Exodus 30:18-21

30:18 “You are also to make a large bronze ¹  basin with a bronze stand ²  for washing. You are to put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it, ³  30:19 and Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and their feet from it. ⁴  30:20 When they enter ⁵  the tent of meeting, they must wash with ⁶  water so that they do not die. ⁷  Also, when they approach ⁸  the altar to minister by burning incense ⁹  as an offering made by fire ¹⁰  to the Lord, 30:21 they must wash ¹¹  their hands and their feet so that they do not die. And this ¹²  will be a perpetual ordinance for them and for their descendants ¹³  throughout their generations.” ¹⁴ 

Exodus 40:7

40:7 You are to put the large basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. ¹⁵ 

Exodus 40:30-32

40:30 Then he put the large basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it ¹⁶  for washing. 40:31 Moses and Aaron and his sons would wash their hands and their feet from it. 40:32 Whenever they entered ¹⁷  the tent of meeting, and whenever they approached ¹⁸  the altar, they would wash, ¹⁹  just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Exodus 40:1

Setting Up the Sanctuary

40:1 ²⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ²¹ 

Exodus 7:23

7:23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not pay any attention to this. ²² 

Exodus 7:1

7:1 So the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God ²³  to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. ²⁴ 

Psalms 26:6

26:6 I maintain a pure lifestyle, ²⁵ 

so I can appear before your altar, ²⁶  O Lord,

Zechariah 13:1

The Refinement of Judah

13:1 “In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty ²⁷  of David and the people of Jerusalem ²⁸  to cleanse them from sin and impurity. ²⁹ 

John 13:10

13:10 Jesus replied, ³⁰  “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, ³¹  but is completely ³²  clean. ³³  And you disciples ³⁴  are clean, but not every one of you.”

Titus 3:5-6

3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure ³⁵  through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Hebrews 9:10

9:10 They served only for matters of food and drink ³⁶  and various washings; they are external regulations ³⁷  imposed until the new order came. ³⁸ 

Hebrews 9:1

The Arrangement and Ritual of the Earthly Sanctuary

9:1 Now the first covenant, ³⁹  in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary.

Hebrews 3:7

Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith

3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ⁴⁰ 

“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! ⁴¹ 

Revelation 1:5

1:5 and from Jesus Christ – the faithful ⁴²  witness, ⁴³  the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free ⁴⁴  from our sins at the cost of ⁴⁵  his own blood

[30:18]  ¹ sn The metal for this object was obtained from the women from their mirrors (see Exod 38:8).

[30:18]  ² tn Heb “and its stand bronze.”

[30:18]  ³ tn The form is the adverb “there” with the directive qamets-he ( ָה).

[30:19]  ⁴ tn That is, from water from it.

[30:20]  ⁵ tn The form is an infinitive construct with the temporal preposition bet (ב), and a suffixed subjective genitive: “in their going in,” or, whenever they enter.

[30:20]  ⁶ tn “Water” is an adverbial accusative of means, and so is translated “with water.” Gesenius classifies this with verbs of “covering with something.” But he prefers to emend the text with a preposition (see GKC 369 §117.y, n. 1).

[30:20]  ⁷ tn The verb is a Qal imperfect with a nuance of final imperfect. The purpose/result clause here is indicated only with the conjunction: “and they do not die.” But clearly from the context this is the intended result of their washing – it is in order that they not die.

[30:20]  ⁸ tn Here, too, the infinitive is used in a temporal clause construction. The verb נָגַשׁ (nagash) is the common verb used for drawing near to the altar to make offerings – the official duties of the priest.

[30:20]  ⁹ tn The text uses two infinitives construct: “to minister to burn incense”; the first is the general term and expresses the purpose of the drawing near, and the second infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first infinitive.

[30:20]  ¹⁰ tn The translation “as an offering made by fire” is a standard rendering of the one word in the text that appears to refer to “fire.” Milgrom and others contend that it simply means a “gift” (Leviticus 1-16, 161).

