁵  of the Lord your God, which revealed ²⁶  his greatness, strength, and power. ²⁷ 

Deuteronomy 17:1

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ²⁸  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ²⁹  to the Lord your God.

Psalms 89:13

89:13 Your arm is powerful,

your hand strong,

your right hand ³⁰  victorious. ³¹ 

Psalms 136:12

136:12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,

for his loyal love endures,

Isaiah 51:9

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ³² 

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash ³³  the Proud One? ³⁴ 

Did you not ³⁵  wound the sea monster? ³⁶ 

Isaiah 63:12

63:12 the one who made his majestic power available to Moses, ³⁷ 

who divided the water before them,

gaining for himself a lasting reputation, ³⁸ 

Jeremiah 31:11

31:11 For the Lord will rescue the descendants of Jacob.

He will secure their release ³⁹  from those who had overpowered them. ⁴⁰ 

Jeremiah 32:17

32:17 ‘Oh, Lord God, ⁴¹  you did indeed ⁴²  make heaven and earth by your mighty power and great strength. ⁴³  Nothing is too hard for you!

[3:19]  ¹ tn After verbs of perception, as with “I know” here, the object may be a noun clause introduced with the particle כִּי (ki) – “I know that….” Gesenius observes that the object clause may have a kind of accusative and an infinitive construction (especially after נָתַן [natan] with the idea of “allow”): “he will not permit you to go” (see GKC 491 §157.b, n. 2).

[3:19]  ² tn Heb “and not with a mighty hand.” This expression (וְלֹא בְּיָד חֲזָקָה, vÿlo’ vÿyad khazaqa) is unclear, since v. 20 says that God will stretch out his hand and do his wonders. Some have taken v. 19b to refer to God’s mighty hand also, meaning that the king would not let them go unless a mighty hand compels him (NIV). The expression “mighty hand” is used of God’s rescuing Israel elsewhere (Exod 6:1, 13:9, 32:11; but note also Num 20:20). This idea is a rather general interpretation of the words; it owes much to the LXX, which has “except by a mighty hand,” though “and not with” does not have the meaning of “except” or “unless” in other places. In view of these difficulties, others have suggested that v. 19b means “strong [threats]” from the Israelites (as in 4:24ff. and 5:3; see B. Jacob, Exodus, 81). This does not seem as convincing as the first view. Another possibility is that the phrase conveys Pharaoh’s point of view and intention; the Lord knows that Pharaoh plans to resist letting the Israelites go, regardless of the exercise of a strong hand against him (P. Addinall, “Exodus III 19B and the Interpretation of Biblical Narrative,” VT 49 [1999]: 289-300; see also the construction “and not with” in Num 12:8; 1 Sam 20:15 and elsewhere). If that is the case, v. 20 provides an ironic and pointed contradiction to Pharaoh’s plans as the Lord announces the effect that his hand will have. At any rate, Pharaoh will have to be forced to let Israel go.

[9:15]  ³ tn The verb is the Qal perfect שָׁלַחְתִּי (shalakhti), but a past tense, or completed action translation does not fit the context at all. Gesenius lists this reference as an example of the use of the perfect to express actions and facts, whose accomplishment is to be represented not as actual but only as possible. He offers this for Exod 9:15: “I had almost put forth” (GKC 313 §106.p). Also possible is “I should have stretched out my hand.” Others read the potential nuance instead, and render it as “I could have…” as in the present translation.

[9:15]  ⁴ tn The verb כָּחַד (kakhad) means “to hide, efface,” and in the Niphal it has the idea of “be effaced, ruined, destroyed.” Here it will carry the nuance of the result of the preceding verbs: “I could have stretched out my hand…and struck you…and (as a result) you would have been destroyed.”

[13:14]  ⁵ sn As with v. 8, the Law now requires that the children be instructed on the meaning of this observance. It is a memorial of the deliverance from bondage and the killing of the firstborn in Egypt.

[13:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “tomorrow.”

[13:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “and it will be when your son will ask you.”

[13:14]  ⁸ tn The question is cryptic; it simply says, “What is this?” but certainly refers to the custom just mentioned. It asks, “What does this mean?” or “Why do we do this?”

