Exodus 4:17

4:17 You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.” ¹ 

Exodus 4:20

4:20 Then Moses took ²  his wife and sons ³  and put them on a donkey and headed back ⁴  to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

Genesis 30:37

30:37 But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible.

Leviticus 27:32

27:32 All the tithe of herd or flock, everything which passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the Lord. ⁵ 

Psalms 110:2

110:2 The Lord ⁶  extends ⁷  your dominion ⁸  from Zion.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Isaiah 11:4

11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, ⁹ 

and make right decisions ¹⁰  for the downtrodden of the earth. ¹¹ 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ¹² 

and order the wicked to be executed. ¹³ 

Micah 7:14

7:14 Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod, ¹⁴ 

the flock that belongs to you, ¹⁵ 

the one that lives alone in a thicket,

in the midst of a pastureland. ¹⁶ 

Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, ¹⁷ 

as they did in the old days. ¹⁸ 

[4:17]  ¹ sn Mention of the staff makes an appropriate ending to the section, for God’s power (represented by the staff) will work through Moses. The applicable point that this whole section is making could be worded this way: The servants of God who sense their inadequacy must demonstrate the power of God as their sufficiency.

[4:20]  ² tn Heb “And Moses took.”

[4:20]  ³ sn Only Gershom has been mentioned so far. The other son’s name will be explained in chapter 18. The explanation of Gershom’s name was important to Moses’ sojourn in Midian. The explanation of the name Eliezer fits better in the later chapter (18:2-4).

[4:20]  ⁴ tn The verb would literally be rendered “and returned”; however, the narrative will record other happenings before he arrived in Egypt, so an ingressive nuance fits here – he began to return, or started back.

[27:32]  ⁵ sn The tithed animal was the tenth one that passed under the shepherd’s rod or staff as they were being counted (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 485, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 200).

[110:2]  ⁶ tn Since the Lord is mentioned in the third person (note the use of the first person in v. 1), it is likely that these are the psalmist’s words to the king, not a continuation of the oracle per se.

[110:2]  ⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though it could be taken as future.

[110:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “your strong scepter,” symbolic of the king’s royal authority and dominion.

[11:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”

[11:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).

[11:4]  ¹² tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).

[11:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.

[7:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or “with your scepter” (the Hebrew term can mean either “rod” or “scepter”).

[7:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the flock of your inheritance.”

[7:14]  ¹⁶ tn Or “in the midst of Carmel.” The Hebrew term translated “pastureland” may be a place name.

[7:14]  ¹⁷ sn The regions of Bashan and Gilead, located in Transjordan, were noted for their rich grazing lands.

[7:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “as in the days of antiquity.”