Exodus 34:10

34:10 He said, “See, I am going to make ¹  a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done ²  in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you. ³ 

Deuteronomy 4:34

4:34 Or has God ⁴  ever before tried to deliver ⁵  a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, ⁶  signs, wonders, war, strength, power, ⁷  and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

Deuteronomy 10:21

10:21 He is the one you should praise; ⁸  he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen.

Jude 1:4-5

1:4 For certain men ⁹  have secretly slipped in among you ¹⁰  – men who long ago ¹¹  were marked out ¹²  for the condemnation I am about to describe ¹³  – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil ¹⁴  and who deny our only Master ¹⁵  and Lord, ¹⁶  Jesus Christ.

1:5 Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts ¹⁷  once for all ¹⁸ ) that Jesus, ¹⁹  having saved the ²⁰  people out of the land of Egypt, later ²¹  destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude 1:2

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you! ²² 

Jude 1:23

1:23 save ²³  others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy ²⁴  on others, coupled with a fear of God, ²⁵  hating even the clothes stained ²⁶  by the flesh. ²⁷ 

Psalms 65:6

65:6 You created the mountains by your power, ²⁸ 

and demonstrated your strength. ²⁹ 

Psalms 66:3

66:3 Say to God:

“How awesome are your deeds!

Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear ³⁰  before you.

Psalms 66:5

66:5 Come and witness ³¹  God’s exploits! ³² 

His acts on behalf of people are awesome! ³³ 

Psalms 68:8

68:8 the earth shakes,

yes, the heavens pour down rain

before God, the God of Sinai, ³⁴ 

before God, the God of Israel. ³⁵ 

Psalms 76:12

76:12 He humbles princes; ³⁶ 

the kings of the earth regard him as awesome. ³⁷ 

Psalms 105:27-36

105:27 They executed his miraculous signs among them, ³⁸ 

and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham.

105:28 He made it dark; ³⁹ 

they did not disobey his orders. ⁴⁰ 

105:29 He turned their water into blood,

and killed their fish.

105:30 Their land was overrun by frogs,

which even got into the rooms of their kings.

105:31 He ordered flies to come; ⁴¹ 

gnats invaded their whole territory.

105:32 He sent hail along with the rain; ⁴² 

there was lightning in their land. ⁴³ 

105:33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees,

and broke the trees throughout their territory.

105:34 He ordered locusts to come, ⁴⁴ 

innumerable grasshoppers.

105:35 They ate all the vegetation in their land,

and devoured the crops of their fields. ⁴⁵ 

105:36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the firstfruits of their reproductive power. ⁴⁶ 

Psalms 106:22

106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,

mighty ⁴⁷  acts by the Red Sea.

[34:10]  ¹ tn Here again is a use of the futur instans participle; the deictic particle plus the pronoun precedes the participle, showing what is about to happen.

[34:10]  ² tn The verb here is בָּרָא (bara’, “to create”). The choice of this verb is to stress that these wonders would be supernaturally performed, for the verb is used only with God as the subject.

[34:10]  ³ sn The idea is that God will be doing awesome things in dealing with them, i.e., to fulfill his program.

[4:34]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “tried to go to take for himself.”

[4:34]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “by strong hand and by outstretched arm.”

[10:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “your praise.” The pronoun is subjective and the noun “praise” is used here metonymically for the object of their praise (the Lord).

[1:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “people.” However, if Jude is indeed arguing that Peter’s prophecy about false teachers has come true, these are most likely men in the original historical and cultural setting. See discussion of this point in the note on the phrase “these men” in 2 Pet 2:12.

[1:4]  ¹⁰ tn “Among you” is not in the Greek text, but is obviously implied.

[1:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “in the past.” The adverb πάλαι (palai) can refer to either, though the meaning “long ago” is more common.

[1:4]  ¹² tn Grk “written about.”

[1:4]  ¹³ tn Grk “for this condemnation.” τοῦτο (touto) is almost surely a kataphoric demonstrative pronoun, pointing to what follows in vv. 5-18. Otherwise, the condemnation is only implied (in v. 3b) or is merely a statement of their sinfulness (“ungodly” in v. 4b), not a judgment of it.

[1:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “debauchery.” This is the same word Peter uses to predict what the false teachers will be like (2 Pet 2:2, 7, 18).

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tc Most later witnesses (P Ψ Ï sy) have θεόν (qeon, “God”) after δεσπότην (despothn, “master”), which appears to be a motivated reading in that it explicitly links “Master” to “God” in keeping with the normal NT pattern (see Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24; 2 Tim 2:21; Rev 6:10). In patristic Greek, δεσπότης (despoth") was used especially of God (cf. BDAG 220 s.v. 1.b.). The earlier and better witnesses (Ì^72,78 א A B C 0251 33 81 323 1241 1739 al co) lack θεόν; the shorter reading is thus preferred on both internal and external grounds.

[1:4]  ¹⁶ tn The terms “Master and Lord” both refer to the same person. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. For more discussion see ExSyn 270-78. See also Titus 2:13 and 2 Pet 1:1

[1:5]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “knowing all things.” The subject of the participle “knowing” (εἰδότας, eidota") is an implied ὑμᾶς (Jumas), though several ancient witnesses actually add it. The πάντα (panta) takes on an adverbial force in this context (“fully”), intensifying how acquainted the readers are with the following points.

