Exodus 35:4

Willing Workers

35:4 ¹ Moses spoke to the whole community of the Israelites, “This is the word that the Lord has commanded:

Deuteronomy 4:2

4:2 Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am delivering to ²  you.

Deuteronomy 11:32

11:32 Be certain to keep all the statutes and ordinances that I am presenting to you today.

Deuteronomy 12:32

Idolatry and False Prophets

12:32 (13:1) ³  You ⁴  must be careful to do everything I am commanding you. Do not add to it or subtract from it! ⁵ 

Isaiah 8:20

8:20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. ⁶  Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. ⁷ 

Matthew 28:20

28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, ⁸  I am with you ⁹  always, to the end of the age.” ¹⁰ 

Matthew 28:1

The Resurrection

28:1 Now after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

Colossians 3:5

3:5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: ¹¹  sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, ¹²  evil desire, and greed which is idolatry.

Galatians 6:16

6:16 And all who will behave ¹³  in accordance with this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on the Israel of God. ¹⁴ 

Galatians 6:2

6:2 Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 1:19

1:19 But I saw none of the other apostles ¹⁵  except James the Lord’s brother.

Galatians 1:2

1:2 and all the brothers with me, to the churches of Galatia.

Galatians 3:15-17

Inheritance Comes from Promises and not Law

3:15 Brothers and sisters, ¹⁶  I offer an example from everyday life: ¹⁷  When a covenant ¹⁸  has been ratified, ¹⁹  even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it. 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. ²⁰  Scripture ²¹  does not say, “and to the descendants,” ²²  referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” ²³  referring to one, who is Christ. 3:17 What I am saying is this: The law that came four hundred thirty years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, ²⁴  so as to invalidate the promise.

[35:4]  ¹ sn The book now turns to record how all the work of the sanctuary was done. This next unit picks up on the ideas in Exod 31:1-11. But it adds several features. The first part is the instruction of God for all people to give willingly (35:4-19); the next section tells how the faithful brought an offering for the service of the tabernacle (35:20-29); the next section tells how God set some apart with special gifts (35:30-35), and finally, the narrative reports how the faithful people of God enthusiastically began the work (36:1-7).

[4:2]  ² tn Heb “commanding.”

[12:32]  ³ sn Beginning with 12:32, the verse numbers through 13:18 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 12:32 ET = 13:1 HT, 13:1 ET = 13:2 HT, 13:2 ET = 13:3 HT, etc., through 13:18 ET = 13:19 HT. With 14:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[12:32]  ⁴ tn This verse highlights a phenomenon found throughout Deuteronomy, but most especially in chap. 12, namely, the alternation of grammatical singular and plural forms of the pronoun (known as Numeruswechsel in German scholarship). Critical scholarship in general resolves the “problem” by suggesting varying literary traditions – one favorable to the singular pronoun and the other to the plural – which appear in the (obviously rough) redacted text at hand. Even the ancient versions were troubled by the lack of harmony of grammatical number and in this verse, for example, offered a number of alternate readings. The MT reads “Everything I am commanding you (plural) you (plural) must be careful to do; you (singular) must not add to it nor should you (singular) subtract form it.” Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate suggest singular for the first two pronouns but a few Smr mss propose plural for the last two. What both ancient and modern scholars tend to overlook, however, is the covenantal theological tone of the Book of Deuteronomy, one that views Israel as a collective body (singular) made up of many individuals (plural). See M. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1–11 (AB), 15-16; J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy (TOTC), 21-23.

[12:32]  ⁵ sn Do not add to it or subtract from it. This prohibition makes at least two profound theological points: (1) This work by Moses is of divine origination (i.e., it is inspired) and therefore can tolerate no human alteration; and (2) the work is complete as it stands (i.e., it is canonical).

[8:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “to [the] instruction and to [the] testimony.” The words “then you must recall” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20a are one long sentence, reading literally, “When they say to you…, to the instruction and to the testimony.” On the identity of the “instruction” and “testimony” see the notes at v. 16.

[8:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “If they do not speak according to this word, [it is] because it has no light of dawn.” The literal translation suggests that “this word” refers to the instruction/testimony. However, it is likely that אִם־לֹא (’im-lo’) is asseverative here, as in 5:9. In this case “this word” refers to the quotation recorded in v. 19. For a discussion of the problem see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 230, n. 9. The singular pronoun in the second half of the verse is collective, referring back to the nation (see v. 19b).

[28:20]  ⁸ tn The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has been translated here as “remember” (BDAG 468 s.v. 1.c).

[28:20]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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.

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the members which are on the earth.” See BDAG 628 s.v. μέλος 1, “put to death whatever in you is worldly.”

[3:5]  ¹² tn Or “lust.”

[6:16]  ¹³ tn The same Greek verb, στοιχέω (stoicew), occurs in Gal 5:25.

[6:16]  ¹⁴ tn The word “and” (καί) can be interpreted in two ways: (1) It could be rendered as “also” which would indicate that two distinct groups are in view, namely “all who will behave in accordance with this rule” and “the Israel of God.” Or (2) it could be rendered “even,” which would indicate that “all who behave in accordance with this rule” are “the Israel of God.” In other words, in this latter view, “even” = “that is.”

[1:19]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “But another of the apostles I did not see, except…” with “another” in emphatic position in the Greek text. Paul is determined to make the point that his contacts with the original twelve apostles and other leaders of the Jerusalem church were limited, thus asserting his independence from them.

[3:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[3:15]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “I speak according to man,” referring to the illustration that follows.

[3:15]  ¹⁸ tn The same Greek word, διαθήκη (diaqhkh), can mean either “covenant” or “will,” but in this context the former is preferred here because Paul is discussing in vv. 16-18 the Abrahamic covenant.

[3:15]  ¹⁹ tn Or “has been put into effect.”

[3:16]  ²⁰ tn Grk “his seed,” a figurative extension of the meaning of σπέρμα (sperma) to refer to descendants (L&N 10.29).

[3:16]  ²¹ tn Grk “It”; the referent (the scripture) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The understood subject of the verb λέγει (legei) could also be “He” (referring to God) as the one who spoke the promise to Abraham.

[3:16]  ²² tn Grk “to seeds.” See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse. Here the term is plural; the use of the singular in the OT text cited later in this verse is crucial to Paul’s argument.

[3:16]  ²³ tn See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse.

[3:17]  ²⁴ tc Most mss (D F G I 0176 0278 Ï it sy) read “ratified by God in Christ” whereas the omission of “in Christ” is the reading in Ì⁴⁶ א A B C P Ψ 6 33 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 pc co. The shorter reading is strongly supported by the ms evidence, and it is probable that a copyist inserted the words as an interpretive gloss. However, this form of the “in Christ” expression is somewhat atypical in the corpus Paulinum (εἰς Χριστόν [ei" Criston] rather than ἐν Χριστῷ [en Cristw]), a fact which tempers one’s certainty about the shorter reading. Nevertheless, the expression is used more in Galatians than in any other of Paul’s letters (Gal 2:16; 3:24, 27), and may have been suggested by such texts to early copyists.