Exodus 12:14

12:14 This day will become ¹  a memorial ²  for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival ³  to the Lord – you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance. ⁴ 

Exodus 13:9

13:9 ⁵  It ⁶  will be a sign ⁷  for you on your hand and a memorial ⁸  on your forehead, ⁹  so that the law of the Lord may be ¹⁰  in your mouth, ¹¹  for ¹²  with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt.

Exodus 39:7

39:7 He put ¹³  them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of memorial for the Israelites, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Genesis 9:12-17

9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee ¹⁴  of the covenant I am making ¹⁵  with you ¹⁶  and every living creature with you, a covenant ¹⁷  for all subsequent ¹⁸  generations: 9:13 I will place ¹⁹  my rainbow ²⁰  in the clouds, and it will become ²¹  a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 Whenever ²²  I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ²³  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ²⁴  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ²⁵  all living things. ²⁶  9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ²⁷  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things ²⁸  that are on the earth.”

Leviticus 24:7

24:7 You must put pure frankincense ²⁹  on each row, ³⁰  and it will become a memorial portion ³¹  for the bread, a gift ³²  to the Lord.

Numbers 16:40

16:40 It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of ³³  Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the Lord had spoken by the authority ³⁴  of Moses.

Numbers 31:54

31:54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders ³⁵  of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial ³⁶  for the Israelites before the Lord.

Joshua 4:7

4:7 tell them how the water of the Jordan stopped flowing ³⁷  before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the water of the Jordan stopped flowing. ³⁸  These stones will be a lasting memorial for the Israelites.”

Isaiah 62:6

62:6 I ³⁹  post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;

they should keep praying all day and all night. ⁴⁰ 

You who pray to ⁴¹  the Lord, don’t be silent!

Zechariah 6:14

6:14 The crown will then be turned over to Helem, ⁴²  Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen ⁴³  son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord.

Luke 1:54

1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering ⁴⁴  his mercy, ⁴⁵ 

Luke 1:72

1:72 He has done this ⁴⁶  to show mercy ⁴⁷  to our ancestors, ⁴⁸ 

and to remember his holy covenant ⁴⁹  –

Acts 10:4

10:4 Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius ⁵⁰  replied, ⁵¹  “What is it, Lord?” The angel ⁵²  said to him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity ⁵³  have gone up as a memorial ⁵⁴  before God.

[12:14]  ¹ tn Heb “and this day will be.”

[12:14]  ² tn The expression “will be for a memorial” means “will become a memorial.”

[12:14]  ³ tn The verb וְחַגֹּתֶם (vÿkhaggotem), a perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive to continue the instruction, is followed by the cognate accusative חַג (khag), for emphasis. As the wording implies and the later legislation required, this would involve a pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Yahweh.

[12:14]  ⁴ tn Two expressions show that this celebration was to be kept perpetually: the line has “for your generations, [as] a statute forever.” “Generations” means successive generations (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 94). עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, perpetual” – no end in sight.

[13:9]  ⁵ sn This passage has, of course, been taken literally by many devout Jews, and portions of the text have been encased in phylacteries and bound on the arm and forehead. B. Jacob (Exodus, 368), weighing the pros and cons of the literal or the figurative meaning, says that those who took it literally should not be looked down on for their symbolic work. In many cases, he continues, it is the spirit that kills and the letter makes alive – because people who argue against a literal usage do so to excuse lack of action. This is a rather interesting twist in the discussion. The point of the teaching was obviously meant to keep the Law of Yahweh in the minds of the people, to remind them of their duties.

[13:9]  ⁶ tn That is, this ceremony.

[13:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “for a sign.”

[13:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “for a memorial.”

[13:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “between your eyes” (KJV and ASV both similar); the same expression occurs in v. 16.

[13:9]  ¹⁰ tn The purpose of using this ceremony as a sign and a memorial is that the Law might be in their mouth. The imperfect tense, then, receives the classification of final imperfect in the purpose clause.

[13:9]  ¹¹ sn “Mouth” is a metonymy of cause; the point is that they should be ever talking about the Law as their guide as they go about their duties (see Deut 6:7; 11:19; Josh 1:8).

