Exodus 4:31

4:31 and the people believed. When they heard ¹  that the Lord had attended to ²  the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground. ³ 

Genesis 48:21

48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you ⁴  and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.

Luke 1:58

1:58 Her ⁵  neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown ⁶  great mercy to her, and they rejoiced ⁷  with her.

Luke 7:16

7:16 Fear ⁸  seized them all, and they began to glorify ⁹  God, saying, “A great prophet ¹⁰  has appeared ¹¹  among us!” and “God has come to help ¹²  his people!”

[4:31]  ¹ tc The LXX (Greek OT) has “and they rejoiced,” probably reading וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ (vayyismÿkhu) instead of what the MT reading, וַיִּשְׂמְעוּ (vayyismÿ’u, “and they heard”). To rejoice would have seemed a natural response of the people at the news, and the words sound similar in Hebrew.

[4:31]  ² tn Or “intervened for.” The word פָּקַד (paqad) has traditionally been translated “visited,” which is open to many interpretations. It means that God intervened in the life of the Israelites to bless them with the fulfillment of the promises. It says more than that he took notice of them, took pity on them, or remembered them. He had not yet fulfilled the promises, but he had begun to act by calling Moses and Aaron. The translation “attended to” attempts to capture that much.

[4:31]  ³ tn The verb וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ (vayyishtakhavu) is usually rendered “worshiped.” More specifically, the verbal root חָוָה (khava) in the hishtaphel stem means “to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” While there is nothing wrong with giving it a general translation of “worship,” it may be better in a passage like this to take it in conjunction with the other verb (“bow”) as a verbal hendiadys, using it as an adverb to that verb. The implication is certainly that they prayed, or praised, and performed some other aspect of worship, but the text may just be describing it from their posture of worship. With this response, all the fears of Moses are swept aside – they believed and they were thankful to God.

[48:21]  ⁴ tn The pronouns translated “you,” “you,” and “your” in this verse are plural in the Hebrew text.

[1:58]  ⁵ tn Grk “And her.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:58]  ⁶ tn Grk “had magnified his mercy with her.”

[1:58]  ⁷ tn The verb συνέχαιρον (sunecairon) is an imperfect and could be translated as an ingressive force, “they began to rejoice.”

[7:16]  ⁸ tn Or “Awe.” Grk “fear,” but the context and the following remark show that it is mixed with wonder; see L&N 53.59. This is a reaction to God’s work; see Luke 5:9.

[7:16]  ⁹ tn This imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[7:16]  ¹⁰ sn That Jesus was a great prophet was a natural conclusion for the crowd to make, given the healing; but Jesus is more than this. See Luke 9:8, 19-20.

[7:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “arisen.”

[7:16]  ¹² tn Grk “visited,” but this conveys a different impression to a modern reader. L&N 85.11 renders the verb, “to be present, with the implication of concern – ‘to be present to help, to be on hand to aid.’ … ‘God has come to help his people’ Lk 7:16.” The language recalls Luke 1:68, 78.