[1:5]  ¹⁸ tc ‡ Some translations take ἅπαξ (Japax) with the following clause (thus, “[Jesus,] having saved the people once for all”). Such a translation presupposes that ἅπαξ is a part of the ὅτι (Joti) clause. The reading of NA²⁷, πάντα ὅτι [ὁ] κύριος ἅπαξ (panta {oti [Jo] kurio" {apax), suggests this interpretation (though with “Lord” instead of “Jesus”). This particle is found before λαόν (laon) in the ὅτι clause in א C* Ψ 630 1241 1243 1505 1739 1846 1881 pc co. But ἅπαξ is found before the ὅτι clause in most witnesses, including several important ones (Ì⁷² A B C² 33 81 623 2344 Ï vg). What seems best able to explain the various placements of the adverb is that scribes were uncomfortable with ἅπαξ referring to the readers’ knowledge, feeling it was more appropriate to the theological significance of “saved” (σώσας, swsas).

[1:5]  ¹⁹ tc ‡ The reading ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsous, “Jesus”) is deemed too hard by several scholars, since it involves the notion of Jesus acting in the early history of the nation Israel. However, not only does this reading enjoy the strongest support from a variety of early witnesses (e.g., A B 33 81 1241 1739 1881 2344 pc vg co Or^1739mg), but the plethora of variants demonstrate that scribes were uncomfortable with it, for they seemed to exchange κύριος (kurios, “Lord”) or θεός (qeos, “God”) for ᾿Ιησοῦς (though Ì⁷² has the intriguing reading θεὸς Χριστός [qeos Cristos, “God Christ”] for ᾿Ιησοῦς). In addition to the evidence supplied in NA²⁷ for this reading, note also {88 322 323 424^c 665 915 2298 eth Cyr Hier Bede}. As difficult as the reading ᾿Ιησοῦς is, in light of v. 4 and in light of the progress of revelation (Jude being one of the last books in the NT to be composed), it is wholly appropriate.

[1:5]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps “a,” though this is less likely.

[1:5]  ²¹ tn Grk “the second time.”

[1:2]  ²² tn Grk “may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

[1:23]  ²³ tn Grk “and save.”

[1:23]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and have mercy.”

[1:23]  ²⁵ tn Grk “with fear.” But as this contrasts with ἀφόβως (afobw") in v. 12 (without reverence), the posture of the false teachers, it most likely refers to reverence for God.

[1:23]  ²⁶ sn The imagery here suggests that the things close to the sinners are contaminated by them, presumably during the process of sinning.

[1:23]  ²⁷ tn Grk “hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.” The “flesh” in this instance could refer to the body or to the sin nature. It makes little difference in one sense: Jude is thinking primarily of sexual sins, which are borne of the sin nature and manifest themselves in inappropriate deeds done with the body. At the same time, he is not saying that the body is intrinsically bad, a view held by the opponents of Christianity. Hence, it is best to see “flesh” as referring to the sin nature here and the language as metaphorical.

[65:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “[the] one who establishes [the] mountains by his power.”

[65:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “one [who] is girded with strength”; or “one [who] girds himself with strength.”

[66:3]  ³⁰ tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “be weak, powerless” (see also Ps 109:24).

[66:5]  ³¹ tn Or “see.”

[66:5]  ³² tn Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8).

[66:5]  ³³ tn Heb “awesome [is] an act toward the sons of man.” It is unclear how the prepositional phrase relates to what precedes. If collocated with “act,” it may mean “on behalf of” or “toward.” If taken with “awesome” (see 1 Chr 16:25; Pss 89:7; 96:4; Zeph 2:11), one might translate “his awesome acts are beyond human comprehension” or “his awesome acts are superior to anything men can do.”

[68:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “this one of Sinai.” The phrase is a divine title, perhaps indicating that the Lord rules from Sinai.

[68:8]  ³⁵ sn The language of vv. 7-8 is reminiscent of Judg 5:4-5, which tells how the God of Sinai came in the storm and annihilated the Canaanite forces led by Sisera. The presence of allusion does not mean, however, that this is a purely historical reference. The psalmist is describing God’s typical appearance as a warrior in terms of his prior self-revelation as ancient events are reactualized in the psalmist’s experience. (For a similar literary technique, see Hab 3.)

[76:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “he reduces the spirit of princes.” According to HALOT 148 s.v. II בצר, the Hebrew verb בָּצַר (batsar) is here a hapax legomenon meaning “reduce, humble.” The statement is generalizing, with the imperfect tense highlighting God’s typical behavior.

[76:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “[he is] awesome to the kings of the earth.”

[105:27]  ³⁸ tn Apparently the pronoun refers to “his servants” (i.e., the Israelites, see v. 25).

[105:28]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he sent darkness and made it dark.”

[105:28]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “they did not rebel against his words.” Apparently this refers to Moses and Aaron, who obediently carried out God’s orders.

[105:31]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he spoke and flies came.”

[105:32]  ⁴² tn Heb “he gave their rains hail.”

[105:32]  ⁴³ tn Heb “fire of flames [was] in their land.”

[105:34]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “he spoke and locusts came.”

[105:35]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the fruit of their ground.”

[105:36]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “the beginning of all their strength,” that is, reproductive power (see Ps 78:51).

[106:22]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “awe-inspiring.”