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.”

Numbers 14:18-19

14:18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, ⁸  forgiving iniquity and transgression, ⁹  but by no means clearing ¹⁰  the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’ ¹¹  14:19 Please forgive ¹²  the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love, ¹³  just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.”

Psalms 78:38

78:38 Yet he is compassionate.

He forgives sin and does not destroy.

He often holds back his anger,

and does not stir up his fury. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 86:5

86:5 Certainly ¹⁵  O Lord, you are kind ¹⁶  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 ¹⁷  and demonstrate great loyal love and faithfulness. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 145:8

145:8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate;

he is patient ¹⁹  and demonstrates great loyal love. ²⁰ 

Hosea 11:8-9

The Divine Dilemma: Judgment or Mercy?

11:8 How can I give you up, ²¹  O Ephraim?

How can I surrender you, O Israel?

How can I treat you like Admah?

How can I make you like Zeboiim?

I have had a change of heart! ²² 

All my tender compassions are aroused! ²³ 

11:9 I cannot carry out ²⁴  my fierce anger!

I cannot totally destroy Ephraim!

Because I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you –

I will not come in wrath!

Joel 2:13-14

2:13 Return to the Lord your God,

for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ²⁵  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ²⁶ 

2:14 Who knows?

Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, ²⁷ 

and leave blessing in his wake ²⁸  –

a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God! ²⁹ 

Micah 7:18

7:18 There is no other God like you! ³⁰ 

You ³¹  forgive sin

and pardon ³²  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ³³ 

You do not remain angry forever, ³⁴ 

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.

[14:18]  ⁸ tn The expression is רַב־חֶסֶד (rav khesed) means “much of loyal love,” or “faithful love.” Some have it “totally faithful,” but that omits the aspect of his love.

[14:18]  ⁹ tn Or “rebellion.”

[14:18]  ¹⁰ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the verbal activity of the imperfect tense, which here serves as a habitual imperfect. Negated it states what God does not do; and the infinitive makes that certain.

[14:18]  ¹¹ sn The Decalogue adds “to those who hate me.” The point of the line is that the effects of sin, if not the sinful traits themselves, are passed on to the next generation.

[14:19]  ¹² tn The verb סְלַח־נָא (selakh-na’), the imperative form, means “forgive” (see Ps 130:4), “pardon,” “excuse.” The imperative is of course a prayer, a desire, and not a command.

[14:19]  ¹³ tn The construct unit is “the greatness of your loyal love.” This is the genitive of specification, the first word being the modifier.

[78:38]  ¹⁴ tn One could translate v. 38 in the past tense (“he was compassionate…forgave sin and did not destroy…held back his anger, and did not stir up his fury”), but the imperfect verbal forms are probably best understood as generalizing. Verse 38 steps back briefly from the narrational summary of Israel’s history and lays the theological basis for v. 39, which focuses on God’s mercy toward sinful Israel.

[86:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.”

[86:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “good.”

[86:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “slow to anger.”

[86:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and great of loyal love and faithfulness.”

[145:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[11:8]  ²¹ tn The imperfect verbs in 11:8 function as imperfects of capability. See IBHS 564 §34.1a.

[11:8]  ²² tn The phrase נֶהְפַּךְ עָלַי לִבִּי (nehpakh ’alay libbi) is an idiom that can be taken in two ways: (1) emotional sense: to describe a tumult of emotions, not just a clash of ideas, that are afflicting a person (Lam 1:20; HALOT 253 s.v. הפך 1.c) and (2) volitional sense: to describe a decisive change of policy, that is, a reversal of sentiment from amity to hatred (Exod 14:5; Ps 105:25; BDB 245 s.v. הָפַךְ 1; HALOT 253 s.v. 3). The English versions alternate between these two: (1) emotional discomfort and tension over the prospect of destroying Israel: “mine heart is turned within me” (KJV), “my heart recoils within me” (RSV, NRSV), “My heart is turned over within Me” (NASB), “My heart is torn within me” (NLT); and (2) volitional reversal of previous decision to totally destroy Israel: “I have had a change of heart” (NJPS), “my heart is changed within me” (NIV), and “my heart will not let me do it!” (TEV). Both BDB 245 s.v. 1.b and HALOT 253 s.v. 3 suggest that the idiom describes a decisive change of heart (reversal of decision to totally destroy Israel once and for all) rather than emotional turbulence of God shifting back and forth between whether to destroy or spare Israel. This volitional nuance is supported by the modal function of the 1st person common singular imperfects in 11:8 (“I will not carry out my fierce anger…I will not destroy Ephraim…I will not come in wrath”) and by the prophetic announcement of future restoration in 11:10-11. Clearly, a dramatic reversal both in tone and in divine intention occurs between 11:5-11.

[11:8]  ²³ tn The Niphal of כָּמַר (kamar) means “to grow warm, tender” (BDB 485 s.v. כָּמַר), as its use in a simile with the oven demonstrates (Lam 5:10). It is used several times to describe the arousal of the most tender affection (Gen 43:30; 1 Kgs 3:26; Hos 11:8; BDB 485 s.v. 1; HALOT 482 s.v. כמר 1). Cf. NRSV “my compassion grows warm and tender.”

[11:9]  ²⁴ tn The three imperfect verbs function as imperfects of capability, similar to the imperfects of capability in 11:8. See IBHS 564 §34.1a.

[2:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and great of loyal love.”

[2:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and he relents from calamity.”

[2:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”

[2:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “leave a blessing behind him.”

[2:14]  ²⁹ tn The phrase “for you to offer” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[7:18]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ³³ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”