Exodus 13:21

13:21 Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, ¹  so that they could ²  travel day or night. ³ 

Joshua 1:5

1:5 No one will be able to resist you ⁴  all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not abandon you or leave you alone.

Isaiah 63:9

63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. ⁵ 

The messenger sent from his very presence ⁶  delivered them.

In his love and mercy he protected ⁷  them;

he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. ⁸ 

Matthew 28:20

28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, ⁹  I am with you ¹⁰  always, to the end of the age.” ¹¹ 

[13:21]  ¹ sn God chose to guide the people with a pillar of cloud in the day and one of fire at night, or, as a pillar of cloud and fire, since they represented his presence. God had already appeared to Moses in the fire of the bush, and so here again is revelation with fire. Whatever the exact nature of these things, they formed direct, visible revelations from God, who was guiding the people in a clear and unambiguous way. Both clouds and fire would again and again represent the presence of God in his power and majesty, guiding and protecting his people, by judging their enemies.

[13:21]  ² tn The infinitive construct here indicates the result of these manifestations – “so that they went” or “could go.”

[13:21]  ³ tn These are adverbial accusatives of time.

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “A man will not stand before you.” The second person pronouns in this verse are singular, indicating Joshua is the addressee.

[63:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).

[63:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”

[63:9]  ⁷ tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”

[63:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”

[28:20]  ⁹ tn The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has been translated here as “remember” (BDAG 468 s.v. 1.c).

[28:20]  ¹⁰ sn I am with you. Matthew’s Gospel begins with the prophecy that the Savior’s name would be “Emmanuel, that is, ‘God with us,’” (1:23, in which the author has linked Isa 7:14 and 8:8, 10 together) and it ends with Jesus’ promise to be with his disciples forever. The Gospel of Matthew thus forms an inclusio about Jesus in his relationship to his people that suggests his deity.

[28:20]  ¹¹ tc Most mss (A^c Θ Ë¹³ Ï it sy) have ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”) at the end of v. 20. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, no good reason exists for the omission of the particle in significant and early witnesses such as א A* B D W ˹ 33 al lat sa.