Genesis 2:17

2:17 but ¹  you must not eat ²  from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when ³  you eat from it you will surely die.” ⁴ 

Genesis 3:4

3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, ⁵ 

Numbers 26:65

26:65 For the Lord had said of them, “They will surely die in the wilderness.” And there was not left a single man of them, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

Numbers 26:1

A Second Census Required

26:1 ⁶ After the plague the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, ⁷ 

Numbers 28:19

28:19 “‘But you must offer to the Lord an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs one year old; they must all be unblemished. ⁸ 

Numbers 28:1

Daily Offerings

28:1 ⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 14:12

14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, ¹⁰  and I will disinherit them; I will make you into a nation that is greater and mightier than they!”

Proverbs 11:19

11:19 True ¹¹  righteousness leads to ¹²  life,

but the one who pursues evil pursues it ¹³  to his own death. ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 14:32

14:32 The wicked will be thrown down in his trouble, ¹⁵ 

but the righteous have refuge ¹⁶  even in the threat of death. ¹⁷ 

Ezekiel 18:4

18:4 Indeed! All lives are mine – the life of the father as well as the life of the son is mine. The one ¹⁸  who sins will die.

[2:17]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause here indicates contrast: “but from the tree of the knowledge….”

[2:17]  ² tn The negated imperfect verb form indicates prohibition, “you must not eat.”

[2:17]  ³ tn Or “in the very day, as soon as.” If one understands the expression to have this more precise meaning, then the following narrative presents a problem, for the man does not die physically as soon as he eats from the tree. In this case one may argue that spiritual death is in view. If physical death is in view here, there are two options to explain the following narrative: (1) The following phrase “You will surely die” concerns mortality which ultimately results in death (a natural paraphrase would be, “You will become mortal”), or (2) God mercifully gave man a reprieve, allowing him to live longer than he deserved.

[2:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “dying you will die.” The imperfect verb form here has the nuance of the specific future because it is introduced with the temporal clause, “when you eat…you will die.” That certainty is underscored with the infinitive absolute, “you will surely die.”

[3:4]  ⁵ tn The response of the serpent includes the infinitive absolute with a blatant negation equal to saying: “Not – you will surely die” (לֹא מוֹת תִּמֻתען, lo’ mot tÿmutun). The construction makes this emphatic because normally the negative particle precedes the finite verb. The serpent is a liar, denying that there is a penalty for sin (see John 8:44).

[26:1]  ⁶ sn The breakdown of ch. 26 for outlining purposes will be essentially according to the tribes of Israel. The format and structure is similar to the first census, and so less comment is necessary here.

[26:1]  ⁷ tc The MT has also “saying.”

[28:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “unblemished they will be to you.” So also in v. 31.

[28:1]  ⁹ sn For additional reading on these chapters, see G. B. Gray, Sacrifice in the Old Testament; A. F. Rainey, “The Order of Sacrifices in the Old Testament Ritual Texts,” Bib 51 (1970): 485-98; N. H. Snaith, The Jewish New Year Festival.

[14:12]  ¹⁰ tc The Greek version has “death.”

[11:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the veritable of righteousness.” The adjective כֵּן (ken, “right; honest; veritable”) functions substantivally as an attributive genitive, meaning “veritable righteousness” = true righteousness (BDB 467 s.v. 2; HALOT 482 s.v. I כֵּן 2.b). One medieval Hebrew ms, LXX, and Syriac read בֵּן (ben), “son of righteousness.” That idiom, however, usually introduces bad qualities (“son of worthlessness”). Others interpret it as “righteousness is the foundation of life.” KB identifies the form as a participle and reads it as “steadfast in righteousness”; but the verb does not otherwise exist in the Qal. W. McKane reads it as כָּן (kan, from כּוּן, kun) and translates it “strive after” life (Proverbs [OTL], 435).

[11:19]  ¹² tn Heb “is to life.” The expression “leads to” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but the idiom implies it; it is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[11:19]  ¹³ tn The phrase “pursues it” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation from context.

[11:19]  ¹⁴ sn “Life” and “death” describe the vicissitudes of this life but can also refer to the situation beyond the grave. The two paths head in opposite directions.

[14:32]  ¹⁵ tn The prepositional phrase must be “in his time of trouble” (i.e., when catastrophe comes). Cf. CEV “In times of trouble the wicked are destroyed.” A wicked person has nothing to fall back on in such times.

[14:32]  ¹⁶ sn The righteous have hope in a just retribution – they have a place of safety even in death.

[14:32]  ¹⁷ tc The LXX reads this as “in his integrity,” as if it were בְּתוּמּוֹ (bÿtumo) instead of “in his death” (בְּמוֹתוֹ, bÿmoto). The LXX is followed by some English versions (e.g., NAB “in his honesty,” NRSV “in their integrity,” and TEV “by their integrity”).

[18:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “life.”