Exodus 13:8-9

13:8 You are to tell your son ¹  on that day, ²  ‘It is ³  because of what ⁴  the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 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 13:14

13:14 ¹³ In the future, ¹⁴  when your son asks you ¹⁵  ‘What is this?’ ¹⁶  you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand ¹⁷  the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery. ¹⁸ 

Deuteronomy 4:9

Reminder of the Horeb Covenant

4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, ¹⁹  lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 6:20-22

Exhortation to Remember the Past

6:20 When your children ²⁰  ask you later on, “What are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?” 6:21 you must say to them, ²¹  “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way. ²²  6:22 And he ²³  brought signs and great, devastating wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on his whole family ²⁴  before our very eyes.

Psalms 44:1

Psalm 44 ²⁵ 

For the music director; by the Korahites, a well-written song. ²⁶ 

44:1 O God, we have clearly heard; ²⁷ 

our ancestors ²⁸  have told us

what you did ²⁹  in their days,

in ancient times. ³⁰ 

Psalms 71:18

71:18 Even when I am old and gray, ³¹ 

O God, do not abandon me,

until I tell the next generation about your strength,

and those coming after me about your power. ³² 

Psalms 78:5-6

78:5 He established a rule ³³  in Jacob;

he set up a law in Israel.

He commanded our ancestors

to make his deeds known to their descendants, ³⁴ 

78:6 so that the next generation, children yet to be born,

might know about them.

They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. ³⁵ 

Joel 1:3

1:3 Tell your children ³⁶  about it,

have your children tell their children,

and their children the following generation. ³⁷ 

Ephesians 6:4

6:4 Fathers, ³⁸  do not provoke your children to anger, ³⁹  but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

[13:8]  ¹ tn The form is the Hiphil perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the sequence forward: “and you will declare to your son.”

[13:8]  ² tn Heb “day, saying.” “Tell…saying” is redundant, so “saying” has not been included in the translation here.

[13:8]  ³ tn “it is” has been supplied.

[13:8]  ⁴ tn The text uses זֶה (zeh), which Gesenius classifies as the use of the pronoun to introduce a relative clause after the preposition (GKC 447 §138.h) – but he thinks the form is corrupt. B. S. Childs, however, sees no reason to posit a corruption in this form (Exodus [OTL], 184).

[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.

[13:14]  ¹³ sn As with v. 8, the Law now requires that the children be instructed on the meaning of this observance. It is a memorial of the deliverance from bondage and the killing of the firstborn in Egypt.

[13:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “tomorrow.”

[13:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and it will be when your son will ask you.”

[13:14]  ¹⁶ tn The question is cryptic; it simply says, “What is this?” but certainly refers to the custom just mentioned. It asks, “What does this mean?” or “Why do we do this?”

[13:14]  ¹⁷ tn The expression is “with strength of hand,” making “hand” the genitive of specification. In translation “strength” becomes the modifier, because “hand” specifies where the strength was. But of course the whole expression is anthropomorphic for the power of God.

[13:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “house of slaves.”

[4:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”

[6:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your son.”

[6:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “to your son.”

[6:21]  ²² tn Heb “by a strong hand.” The image is that of a warrior who, with weapon in hand, overcomes his enemies. The Lord is commonly depicted as a divine warrior in the Book of Deuteronomy (cf. 5:15; 7:8; 9:26; 26:8).

[6:22]  ²³ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 17.

[6:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “house,” referring to the entire household.

[44:1]  ²⁵ sn Psalm 44. The speakers in this psalm (the worshiping community within the nation Israel) were disappointed with God. The psalm begins on a positive note, praising God for leading Israel to past military victories. Verses 1-8 appear to be a song of confidence and petition which the people recited prior to battle. But suddenly the mood changes as the nation laments a recent defeat. The stark contrast between the present and the past only heightens the nation’s confusion. Israel trusted in God for victory, but the Lord rejected them and allowed them to be humiliated in battle. If Israel had been unfaithful to God, their defeat would make sense, but the nation was loyal to the Lord. Comparing the Lord to a careless shepherd, the nation urges God to wake up and to extend his compassion to his suffering people.

[44:1]  ²⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.

[44:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “with our ears we have heard.”

[44:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 2; the same Hebrew word may be translated either “fathers” or “ancestors” depending on the context.

[44:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the work you worked.”

[44:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in the days of old.” This refers specifically to the days of Joshua, during Israel’s conquest of the land, as vv. 2-3 indicate.

[71:18]  ³¹ tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”

[71:18]  ³² tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.

[78:5]  ³³ tn The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to God’s command that the older generation teach their children about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history (see Exod 10:2; Deut 4:9; 6:20-25).

[78:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “which he commanded our fathers to make them known to their sons.” The plural suffix “them” probably refers back to the Lord’s mighty deeds (see vv. 3-4).

[78:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “in order that they might know, a following generation, sons [who] will be born, they will arise and will tell to their sons.”

[1:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “sons.” This word occurs several times in this verse.

[1:3]  ³⁷ sn The circumstances that precipitated the book of Joel surrounded a locust invasion in Palestine that was of unprecedented proportions. The locusts had devastated the country’s agrarian economy, with the unwelcome consequences extending to every important aspect of commercial, religious, and national life. To further complicate matters, a severe drought had exhausted water supplies, causing life-threatening shortages for animal and human life (cf. v. 20). Locust invasions occasionally present significant problems in Palestine in modern times. The year 1865 was commonly known among Arabic-speaking peoples of the Near East as sent el jarad, “year of the locust.” The years 1892, 1899, and 1904 witnessed significant locust invasions in Palestine. But in modern times there has been nothing equal in magnitude to the great locust invasion that began in Palestine in February of 1915. This modern parallel provides valuable insight into the locust plague the prophet Joel points to as a foreshadowing of the day of the Lord. For an eyewitness account of the 1915 locust invasion of Palestine see J. D. Whiting, “Jerusalem’s Locust Plague,” National Geographic 28 (December 1915): 511-50.

[6:4]  ³⁸ tn Or perhaps “Parents” (so TEV, CEV). The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.b).

[6:4]  ³⁹ tn Or “do not make your children angry.” BDAG 780 s.v. παροργίζω states “make angry.” The Greek verb in Col 3:21 is a different one with a slightly different nuance.