[13:14]  ⁹ tn The expression is “with strength of hand,” making “hand” the genitive of specification. In translation “strength” becomes the modifier, because “hand” specifies where the strength was. But of course the whole expression is anthropomorphic for the power of God.

[13:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “house of slaves.”

[3:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Lord Lord.” The phrase אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה (’adonay yÿhvih) is customarily rendered by Jewish tradition as “Lord God.” Cf. NIV, TEV, NLT “Sovereign Lord.”

[3:24]  ¹² tn Heb “your servant.” The pronoun is used in the translation to clarify that Moses is speaking of himself, since in contemporary English one does not usually refer to oneself in third person.

[3:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “your strong hand” (so NIV), a symbol of God’s activity.

[4:34]  ¹⁴ tn The translation assumes the reference is to Israel’s God in which case the point is this: God’s intervention in Israel’s experience is unique in the sense that he has never intervened in such power for any other people on earth. The focus is on the uniqueness of Israel’s experience. Some understand the divine name here in a generic sense, “a god,” or “any god.” In this case God’s incomparability is the focus (cf. v. 35, where this theme is expressed).

[4:34]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “tried to go to take for himself.”

[4:34]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “by testings.” The reference here is the judgments upon Pharaoh in the form of plagues. See Deut 7:19 (cf. v. 18) and 29:3 (cf. v. 2).

[4:34]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “by strong hand and by outstretched arm.”

[11:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[11:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.

[11:2]  ²⁰ tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.

[11:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”

[11:3]  ²² tn In the Hebrew text vv. 2-7 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the English translation divides the passage into three sentences. To facilitate this stylistic decision the words “They did not see” are supplied at the beginning of both v. 3 and v. 5, and “I am speaking” at the beginning of v. 7.

[11:3]  ²³ tn Heb “his signs and his deeds which he did” (NRSV similar). The collocation of “signs” and “deeds” indicates that these acts were intended to make an impression on observers and reveal something about God’s power (cf. v. 2b). The word “awesome” has been employed to bring out the force of the word “signs” in this context.

[11:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[11:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.

[11:2]  ²⁶ tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.

[11:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”

[17:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[17:1]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

[89:13]  ³⁰ sn The Lord’s arm, hand, and right hand all symbolize his activities, especially his exploits in war.

[89:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “is lifted up.” The idiom “the right hand is lifted up” refers to victorious military deeds (see Pss 89:42; 118:16).

[51:9]  ³² tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.

[51:9]  ³³ tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”

[51:9]  ³⁴ tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).

[51:9]  ³⁵ tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”

[51:9]  ³⁶ tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.

[63:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “who caused to go at the right hand of Moses the arm of his splendor.”

[63:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “making for himself a lasting name.”

[31:11]  ³⁹ sn Two rather theologically significant metaphors are used in this verse. The Hebrew word translated “will set…free” is a word used in the legal sphere for paying a redemption price to secure the freedom of a person or thing (see, e.g., Exod 13:13, 15). It is used metaphorically and theologically to refer to Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Deut 15:15; Mic 6:4) and its deliverance from Babylonian exile (Isa 35:10). The word translated “secure their release” is a word used in the sphere of family responsibility where a person paid the price to free an indentured relative (Lev 25:48, 49) or paid the price to restore a relative’s property seized to pay a debt (Lev 25:25, 33). This word, too, was used to refer metaphorically and theologically to Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Exod 6:6) or release from Babylonian exile (Isa 43:1-4; 44:22). These words are traditionally translated “ransom” and “redeem” and are a part of traditional Jewish and Christian vocabulary for physical and spiritual deliverance.

[31:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “from the hand/power of the one too strong for him.”

[32:17]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For an explanation of the rendering here see the study note on 1:6.

[32:17]  ⁴² tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle normally translated “behold.” See the translator’s note on 1:6 for the usage of this particle.

[32:17]  ⁴³ tn Heb “by your great power and your outstretched arm.” See 21:5; 27:5 and the marginal note on 27:5 for this idiom.