[13:9]  ¹² tn This causal clause gives the reason for what has just been instructed. Because Yahweh delivered them from bondage, he has the strongest claims on their life.

[39:7]  ¹³ tn Or “attached.”

[9:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “sign.”

[9:12]  ¹⁵ sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.

[9:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “between me and between you.”

[9:12]  ¹⁷ tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:12]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.

[9:13]  ¹⁹ tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is used rhetorically, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Other translation options include “I have placed” (present perfect; cf. NIV, NRSV) and “I place” (instantaneous perfect; cf. NEB).

[9:13]  ²⁰ sn The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.

[9:13]  ²¹ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here has the same aspectual function as the preceding perfect of certitude.

[9:14]  ²² tn The temporal indicator (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah, conjunction + the perfect verb form), often translated “it will be,” anticipates a future development.

[9:15]  ²³ tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

[9:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to destroy.”

[9:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:16]  ²⁷ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[9:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[24:7]  ²⁹ tn This is not just any “incense” (קְטֹרֶת, qÿtoret; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:913-16), but specifically “frankincense” (לְבֹנָה, lÿvonah; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:756-57).

[24:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “on [עַל, ’al] the row,” probably used distributively, “on each row” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 395-96). Perhaps the frankincense was placed “with” or “along side of” each row, not actually on the bread itself, and was actually burned as incense to the Lord (cf. NIV “Along [Alongside CEV] each row”; NRSV “with each row”; NLT “near each row”; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 165). This particular preposition can have such a meaning.

[24:7]  ³¹ sn The “memorial portion” (אַזְכָרָה, ’azkharah) was normally the part of the grain offering that was burnt on the altar (see Lev 2:2 and the notes there), as opposed to the remainder, which was normally consumed by the priests (Lev 2:3; see the full regulations in Lev 6:14-23 [6:7-16 HT]).

[24:7]  ³² sn See the note on Lev 1:9 regarding the term “gift.”

[16:40]  ³³ tn Heb “from the seed of.”

[16:40]  ³⁴ tn Heb “hand.”

[31:54]  ³⁵ tn The Hebrew text does not repeat the word “commanders” here, but it is implied.

[31:54]  ³⁶ tn The purpose of the offering was to remind the Lord to remember Israel. But it would also be an encouragement for Israel as they remembered the great victory.

[4:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “were cut off from before.”

[4:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “how the waters descending from above stood still.”

[62:6]  ³⁹ sn The speaker here is probably the prophet.

[62:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “all day and all night continually they do not keep silent.” The following lines suggest that they pray for the Lord’s intervention and restoration of the city.

[62:6]  ⁴¹ tn Or “invoke”; NIV “call on”; NASB, NRSV “remind.”

[6:14]  ⁴² tn “Helem” is probably the same individual as “Heldai” in v. 10. Since the MT and the major ancient versions leave the apparent conflict unresolved it is probably best to view “Helem” as interchangeable with “Heldai” (cf. “Heled” in 1 Chr 11:30 with “Heleb” [2 Sam 23:29] and “Heldai” [1 Chr 27:15]). A number of modern English versions use “Heldai” here (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[6:14]  ⁴³ tn Since the “son of Zephaniah” in v. 10 is Josiah, it might be best here to understand “Hen” in its meaning “grace” (חֵן, khen); that is, “Hen” is a nickname for Josiah – “the gracious one.” A number of modern English translations use “Josiah” here (e.g., NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[1:54]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “because he remembered mercy,” understanding the infinitive as causal.

[1:54]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “his [God’s] loyal love.”

[1:72]  ⁴⁶ tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.

[1:72]  ⁴⁷ sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.

[1:72]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.

[1:72]  ⁴⁹ sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).

[10:4]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Cornelius) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “said,” but in response to the angel’s address, “replied” is better English style.

[10:4]  ⁵² tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ⁵³ tn Or “your gifts to the needy.”

[10:4]  ⁵⁴ sn The language used in the expression gone up as a memorial before God parallels what one would say of acceptable sacrifices (Ps 141:2; Sir 35:6; 50:16).