Exodus 34:12-16

34:12 Be careful not to make ¹  a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it become a snare ²  among you. 34:13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. ³  34:14 For you must not worship ⁴  any other god, ⁵  for the Lord, whose name ⁶  is Jealous, is a jealous God. 34:15 Be careful ⁷  not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when ⁸  they prostitute themselves ⁹  to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, ¹⁰  you will eat from his sacrifice; 34:16 and you then take ¹¹  his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well.

Deuteronomy 7:3

7:3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

Deuteronomy 7:1

The Dispossession of Nonvassals

7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, ¹²  Girgashites, ¹³  Amorites, ¹⁴  Canaanites, ¹⁵  Perizzites, ¹⁶  Hivites, ¹⁷  and Jebusites, ¹⁸  seven ¹⁹  nations more numerous and powerful than you –

Deuteronomy 11:4

11:4 or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea ²⁰  overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he ²¹  annihilated them. ²² 

Ezra 9:1-2

A Prayer of Ezra

9:1 Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents ²³  who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 9:2 Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ²⁴  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

Ezra 9:11-12

9:11 which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ²⁵  ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! ²⁶  With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness. 9:12 Therefore do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, and do not take their daughters in marriage for your sons. Do not ever seek their peace or welfare, so that you may be strong and may eat the good of the land and may leave it as an inheritance for your children ²⁷  forever.’

Nehemiah 13:23-26

13:23 Also in those days I saw the men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 13:24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod (or the language of one of the other peoples mentioned ²⁸ ) and were unable to speak the language of Judah. 13:25 So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them, and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God saying, “You will not marry off ²⁹  your daughters to their sons, and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves! 13:26 Was it not because of things like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made ³⁰  him king over all Israel. But the foreign wives made even him sin!

Nehemiah 13:2

13:2 for they had not met the Israelites with food ³¹  and water, but instead had hired Balaam to curse them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into blessing.)

Colossians 1:14-17

1:14 in whom we have redemption, ³²  the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of Christ

1:15 ³³ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn ³⁴  over all creation, ³⁵ 

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ³⁶  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ³⁷  in him.

[34:12]  ¹ tn The exact expression is “take heed to yourself lest you make.” It is the second use of this verb in the duties, now in the Niphal stem. To take heed to yourself means to watch yourself, be sure not to do something. Here, if they failed to do this, they would end up making entangling treaties.

[34:12]  ² sn A snare would be a trap, an allurement to ruin. See Exod 23:33.

[34:13]  ³ tn Or “images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “their Asherah idols.”

[34:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “bow down.”

[34:14]  ⁶ sn In Exod 20:3 it was “gods.”

[34:14]  ⁷ sn Here, too, the emphasis on God’s being a jealous God is repeated (see Exod 20:5). The use of “name” here is to stress that this is his nature, his character.

[34:15]  ⁷ tn The sentence begins simply “lest you make a covenant”; it is undoubtedly a continuation of the imperative introduced earlier, and so that is supplied here.

[34:15]  ⁸ tn The verb is a perfect with a vav consecutive. In the literal form of the sentence, this clause tells what might happen if the people made a covenant with the inhabitants of the land: “Take heed…lest you make a covenant…and then they prostitute themselves…and sacrifice…and invite…and you eat.” The sequence lays out an entire scenario.

[34:15]  ⁹ tn The verb זָנָה (zanah) means “to play the prostitute; to commit whoredom; to be a harlot” or something similar. It is used here and elsewhere in the Bible for departing from pure religion and engaging in pagan religion. The use of the word in this figurative sense is fitting, because the relationship between God and his people is pictured as a marriage, and to be unfaithful to it was a sin. This is also why God is described as a “jealous” or “impassioned” God. The figure may not be merely a metaphorical use, but perhaps a metonymy, since there actually was sexual immorality at the Canaanite altars and poles.

[34:15]  ¹⁰ tn There is no subject for the verb. It could be rendered “and one invites you,” or it could be made a passive.

[34:16]  ⁹ tn In the construction this verb would follow as a possible outcome of the last event, and so remain in the verbal sequence. If the people participate in the festivals of the land, then they will intermarry, and that could lead to further involvement with idolatry.

[7:1]  ¹¹ sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.).

[7:1]  ¹² sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).

[7:1]  ¹³ sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

[7:1]  ¹⁴ sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.

[7:1]  ¹⁵ sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

[7:1]  ¹⁶ sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).

[7:1]  ¹⁷ sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).

[7:1]  ¹⁸ sn Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.

[11:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “Reed Sea.” “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.

[11:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[11:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the Lord destroyed them to this day” (cf. NRSV); NLT “he has kept them devastated to this very day.” The translation uses the verb “annihilated” to indicate the permanency of the action.

[9:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.” So also in v. 2.

[9:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the holy seed,” referring to the Israelites as God’s holy people.

[9:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “through your servants the prophets, saying.”

[9:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[9:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “sons”; cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NLT “children”; NCV, TEV “descendants.”

[13:24]  ²³ tn Heb “people and people.”

[13:25]  ²⁵ tn Heb “give.”

[13:26]  ²⁷ tn Heb “gave.”

[13:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “bread.” The Hebrew term is generic here, however, referring to more than bread alone.

[1:14]  ³¹ tc διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ (dia tou {aimato" autou, “through his blood”) is read at this juncture by several minuscule mss (614 630 1505 2464 al) as well as a few, mostly secondary, versional and patristic witnesses. But the reading was prompted by the parallel in Eph 1:7 where the wording is solid. If these words had been in the original of Colossians, why would scribes omit them here but not in Eph 1:7? Further, the testimony on behalf of the shorter reading is quite overwhelming: {א A B C D F G Ψ 075 0150 6 33 1739 1881 Ï latt co as well as several other versions and fathers}. The conviction that “through his blood” is not authentic in Col 1:14 is as strong as the conviction that these words are authentic in Eph 1:7.

[1:15]  ³³ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[1:15]  ³⁴ tn The Greek term πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos) could refer either to first in order of time, such as a first born child, or it could refer to one who is preeminent in rank. M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 43, expresses the meaning of the word well: “The ‘firstborn’ was either the eldest child in a family or a person of preeminent rank. The use of this term to describe the Davidic king in Ps 88:28 LXX (=Ps 89:27 EVV), ‘I will also appoint him my firstborn (πρωτότοκον), the most exalted of the kings of the earth,’ indicates that it can denote supremacy in rank as well as priority in time. But whether the πρωτό- element in the word denotes time, rank, or both, the significance of the -τοκος element as indicating birth or origin (from τίκτω, give birth to) has been virtually lost except in ref. to lit. birth.” In Col 1:15 the emphasis is on the priority of Jesus’ rank as over and above creation (cf. 1:16 and the “for” clause referring to Jesus as Creator).

[1:15]  ³⁵ tn The genitive construction πάσης κτίσεως (pash" ktisew") is a genitive of subordination and is therefore translated as “over all creation.” See ExSyn 103-4.

[1:16]  ³⁵ tn BDAG 579 s.v. κυριότης 3 suggests “bearers of the ruling powers, dominions” here.

[1:17]  ³⁷ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.