Ezekiel 13:5

13:5 You have not gone up in the breaks in the wall, nor repaired a wall for the house of Israel that it would stand strong in the battle on the day of the Lord.

Genesis 18:23-32

18:23 Abraham approached and said, “Will you sweep away the godly along with the wicked? 18:24 What if there are fifty godly people in the city? Will you really wipe it out and not spare ¹  the place for the sake of the fifty godly people who are in it? 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge ²  of the whole earth do what is right?” ³ 

18:26 So the Lord replied, “If I find in the city of Sodom fifty godly people, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

18:27 Then Abraham asked, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord ⁴  (although I am but dust and ashes), ⁵  18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy ⁶  the whole city because five are lacking?” ⁷  He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

18:29 Abraham ⁸  spoke to him again, ⁹  “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

18:30 Then Abraham ¹⁰  said, “May the Lord not be angry ¹¹  so that I may speak! ¹²  What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

18:31 Abraham ¹³  said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

18:32 Finally Abraham ¹⁴  said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Exodus 32:10-14

32:10 So now, leave me alone ¹⁵  so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.”

32:11 But Moses sought the favor ¹⁶  of the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 32:12 Why ¹⁷  should the Egyptians say, ¹⁸  ‘For evil ¹⁹  he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy ²⁰  them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger, and relent ²¹  of this evil against your people. 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, ‘I will multiply your descendants ²²  like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about ²³  I will give to your descendants, ²⁴  and they will inherit it forever.’” 32:14 Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.

Psalms 106:23

106:23 He threatened ²⁵  to destroy them,

but ²⁶  Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him ²⁷ 

and turned back his destructive anger. ²⁸ 

Jeremiah 15:1

15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for ²⁹  these people, I would not feel pity for them! ³⁰  Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ³¹ 

[18:24]  ¹ tn Heb “lift up,” perhaps in the sense of “bear with” (cf. NRSV “forgive”).

[18:25]  ² tn Or “ruler.”

[18:25]  ³ sn Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right? For discussion of this text see J. L. Crenshaw, “Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel,” ZAW 82 (1970): 380-95, and C. S. Rodd, “Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Just?” ExpTim 83 (1972): 137-39.

[18:27]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 30, 31, 32 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[18:27]  ⁵ tn The disjunctive clause is a concessive clause here, drawing out the humility as a contrast to the Lord.

[18:28]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to destroy”) was used earlier to describe the effect of the flood.

[18:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “because of five.”

[18:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:29]  ⁹ tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys – the preterite (“he added”) is combined with an adverb “yet” and an infinitive “to speak.”

[18:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “let it not be hot to the Lord.” This is an idiom which means “may the Lord not be angry.”

[18:30]  ¹² tn After the jussive, the cohortative indicates purpose/result.

[18:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:32]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:10]  ¹⁵ tn The imperative, from the word “to rest” (נוּחַ, nuakh), has the sense of “leave me alone, let me be.” It is a directive for Moses not to intercede for the people. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 567) reflects the Jewish interpretation that there is a profound paradox in God’s words. He vows the severest punishment but then suddenly conditions it on Moses’ agreement. “Let me alone that I may consume them” is the statement, but the effect is that he has left the door open for intercession. He allows himself to be persuaded – that is what a mediator is for. God could have slammed the door (as when Moses wanted to go into the promised land). Moreover, by alluding to the promise to Abraham God gave Moses the strongest reason to intercede.

[32:11]  ¹⁶ tn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 351) draws on Arabic to show that the meaning of this verb (חָלָה, khalah) was properly “make sweet the face” or “stroke the face”; so here “to entreat, seek to conciliate.” In this prayer, Driver adds, Moses urges four motives for mercy: 1) Israel is Yahweh’s people, 2) Israel’s deliverance has demanded great power, 3) the Egyptians would mock if the people now perished, and 4) the oath God made to the fathers.

[32:12]  ¹⁷ tn The question is rhetorical; it really forms an affirmation that is used here as a reason for the request (see GKC 474 §150.e).

[32:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “speak, saying.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[32:12]  ¹⁹ tn The word “evil” means any kind of life-threatening or fatal calamity. “Evil” is that which hinders life, interrupts life, causes pain to life, or destroys it. The Egyptians would conclude that such a God would have no good intent in taking his people to the desert if now he destroyed them.

[32:12]  ²⁰ tn The form is a Piel infinitive construct from כָּלָה (kalah, “to complete, finish”) but in this stem, “bring to an end, destroy.” As a purpose infinitive this expresses what the Egyptians would have thought of God’s motive.

[32:12]  ²¹ tn The verb “repent, relent” when used of God is certainly an anthropomorphism. It expresses the deep pain that one would have over a situation. Earlier God repented that he had made humans (Gen 6:6). Here Moses is asking God to repent/relent over the judgment he was about to bring, meaning that he should be moved by such compassion that there would be no judgment like that. J. P. Hyatt observes that the Bible uses so many anthropomorphisms because the Israelites conceived of God as a dynamic and living person in a vital relationship with people, responding to their needs and attitudes and actions (Exodus [NCBC], 307). See H. V. D. Parunak, “A Semantic Survey of NHM,” Bib 56 (1975): 512-32.

[32:13]  ²² tn Heb “your seed.”

[32:13]  ²³ tn “about” has been supplied.

[32:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “seed.”

[106:23]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and he said.”

[106:23]  ²⁶ tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”

[106:23]  ²⁷ tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”

[106:23]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”

[15:1]  ²⁹ tn The words “pleading for” have been supplied in the translation to explain the idiom (a metonymy). For parallel usage see BDB 763 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.a and compare usage in Gen 19:27, Deut 4:10.

[15:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “my soul would not be toward them.” For the usage of “soul” presupposed here see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 6 in the light of the complaints and petitions in Jeremiah’s prayer in 14:19, 21.

[15:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “Send them away from my presence and let them go away.”