Discovery BoxExodus 32:11-13
Context32:11 But Moses sought the favor 1 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 2 should the Egyptians say, 3 ‘For evil 4 he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy 5 them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger, and relent 6 of this evil against your people. 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, ‘I will multiply your descendants 7 like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about 8 I will give to your descendants, 9 and they will inherit it forever.’”
Exodus 34:9
Context34:9 and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord 10 go among us, for we 11 are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
Deuteronomy 9:16-29
Context9:16 When I looked, you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God and had cast for yourselves a metal calf; 12 you had quickly turned aside from the way he 13 had commanded you! 9:17 I grabbed the two tablets, threw them down, 14 and shattered them before your very eyes. 9:18 Then I again fell down before the Lord for forty days and nights; I ate and drank nothing because of all the sin you had committed, doing such evil before the Lord as to enrage him. 9:19 For I was terrified at the Lord’s intense anger 15 that threatened to destroy you. But he 16 listened to me this time as well. 9:20 The Lord was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but at that time I prayed for him 17 too. 9:21 As for your sinful thing 18 that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down, 19 ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain. 9:22 Moreover, you continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, 20 Massah, 21 and Kibroth-Hattaavah. 22 9:23 And when he 23 sent you from Kadesh-Barnea and told you, “Go up and possess the land I have given you,” you rebelled against the Lord your God 24 and would neither believe nor obey him. 9:24 You have been rebelling against him 25 from the very first day I knew you!
9:25 I lay flat on the ground before the Lord for forty days and nights, 26 for he 27 had said he would destroy you. 9:26 I prayed to him: 28 O, Lord God, 29 do not destroy your people, your valued property 30 that you have powerfully redeemed, 31 whom you brought out of Egypt by your strength. 32 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 33 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.” 34 9:29 They are your people, your valued property, 35 whom you brought out with great strength and power. 36
Isaiah 37:20
Context37:20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” 37
Isaiah 64:9-12
Context64:9 Lord, do not be too angry!
Do not hold our sins against us continually! 38
Take a good look at your people, at all of us! 39
64:10 Your chosen 40 cities have become a desert;
Zion has become a desert,
Jerusalem 41 is a desolate ruin.
64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, 42
the place where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire;
all our prized possessions have been destroyed. 43
64:12 In light of all this, 44 how can you still hold back, Lord?
How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?
Daniel 9:18-19
Context9:18 Listen attentively, 45 my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins 46 and the city called by your name. 47 For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, 48 but because your compassion is abundant. 9:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention, and act! Don’t delay, for your own sake, O my God! For your city and your people are called by your name.” 49
Amos 7:2
Context7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,
“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! 50
How can Jacob survive? 51
He is too weak!” 52
Amos 7:5
Context7:5 I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!
How can Jacob survive? 53
He is too weak!” 54
Malachi 1:9
Context1:9 But now plead for God’s favor 55 that he might be gracious to us. 56 “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.
[32:11] 1 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] 2 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] 3 tn Heb “speak, saying.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.
[32:12] 4 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] 5 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] 6 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.
[32:13] 8 tn “about” has been supplied.
[34:9] 10 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[34:9] 11 tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”
[9:16] 12 tn On the phrase “metal calf,” see note on the term “metal image” in v. 12.
[9:16] 13 tn Heb “the
[9:17] 14 tn The Hebrew text includes “from upon my two hands,” but as this seems somewhat obvious and redundant, it has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
[9:19] 15 tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” Although many English versions translate as two terms, this construction is a hendiadys which serves to intensify the emotion (cf. NAB, TEV “fierce anger”).
[9:19] 16 tn Heb “the
[9:20] 17 tn Heb “Aaron.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
[9:21] 18 tn Heb “your sin.” This is a metonymy in which the effect (sin) stands for the cause (the metal calf).
[9:21] 19 tn Heb “burned it with fire.”
[9:22] 20 sn Taberah. By popular etymology this derives from the Hebrew verb בָעַר (ba’ar, “to burn”), thus, here, “burning.” The reference is to the
[9:22] 21 sn Massah. See note on this term in Deut 6:16.
[9:22] 22 sn Kibroth-Hattaavah. This place name means in Hebrew “burial places of appetite,” that is, graves that resulted from overindulgence. The reference is to the Israelites stuffing themselves with the quail God had provided and doing so with thanklessness (Num 11:31-35).
[9:23] 23 tn Heb “the
[9:23] 24 tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord your God,” that is, against the commandment that he had spoken.
[9:24] 25 tn Heb “the
[9:25] 26 tn The Hebrew text includes “when I prostrated myself.” Since this is redundant, it has been left untranslated.
[9:25] 27 tn Heb “the
[9:26] 28 tn Heb “the
[9:26] 29 tn Heb “Lord
[9:26] 30 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] 31 tn Heb “you have redeemed in your greatness.”
[9:26] 32 tn Heb “by your strong hand.”
[9:28] 33 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] 34 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
[9:29] 35 tn Heb “your inheritance.” See note at v. 26.
[9:29] 36 tn Heb “an outstretched arm.”
[37:20] 37 tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”
[64:9] 38 tn Heb “do not remember sin continually.”
[64:9] 39 tn Heb “Look, gaze at your people, all of us.” Another option is to translate, “Take a good look! We are all your people.”
[64:10] 40 tn Heb “holy” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT); NIV “sacred.”
[64:10] 41 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[64:11] 42 tn Heb “our source of pride.”
[64:11] 43 tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”
[64:12] 44 tn Heb “because of these”; KJV, ASV “for these things.”
[9:18] 45 tn Heb “turn your ear.”
[9:18] 46 tn Heb “desolations.” The term refers here to the ruined condition of Judah’s towns.
[9:18] 47 tn Heb “over which your name is called.” Cf. v. 19. This expression implies that God is the owner of his city, Jerusalem. Note the use of the idiom in 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1; Amos 9:12.
[9:18] 48 tn Heb “praying our supplications before you.”
[9:19] 49 tn Heb “for your name is called over your city and your people.” See the note on this expression in v 18.
[7:2] 50 tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[7:2] 51 tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
[1:9] 55 tn Heb “seek the face of God.”
[1:9] 56 tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunction indicates purpose (cf. NASB, NRSV).
