Exodus 32:32-33

32:32 But now, if you will forgive their sin…, ¹  but if not, wipe me out ²  from your book that you have written.” ³  32:33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me – that person I will wipe out of my book.

Deuteronomy 9:14

9:14 Stand aside ⁴  and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, ⁵  and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”

Psalms 69:28

69:28 May their names be deleted from the scroll of the living! ⁶ 

Do not let their names be listed with the godly! ⁷ 

Psalms 109:13

109:13 May his descendants ⁸  be cut off! ⁹ 

May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! ¹⁰ 

[32:32]  ¹ tn The apodosis is not expressed; it would be understood as “good.” It is not stated because of the intensity of the expression (the figure is aposiopesis, a sudden silence). It is also possible to take this first clause as a desire and not a conditional clause, rendering it “Oh that you would forgive!”

[32:32]  ² tn The word “wipe” is a figure of speech indicating “remove me” (meaning he wants to die). The translation “blot” is traditional, but not very satisfactory, since it does not convey complete removal.

[32:32]  ³ sn The book that is referred to here should not be interpreted as the NT “book of life” which is portrayed (figuratively) as a register of all the names of the saints who are redeemed and will inherit eternal life. Here it refers to the names of those who are living and serving in this life, whose names, it was imagined, were on the roster in the heavenly courts as belonging to the chosen. Moses would rather die than live if these people are not forgiven (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 356).

[9:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “leave me alone.”

[9:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “from under heaven.”

[69:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “let them be wiped out of the scroll of the living.”

[69:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “and with the godly let them not be written.”

[109:13]  ⁸ tn Or “offspring.”

[109:13]  ⁹ sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

[109:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”