Exodus 34:6-7

34:6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: ¹  “The Lord, the Lord, ²  the compassionate and gracious ³  God, slow to anger, ⁴  and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, ⁵  34:7 keeping loyal love for thousands, ⁶  forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression ⁷  of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:1

The New Tablets of the Covenant

34:1 ⁸ The Lord said to Moses, “Cut out ⁹  two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write ¹⁰  on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed.

Exodus 21:13

21:13 But if he does not do it with premeditation, ¹¹  but it happens by accident, ¹²  then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

Psalms 51:1

Psalm 51 ¹³ 

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ¹⁴ 

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of ¹⁵  your loyal love!

Because of ¹⁶  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ¹⁷ 

Psalms 86:5

86:5 Certainly ¹⁸  O Lord, you are kind ¹⁹  and forgiving,

and show great faithfulness to all who cry out to you.

Psalms 86:15

86:15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God.

You are patient ²⁰  and demonstrate great loyal love and faithfulness. ²¹ 

Psalms 103:8-14

103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;

he is patient ²²  and demonstrates great loyal love. ²³ 

103:9 He does not always accuse,

and does not stay angry. ²⁴ 

103:10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve; ²⁵ 

he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve. ²⁶ 

103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,

so his loyal love towers ²⁷  over his faithful followers. ²⁸ 

103:12 As far as the eastern horizon ²⁹  is from the west, ³⁰ 

so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions ³¹  from us.

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, ³² 

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. ³³ 

103:14 For he knows what we are made of; ³⁴ 

he realizes ³⁵  we are made of clay. ³⁶ 

Psalms 119:156

119:156 Your compassion is great, O Lord.

Revive me, as you typically do! ³⁷ 

Psalms 145:9

145:9 The Lord is good to all,

and has compassion on all he has made. ³⁸ 

Isaiah 55:7

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ³⁹ 

and sinful people their plans. ⁴⁰ 

They should return ⁴¹  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁴² 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ⁴³ 

Jonah 4:2

4:2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought ⁴⁴  would happen ⁴⁵  when I was in my own country. ⁴⁶  This is what I tried to prevent ⁴⁷  by attempting to escape to Tarshish! ⁴⁸  – because I knew ⁴⁹  that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger ⁵⁰  and abounding ⁵¹  in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. ⁵² 

Micah 7:18

7:18 There is no other God like you! ⁵³ 

You ⁵⁴  forgive sin

and pardon ⁵⁵  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ⁵⁶ 

You do not remain angry forever, ⁵⁷ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

[34:6]  ¹ tn Here is one of the clearest examples of what it means “to call on the name of the Lord,” as that clause has been translated traditionally (וַיִּקְרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָה, vayyiqra’ vÿshem yÿhvah). It seems more likely that it means “to make proclamation of Yahweh by name.” Yahweh came down and made a proclamation – and the next verses give the content of what he said. This cannot be prayer or praise; it is a proclamation of the nature or attributes of God (which is what his “name” means throughout the Bible). Attempts to make Moses the subject of the verb are awkward, for the verb is repeated in v. 6 with Yahweh clearly doing the proclaiming.

[34:6]  ² sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 439) suggests that these two names be written as a sentence: “Yahweh, He is Yahweh.” In this manner it reflects “I am that I am.” It is impossible to define his name in any other way than to make this affirmation and then show what it means.

[34:6]  ³ tn See Exod 33:19.

[34:6]  ⁴ sn This is literally “long of anger.” His anger prolongs itself, allowing for people to repent before punishment is inflicted.

[34:6]  ⁵ sn These two words (“loyal love” and “truth”) are often found together, occasionally in a hendiadys construction. If that is the interpretation here, then it means “faithful covenant love.” Even if they are left separate, they are dual elements of a single quality. The first word is God’s faithful covenant love; the second word is God’s reliability and faithfulness.

[34:7]  ⁶ tn That is, “for thousands of generations.”

[34:7]  ⁷ sn As in the ten commandments (20:5-6), this expression shows that the iniquity and its punishment will continue in the family if left unchecked. This does not go on as long as the outcomes for good (thousands versus third or fourth generations), and it is limited to those who hate God.

[34:1]  ⁸ sn The restoration of the faltering community continues in this chapter. First, Moses is instructed to make new tablets and take them to the mountain (1-4). Then, through the promised theophany God proclaims his moral character (5-8). Moses responds with the reiteration of the intercession (8), and God responds with the renewal of the covenant (10-28). To put these into expository form, as principles, the chapter would run as follows: I. God provides for spiritual renewal (1-4), II. God reminds people of his moral standard (5-9), III. God renews his covenant promises and stipulations (10-28).

[34:1]  ⁹ tn The imperative is followed by the preposition with a suffix expressing the ethical dative; it strengthens the instruction for Moses. Interestingly, the verb “cut out, chisel, hew,” is the same verb from which the word for a “graven image” is derived – פָּסַל (pasal).

[34:1]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect tense with vav consecutive makes the value of this verb equal to an imperfect tense, probably a simple future here.

[21:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “if he does not lie in wait” (NASB similar).

[21:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and God brought into his hand.” The death is unintended, its circumstances outside human control.

[51:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The exiles could relate to David’s experience, for they, like him, and had been forced to confront their sin. They appropriated David’s ancient prayer and applied it to their own circumstances.

