Genesis 32:29

32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” ¹  “Why ²  do you ask my name?” the man replied. ³  Then he blessed ⁴  Jacob ⁵  there.

Genesis 48:15

48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,

“May the God before whom my fathers

Abraham and Isaac walked –

the God who has been my shepherd ⁶ 

all my life long to this day,

Exodus 3:2-5

3:2 The angel of the Lord ⁷  appeared ⁸  to him in ⁹  a flame of fire from within a bush. ¹⁰  He looked ¹¹  – and ¹²  the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! ¹³  3:3 So Moses thought, ¹⁴  “I will turn aside to see ¹⁵  this amazing ¹⁶  sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” ¹⁷  3:4 When the Lord ¹⁸  saw that ¹⁹  he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” ²⁰  And Moses ²¹  said, “Here I am.” 3:5 God ²²  said, “Do not approach any closer! ²³  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ²⁴  ground.” ²⁵ 

Isaiah 63:9

63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. ²⁶ 

The messenger sent from his very presence ²⁷  delivered them.

In his love and mercy he protected ²⁸  them;

he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. ²⁹ 

Malachi 3:1

3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, ³⁰  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ³¹  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ³²  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Acts 7:30-35

7:30 “After ³³  forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert ³⁴  of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. ³⁵  7:31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached to investigate, there came the voice of the Lord, 7:32 ‘I am the God of your forefathers, ³⁶  the God of Abraham, Isaac, ³⁷  and Jacob.’ ³⁸  Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely. ³⁹  7:33 But the Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ⁴⁰  7:34 I have certainly seen the suffering ⁴¹  of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. ⁴²  Now ⁴³  come, I will send you to Egypt.’ ⁴⁴  7:35 This same ⁴⁵  Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ ⁴⁶  God sent as both ruler and deliverer ⁴⁷  through the hand of the angel ⁴⁸  who appeared to him in the bush.

[32:29]  ¹ sn Tell me your name. In primitive thought to know the name of a deity or supernatural being would enable one to use it for magical manipulation or power (A. S. Herbert, Genesis 12-50 [TBC], 108). For a thorough structural analysis of the passage discussing the plays on the names and the request of Jacob, see R. Barthes, “The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33,” Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS), 21-33.

[32:29]  ² tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.

[32:29]  ³ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:29]  ⁴ tn The verb here means that the Lord endowed Jacob with success; he would be successful in everything he did, including meeting Esau.

[32:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “shepherded me.” The verb has been translated as an English noun for stylistic reasons.

[3:2]  ⁷ sn The designation “the angel of the Lord” (Heb “the angel of Yahweh”) occurred in Genesis already (16:7-13; 21:17; 22:11-18). There is some ambiguity in the expression, but it seems often to be interchangeable with God’s name itself, indicating that it refers to the Lord.

[3:2]  ⁸ tn The verb וַיֵּרָא (vayyera’) is the Niphal preterite of the verb “to see.” For similar examples of רָאָה (ra’ah) in Niphal where the subject “appears,” that is, allows himself to be seen, or presents himself, see Gen 12:7; 35:9; 46:29; Exod 6:3; and 23:17. B. Jacob notes that God appears in this way only to individuals and never to masses of people; it is his glory that appears to the masses (Exodus, 49).

[3:2]  ⁹ tn Gesenius rightly classifies this as a bet (ב) essentiae (GKC 379 §119.i); it would then indicate that Yahweh appeared to Moses “as a flame.”

[3:2]  ¹⁰ sn Fire frequently accompanies the revelation of Yahweh in Exodus as he delivers Israel, guides her, and purifies her. The description here is unique, calling attention to the manifestation as a flame of fire from within the bush. Philo was the first to interpret the bush as Israel, suffering under the persecution of Egypt but never consumed. The Bible leaves the interpretation open. However, in this revelation the fire is coming from within the bush, not from outside, and it represents the Lord who will deliver his people from persecution. See further E. Levine, “The Evolving Symbolism of the Burning Bush,” Dor le Dor 8 (1979): 185-93.

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And he saw.”

[3:2]  ¹² tn The text again uses the deictic particle with vav, וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), traditionally rendered “and behold.” The particle goes with the intense gaze, the outstretched arm, the raised eyebrow – excitement and intense interest: “look, over there.” It draws the reader into the immediate experience of the subject.

[3:2]  ¹³ tn The construction uses the suffixed negative אֵינֶנּוּ (’enennu) to convey the subject of the passive verb: “It was not” consumed. This was the amazing thing, for nothing would burn faster in the desert than a thornbush on fire.

[3:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And Moses said.” The implication is that Moses said this to himself.

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn The construction uses the cohortative אָסֻרָה־נָּא (’asura-nna’) followed by an imperfect with vav (וְאֶרְאֶה, vÿ’er’eh) to express the purpose or result (logical sequence): “I will turn aside in order that I may see.”

