Exodus 15:25-26

15:25 He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him ¹  a tree. ²  When Moses ³  threw it into the water, the water became safe to drink. There the Lord ⁴  made for them ⁵  a binding ordinance, ⁶  and there he tested ⁷  them. 15:26 He said, “If you will diligently obey ⁸  the Lord your God, and do what is right ⁹  in his sight, and pay attention ¹⁰  to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all ¹¹  the diseases ¹²  that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the Lord, am your healer.” ¹³ 

Genesis 22:1

The Sacrifice of Isaac

22:1 Some time after these things God tested ¹⁴  Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham ¹⁵  replied.

Genesis 22:12

22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” ¹⁶  the angel said. ¹⁷  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ¹⁸  that you fear ¹⁹  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Deuteronomy 8:2

8:2 Remember the whole way by which he ²⁰  has brought you these forty years through the desert ²¹  so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 13:3

13:3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, ²²  for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him ²³  with all your mind and being. ²⁴ 

[15:25]  ¹ tn The verb is וַיּוֹרֵהוּ (vayyorehu, “and he showed him”). It is the Hiphil preterite from יָרָה (yarah), which has a basic meaning of “to point, show, direct.” It then came to mean “to teach”; it is the verb behind the noun “Law” (תּוֹרָה, torah).

[15:25]  ² tn Or “a [piece of] wood” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV); NLT “a branch.”

[15:25]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “there he”; the referent (the Lord) is supplied for clarity.

[15:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “for him” (referring to Israel as a whole).

[15:25]  ⁶ tn This translation interprets the two nouns as a hendiadys: “a statute and an ordinance” becomes “a binding ordinance.”

[15:25]  ⁷ tn The verb נִסָּהוּ (nissahu, “and he tested him [them]”) is from the root נָסָה (nasah). The use of this word in the Bible indicates that there is question, doubt, or uncertainty about the object being tested.

[15:26]  ⁸ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of שָׁמַע (shama’). The meaning of the verb is idiomatic here because it is followed by “to the voice of Yahweh your God.” When this is present, the verb is translated “obey.” The construction is in a causal clause. It reads, “If you will diligently obey.” Gesenius points out that the infinitive absolute in a conditional clause also emphasizes the importance of the condition on which the consequence depends (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[15:26]  ⁹ tn The word order is reversed in the text: “and the right in his eyes you do,” or, “[if] you do what is right in his eyes.” The conditional idea in the first clause is continued in this clause.

[15:26]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “give ear.” This verb and the next are both perfect tenses with the vav (ו) consecutive; they continue the sequence of the original conditional clause.

[15:26]  ¹¹ tn The substantive כָּל־ (kol, “all of”) in a negative clause can be translated “none of.”

[15:26]  ¹² sn The reference is no doubt to the plagues that Yahweh has just put on them. These will not come on God’s true people. But the interesting thing about a conditional clause like this is that the opposite is also true – “if you do not obey, then I will bring these diseases.”

[15:26]  ¹³ tn The form is רֹפְאֶךָ (rofÿ’ekha), a participle with a pronominal suffix. The word is the predicate after the pronoun “I”: “I [am] your healer.” The suffix is an objective genitive – the Lord heals them.

[22:1]  ¹⁴ sn The Hebrew verb used here means “to test; to try; to prove.” In this passage God tests Abraham to see if he would be obedient. See T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 44-48. See also J. L. Crenshaw, A Whirlpool of Torment (OBT), 9-30; and J. I. Lawlor, “The Test of Abraham,” GTJ 1 (1980): 19-35.

[22:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Do not extend your hand toward the boy.”

[22:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Do not extend…’”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the context for clarity. The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[22:12]  ¹⁸ sn For now I know. The test was designed to see if Abraham would be obedient (see v. 1).

[22:12]  ¹⁹ sn In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.

[8:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:2]  ²¹ tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.

[13:3]  ²² tn Heb “or dreamer of dreams.” See note on this expression in v. 1.

[13:3]  ²³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[13:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “all your heart and soul” (so NRSV, CEV, NLT); or “heart and being” (NCV “your whole being”). See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.