[30:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and [then] they will wash.”

[30:21]  ¹² tn The verb is “it will be.”

[30:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “for his seed.”

[30:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “for generations to come”; it literally is “to their generations.”

[40:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “there.”

[40:30]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there.”

[40:32]  ¹⁷ tn The construction is the infinitive construct with the temporal preposition and the suffixed subjective genitive. This temporal clause indicates that the verb in the preceding verse was frequentative.

[40:32]  ¹⁸ tn This is another infinitive construct in a temporal clause.

[40:32]  ¹⁹ tn In this explanatory verse the verb is a customary imperfect.

[40:1]  ²⁰ sn All of Exod 39:32-40:38 could be taken as a unit. The first section (39:32-43) shows that the Israelites had carefully and accurately completed the preparation and brought everything they had made to Moses: The work of the Lord builds on the faithful obedience of the people. In the second section are the instruction and the implementation (40:1-33): The work of the Lord progresses through the unifying of the work. The last part (40:34-38) may take the most attention: When the work was completed, the glory filled the tabernacle: By his glorious presence, the Lord blesses and directs his people in their worship.

[40:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.”

[7:23]  ²² tn The text has וְלֹא־שָׁת לִבּוֹ גַּם־לָזֹאת (vÿlo’-shat libbo gam-lazo’t), which literally says, “and he did not set his heart also to this.” To “set the heart” to something would mean “to consider it.” This Hebrew idiom means that he did not pay attention to it, or take it to heart (cf. 2 Sam 13:20; Ps 48:13; 62:10; Prov 22:17; 24:32). Since Pharaoh had not been affected by this, he did not consider it or its implications further.

[7:1]  ²³ tn The word “like” is added for clarity, making explicit the implied comparison in the statement “I have made you God to Pharaoh.” The word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is used a few times in the Bible for humans (e.g., Pss 45:6; 82:1), and always clearly in the sense of a subordinate to GOD – they are his representatives on earth. The explanation here goes back to 4:16. If Moses is like God in that Aaron is his prophet, then Moses is certainly like God to Pharaoh. Only Moses, then, is able to speak to Pharaoh with such authority, giving him commands.

[7:1]  ²⁴ tn The word נְבִיאֶךָ (nÿvi’ekha, “your prophet”) recalls 4:16. Moses was to be like God to Aaron, and Aaron was to speak for him. This indicates that the idea of a “prophet” was of one who spoke for God, an idea with which Moses and Aaron and the readers of Exodus are assumed to be familiar.

[26:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I wash my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The imperfect verbal emphasizes that this is his habit.

[26:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “so I can go around your altar” (probably in ritual procession). Following the imperfect of the preceding line, the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.

[13:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “house” (so NIV, NRSV), referring to dynastic descendants.

[13:1]  ²⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[13:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for sin and for impurity.” The purpose implied here has been stated explicitly in the translation for clarity.

[13:10]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[13:10]  ³¹ tn Grk “has no need except to wash his feet.”

[13:10]  ³² tn Or “entirely.”

[13:10]  ³³ sn The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet. A common understanding is that the “bath” Jesus referred to is the initial cleansing from sin, which necessitates only “lesser, partial” cleansings from sins after conversion. This makes a fine illustration from a homiletic standpoint, but is it the meaning of the passage? This seems highly doubtful. Jesus stated that the disciples were completely clean except for Judas (vv. 10b, 11). What they needed was to have their feet washed by Jesus. In the broader context of the Fourth Gospel, the significance of the foot-washing seems to point not just to an example of humble service (as most understand it), but something more – Jesus’ self-sacrificial death on the cross. If this is correct, then the foot-washing which they needed to undergo represented their acceptance of this act of self-sacrifice on the part of their master. This makes Peter’s initial abhorrence of the act of humiliation by his master all the more significant in context; it also explains Jesus’ seemingly harsh reply to Peter (above, v. 8; compare Matt 16:21-23 where Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan”).