[3:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “great.” The word means something extraordinary here. In using this term Moses revealed his reaction to the strange sight and his anticipation that something special was about to happen. So he turned away from the flock to investigate.

[3:3]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is an imperfect. Here it has the progressive nuance – the bush is not burning up.

[3:4]  ¹⁸ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) is subordinated as a temporal clause to the main point of the verse, that God called to him. The language is anthropomorphic, as if God’s actions were based on his observing what Moses did.

[3:4]  ¹⁹ tn The particle כִּי (ki, “that”) introduces the noun clause that functions as the direct object of the verb “saw” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 81, §490).

[3:4]  ²⁰ sn The repetition of the name in God’s call is emphatic, making the appeal direct and immediate (see also Gen 22:11; 46:2). The use of the personal name shows how specifically God directed the call and that he knew this person. The repetition may have stressed even more that it was indeed he whom the Lord wanted. It would have been an encouragement to Moses that this was in fact the Lord who was meeting him.

[3:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “And he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:5]  ²² tn Heb “And he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:5]  ²³ sn Even though the Lord was drawing near to Moses, Moses could not casually approach him. There still was a barrier between God and human, and God had to remind Moses of this with instructions. The removal of sandals was, and still is in the East, a sign of humility and reverence in the presence of the Holy One. It was a way of excluding the dust and dirt of the world. But it also took away personal comfort and convenience and brought the person more closely in contact with the earth.

[3:5]  ²⁴ sn The word קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) indicates “set apart, distinct, unique.” What made a mountain or other place holy was the fact that God chose that place to reveal himself or to reside among his people. Because God was in this place, the ground was different – it was holy.

[3:5]  ²⁵ tn The causal clause includes within it a typical relative clause, which is made up of the relative pronoun, then the independent personal pronoun with the participle, and then the preposition with the resumptive pronoun. It would literally be “which you are standing on it,” but the relative pronoun and the resumptive pronoun are combined and rendered, “on which you are standing.”

[63:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).

[63:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”

[63:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”

[63:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”

[3:1]  ³⁰ tn In Hebrew the phrase “my messenger” is מַלְאָכִי (mal’akhi), the same form as the prophet’s name (see note on the name “Malachi” in 1:1). However, here the messenger appears to be an eschatological figure who is about to appear, as the following context suggests. According to 4:5, this messenger is “Elijah the prophet,” whom the NT identifies as John the Baptist (Matt 11:10; Mark 1:2) because he came in the “spirit and power” of Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:11-12; Lk 1:17).

[3:1]  ³¹ tn Here the Hebrew term הָאָדוֹן (ha’adon) is used, not יְהוָה (yÿhvah, typically rendered Lord). Thus the focus is not on the Lord as the covenant God, but on his role as master.

[3:1]  ³² sn This messenger of the covenant may be equated with my messenger (that is, Elijah) mentioned earlier in the verse, or with the Lord himself. In either case the messenger functions as an enforcer of the covenant. Note the following verses, which depict purifying judgment on a people that has violated the Lord’s covenant.

[7:30]  ³³ tn Grk “And after.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and contemporary English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[7:30]  ³⁴ tn Or “wilderness.”

[7:30]  ³⁵ sn An allusion to Exod 3:2.

[7:32]  ³⁶ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:32]  ³⁷ tn Grk “and Isaac,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[7:32]  ³⁸ sn A quotation from Exod 3:6. The phrase suggests the God of promise, the God of the nation.

[7:32]  ³⁹ tn Or “to investigate,” “to contemplate” (BDAG 522 s.v. κατανοέω 2).

[7:33]  ⁴⁰ sn A quotation from Exod 3:5. The phrase holy ground points to the fact that God is not limited to a particular locale. The place where he is active in revealing himself is a holy place.

[7:34]  ⁴¹ tn Or “mistreatment.”

[7:34]  ⁴² tn Or “to set them free.”

[7:34]  ⁴³ tn Grk “And now.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[7:34]  ⁴⁴ sn A quotation from Exod 3:7-8, 10.

[7:35]  ⁴⁵ sn This same. The reference to “this one” occurs five times in this speech. It is the way the other speeches in Acts refer to Jesus (e.g., Acts 2:23).

[7:35]  ⁴⁶ sn A quotation from Exod 2:14 (see Acts 7:27). God saw Moses very differently than the people of the nation did. The reference to a ruler and a judge suggests that Stephen set up a comparison between Moses and Jesus, but he never finished his speech to make the point. The reader of Acts, however, knowing the other sermons in the book, recognizes that the rejection of Jesus is the counterpoint.

[7:35]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “liberator.” The meaning “liberator” for λυτρωτήν (lutrwthn) is given in L&N 37.129: “a person who liberates or releases others.”

[7:35]  ⁴⁸ tn Or simply “through the angel.” Here the “hand” could be understood as a figure for the person or the power of the angel himself. The remark about the angel appearing fits the first century Jewish view that God appears to no one (John 1:14-18; Gal 3:19; Deut 33:2 LXX).