[51:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”

[51:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ¹⁷ tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”

[86:5]  ¹⁸ tn Or “for.”

[86:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “good.”

[86:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “slow to anger.”

[86:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “and great of loyal love and faithfulness.”

[103:8]  ²² tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:8]  ²³ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:9]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew verb נָטַר (natar) is usually taken to mean “to keep; to guard,” with “anger” being understood by ellipsis. The idiom “to guard anger” is then understood to mean “to remain angry” (see Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5, 12; Nah 1:2). However, it is possible that this is a homonymic root meaning “to be angry” (see HALOT 695 s.v. נטר).

[103:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”

[103:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”

[103:11]  ²⁷ tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[103:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “sunrise.”

[103:12]  ³⁰ tn Or “sunset.”

[103:12]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.

[103:13]  ³² tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.

[103:13]  ³³ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “our form.”

[103:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “remembers.”

[103:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “we [are] clay.”

[119:156]  ³⁷ tn Heb “according to your customs.”

[145:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”

[55:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁴² tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ⁴³ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[4:2]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “my saying?” The first common singular suffix on דְבָרִי (dÿvari, “my saying”) functions as a subjective genitive: “I said.” The verb אָמַר (’amar, “to say”) here refers to the inner speech and thoughts of Jonah (see HALOT 66 s.v. אמר 4; BDB 56 s.v. אָמַר 2; e.g., Gen 17:17; Ruth 4:4; 1 Sam 20:26; Esth 6:6; Jonah 2:4). There is no hint anywhere else in the book that Jonah had argued with God when he was originally commissioned. While most English versions render it “I said” or “my saying,” a few take it as inner speech: “This is what I feared” (NEB), “It is just as I feared” (REB), “I knew from the very beginning” (CEV).

[4:2]  ⁴⁵ tn The phrase “would happen” does not appear in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[4:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “Is this not my saying while I was in my own country?” The rhetorical question implies a positive answer (“Yes, this was the very thing that Jonah had anticipated would happen all along!”) so it is rendered as an emphatic declaration in the translation.

[4:2]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “This is why I originally fled to Tarshish.” The verb קָדַם (qadam) in the Piel stem has a broad range of meanings and here could mean: (1) “to go before, be in front of” (1 Sam 20:25; Ps 68:26); (2) “to do [something] beforehand,” (Ps 119:147); or (3) “to anticipate, to do [something] early, forestall [something]” (Ps 119:148). The lexicons nuance Jonah 4:2 as “to do [something] for the first time” (HALOT 1069 s.v. קדם 4) or “to do [something] beforehand” (BDB 870 s.v. קָדַם 3). The phrase קִדַּמְתִּי לִבְרֹחַ (qiddamti livroakh, “I did the first time to flee”) is an idiom that probably means “I originally fled” or “I fled the first time.” The infinitive construct לִבְרֹחַ (“to flee”) functions as an object complement. This phrase is translated variously by English versions, depending on the category of meaning chosen for קָדַם: (1) “to do [something] for the first time, beforehand”: “That is why I fled beforehand” (JPS, NJPS), “I fled before” (KJV), “I fled previously” (NKJV), “I fled at the beginning” (NRSV), “I first tried to flee” (NJB), “I fled at first” (NAB); (2) “to do [something] early, to hasten to do [something]”: “That is why I was so quick to flee” (NIV), “I hastened to flee” (ASV), “I made haste to flee” (RSV), “I did my best to run away” (TEV); and (3) “to anticipate, forestall [something]”: “it was to forestall this that I tried to escape to Tarshish” (REB), “to forestall it I tried to escape to Tarshish” (NEB), “in order to forestall this I fled” (NASB). The ancient versions also handle it variously: (1) “to do [something] early, to hasten to do [something]”: “Therefore I made haste to flee” (LXX), “That is why I hastened to run away” (Tg. Jonah 4:2); and (2) “to go before, to be in front”: “Therefore I went before to flee to Tarshish” (Vulgate). The two most likely options are (1) “to do [something] the first time” = “This is why I originally fled to Tarshish” and (2) “to anticipate, forestall [something]” = “This is what I tried to forestall [= prevent] by fleeing to Tarshish.”

[4:2]  ⁴⁸ tn See note on the phrase “to Tarshish” in 1:3.

[4:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “know.” What Jonah knew then he still knows about the Lord’s character, which is being demonstrated in his dealings with both Nineveh and Jonah. The Hebrew suffixed tense accommodates both times here.

[4:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “long of nostrils.” Because the nose often expresses anger through flared nostrils it became the source of this idiom meaning “slow to anger” (e.g., Exod 34:6; Num 14:18; Neh 9:17; Pss 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Jer 15:15; Nah 1:3; BDB 74 s.v. אָרֵךְ).

[4:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “great” (so KJV); ASV, NASB “abundant”; NAB “rich in clemency.”

[4:2]  ⁵² tn Heb “calamity.” The noun רָעָה (ra’ah, “calamity, disaster”) functions as a metonymy of result – the cause being the threatened judgment (e.g., Exod 32:12, 14; 2 Sam 24:16; Jer 18:8; 26:13, 19; 42:10; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). The classic statement of God’s willingness to relent from judgment when a sinful people repent is Jer 18:1-11.

[7:18]  ⁵³ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”