[13:10]  ³⁴ tn The word “disciples” is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb. Peter is not the only one Jesus is addressing here.

[3:6]  ³⁵ tn Or “on us richly.”

[9:10]  ³⁶ tn Grk “only for foods and drinks.”

[9:10]  ³⁷ tc Most witnesses (D¹ Ï) have “various washings, and external regulations” (βαπτισμοῖς καὶ δικαιώμασιν, baptismoi" kai dikaiwmasin), with both nouns in the dative. The translation “washings; they are… regulations” renders βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα (baptismoi", dikaiwmata; found in such important mss as Ì⁴⁶ א* A I P 0278 33 1739 1881 al sa) in which case δικαιώματα is taken as the nominative subject of the participle ἐπικείμενα (epikeimena). It seems far more likely that scribes would conform δικαιώματα to the immediately preceding datives and join it to them by καί than they would to the following nominative participle. Both on external and internal evidence the text is thus secure as reading βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα.

[9:10]  ³⁸ tn Grk “until the time of setting things right.”

[9:1]  ³⁹ tn Grk “the first” (referring to the covenant described in Heb 8:7, 13). In the translation the referent (covenant) has been specified for clarity.

[3:7]  ⁴⁰ sn The following quotation is from Ps 95:7b-11.

[3:7]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “today if you hear his voice.”

[1:5]  ⁴² tn Or “Jesus Christ – the faithful one, the witness…” Some take ὁ πιστός (Jo pistos) as a second substantive in relation to ὁ μάρτυς (Jo martus). In the present translation, however, ὁ πιστός was taken as an adjective in attributive position to ὁ μάρτυς. The idea of martyrdom and faithfulness are intimately connected. See BDAG 820 s.v. πιστός 1.a.α: “ὁ μάρτυς μου ὁ πιστός μου Rv 2:13 (μάρτυς 3); in this ‘book of martyrs’ Christ is ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς (καὶ ὁ ἀληθινός) 1:5; 3:14; cp. 19:11 (the combination of ἀληθινός and πιστός in the last two passages is like 3 Macc 2:11). Cp. Rv 17:14.”

[1:5]  ⁴³ sn The Greek term translated witness can mean both “witness” and “martyr.”

[1:5]  ⁴⁴ tc The reading “set free” (λύσαντι, lusanti) has better ms support (̹⁸ א A C 1611 2050 2329 2351 Ï^A sy) than its rival, λούσαντι (lousanti, “washed”; found in P 1006 1841 1854 2053 2062 Ï^K lat bo). Internally, it seems that the reading “washed” could have arisen in at least one of three ways: (1) as an error of hearing (both “released” and “washed” are pronounced similarly in Greek); (2) an error of sight (both “released” and “washed” look very similar – a difference of only one letter – which could have resulted in a simple error during the copying of a ms); (3) through scribal inability to appreciate that the Hebrew preposition ב can be used with a noun to indicate the price paid for something. Since the author of Revelation is influenced significantly by a Semitic form of Greek (e.g., 13:10), and since the Hebrew preposition “in” (ב) can indicate the price paid for something, and is often translated with the preposition “in” (ἐν, en) in the LXX, the author may have tried to communicate by the use of ἐν the idea of a price paid for something. That is, John was trying to say that Christ delivered us at the price of his own blood. This whole process, however, may have been lost on a later scribe, who being unfamiliar with Hebrew, found the expression “delivered in his blood” too difficult, and noticing the obvious similarities between λύσαντι and λούσαντι, assumed an error and then proceeded to change the text to “washed in his blood” – a thought more tolerable in his mind. Both readings, of course, are true to scripture; the current question is what the author wrote in this verse.

[1:5]  ⁴⁵ tn The style here is somewhat Semitic, with the use of the ἐν (en) + the dative to mean “at the price of.” The addition of “own” in the English is stylistic and is an attempt to bring out the personal nature of the statement and the sacrificial aspect of Jesus’ death – a frequent refrain in the Apocalypse.