Genesis 15:1

The Cutting of the Covenant

15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield ¹  and the one who will reward you in great abundance.” ² 

Exodus 14:13

14:13 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! ³  Stand firm ⁴  and see ⁵  the salvation ⁶  of the Lord that he will provide ⁷  for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again. ⁸ 

Exodus 20:20

20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, ⁹  that the fear of him ¹⁰  may be before you so that you do not ¹¹  sin.”

Isaiah 41:10

41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!

Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! ¹² 

I strengthen you –

yes, I help you –

yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand! ¹³ 

Daniel 10:12

10:12 Then he said to me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel, for from the very first day you applied your mind ¹⁴  to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come in response to your words.

Matthew 28:4

28:4 The ¹⁵  guards were shaken and became like dead men because they were so afraid of him.

Mark 16:5-6

16:5 Then ¹⁶  as they went into the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe ¹⁷  sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 16:6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. ¹⁸  He has been raised! ¹⁹  He is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him.

Luke 24:37-39

24:37 But they were startled and terrified, thinking ²⁰  they saw a ghost. ²¹  24:38 Then ²²  he said to them, “Why are you frightened, ²³  and why do doubts ²⁴  arise in your hearts? 24:39 Look at my hands and my feet; it’s me! ²⁵  Touch me and see; a ghost ²⁶  does not have flesh and bones like you see I have.”

[15:1]  ¹ sn The noun “shield” recalls the words of Melchizedek in 14:20. If God is the shield, then God will deliver. Abram need not fear reprisals from those he has fought.

[15:1]  ² tn Heb “your reward [in] great abundance.” When the phrase הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ (harbeh mÿod) follows a noun it invariably modifies the noun and carries the nuance “very great” or “in great abundance.” (See its use in Gen 41:49; Deut 3:5; Josh 22:8; 2 Sam 8:8; 12:2; 1 Kgs 4:29; 10:10-11; 2 Chr 14:13; 32:27; Jer 40:12.) Here the noun “reward” is in apposition to “shield” and refers by metonymy to God as the source of the reward. Some translate here “your reward will be very great” (cf. NASB, NRSV), taking the statement as an independent clause and understanding the Hiphil infinitive absolute as a substitute for a finite verb. However, the construction הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ is never used this way elsewhere, where it either modifies a noun (see the texts listed above) or serves as an adverb in relation to a finite verb (see Josh 13:1; 1 Sam 26:21; 2 Sam 12:30; 2 Kgs 21:16; 1 Chr 20:2; Neh 2:2).

[14:13]  ³ tn The use of אַל (’al) with the jussive has the force of “stop fearing.” It is a more immediate negative command than לֹא (lo’) with the imperfect (as in the Decalogue).

[14:13]  ⁴ tn The force of this verb in the Hitpael is “to station oneself” or “stand firm” without fleeing.

[14:13]  ⁵ tn The form is an imperative with a vav (ו). It could also be rendered “stand firm and you will see” meaning the result, or “stand firm that you may see” meaning the purpose.

[14:13]  ⁶ tn Or “victory” (NAB) or “deliverance” (NIV, NRSV).

[14:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “do,” i.e., perform or accomplish.

[14:13]  ⁸ tn The construction uses a verbal hendiadys consisting of a Hiphil imperfect (“you will not add”) and a Qal infinitive construct with a suffix (“to see them”) – “you will no longer see them.” Then the clause adds “again, for ever.”

[20:20]  ⁹ tn נַסּוֹת (nassot) is the Piel infinitive construct; it forms the purpose of God’s coming with all the accompanying phenomena. The verb can mean “to try, test, prove.” The sense of “prove” fits this context best because the terrifying phenomena were intended to put the fear of God in their hearts so that they would obey. In other words, God was inspiring them to obey, not simply testing to see if they would.

[20:20]  ¹⁰ tn The suffix on the noun is an objective genitive, referring to the fear that the people would have of God (GKC 439 §135.m).

[20:20]  ¹¹ tn The negative form לְבִלְתִּי (lÿvilti) is used here with the imperfect tense (see for other examples GKC 483 §152.x). This gives the imperfect the nuance of a final imperfect: that you might not sin. Others: to keep you from sin.

[41:10]  ¹² tn According to BDB (1043 s.v. שָׁעָה), the verb תִּשְׁתָּע (tishta’) in the second line of the poetic couplet is a Hitpael form from the root שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “gaze,” with metathesis of the stem prefix and the first root letter). Taking the Hitpael as iterative, one may then translate “do not anxiously look about.” However, the alleged Hitpael form of שָׁעָה (sha’ah) only occurs here and in verse 23. HALOT 1671 s.v. שׁתע proposes that the verb is instead a Qal form from the root שׁתע (“fear”) which is attested in cognate Semitic languages, including Ugaritic (discovered after the publishing of BDB), suggests the existence of this root. The poetic structure of v. 10 also supports the proposal, for the form in question is in synonymous parallelism to יָרֵא (yare’, “fear”).

[41:10]  ¹³ tn The “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver (Exod 15:6, 12) and protect (Ps 63:9 HT [63:8 ET]). Here צֶדֶק (tsedeq) has its well-attested nuance of “vindicated righteousness,” i.e., “victory, deliverance” (see 45:8; 51:5, and BDB 841-42 s.v.).

[10:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “gave your heart.”

[28:4]  ¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[16:5]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[16:5]  ¹⁷ sn Mark does not explicitly identify the young man dressed in a white robe as an angel (though the white robe suggests this), but Matthew does (Matt 28:2).

[16:6]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on Crucify in 15:13.

[16:6]  ¹⁹ tn The verb here is passive (ἠγέρθη, hgerqh). This “divine passive” (see ExSyn 437-38) points to the fact that Jesus was raised by God.

[24:37]  ²⁰ sn The disciples were still not comfortable at this point thinking that this could be Jesus raised from the dead. Instead they thought they saw a spirit.

[24:37]  ²¹ tc This is not a reference to “a phantom” as read by the Western ms D. For πνεῦμα (pneuma) having the force of “ghost,” or “an independent noncorporeal being, in contrast to a being that can be perceived by the physical senses,” see BDAG 833-34 s.v. πνεῦμα 4.

[24:38]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[24:38]  ²³ tn Or “disturbed,” “troubled.”

[24:38]  ²⁴ tn The expression here is an idiom; see BDAG 58 s.v. ἀναβαίνω 2. Here καρδία (kardia) is a collective singular; the expression has been translated as plural in English.

[24:39]  ²⁵ tn Grk “that it is I myself.”

[24:39]  ²⁶ tn See tc note on “ghost” in v. 37.