Genesis 14:22

14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ¹  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ² 

Genesis 14:2

14:2 went to war ³  against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ⁴ 

Genesis 19:15

19:15 At dawn ⁵  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ⁶  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ⁷ 

Genesis 19:2

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ⁸  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ⁹  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ¹⁰ 

Genesis 2:12

2:12 (The gold of that land is pure; ¹¹  pearls ¹²  and lapis lazuli ¹³  are also there).

Nehemiah 9:6

9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, ¹⁴  along with all their multitude of stars, ¹⁵  the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Psalms 115:15

115:15 May you be blessed by the Lord,

the creator ¹⁶  of heaven and earth!

Jeremiah 10:11

10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:

‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.

They will disappear ¹⁷  from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ¹⁸ 

[14:22]  ¹ tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”

[14:22]  ² tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:2]  ³ tn Heb “made war.”

[14:2]  ⁴ sn On the geographical background of vv. 1-2 see J. P. Harland, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 1:41-75; and D. N. Freedman, “The Real Story of the Ebla Tablets, Ebla and the Cities of the Plain,” BA 41 (1978): 143-64.

[19:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “When dawn came up.”

[19:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “who are found.” The wording might imply he had other daughters living in the city, but the text does not explicitly state this.

[19:15]  ⁷ tn Or “with the iniquity [i.e., punishment] of the city” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[19:2]  ⁸ tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.

[19:2]  ⁹ tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”

[19:2]  ¹⁰ sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.

[2:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “good.”

[2:12]  ¹² tn The Hebrew term translated “pearls” may be a reference to resin (cf. NIV “aromatic resin”) or another precious stone (cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV “bdellium”).

[2:12]  ¹³ tn Or “onyx.”

[9:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the heavens of the heavens.”

[9:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all their host.”

[115:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or “maker.”

[10:11]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “The gods who did not make…earth will disappear…” The sentence is broken up in the translation to avoid a long, complex English sentence in conformity with contemporary English style.

[10:11]  ¹⁸ tn This verse is in Aramaic. It is the only Aramaic sentence in Jeremiah. Scholars debate the appropriateness of this verse to this context. Many see it as a gloss added by a postexilic scribe which was later incorporated into the text. Both R. E. Clendenen (“Discourse Strategies in Jeremiah 10,” JBL 106 [1987]: 401-8) and W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:324-25, 334-35) have given detailed arguments that the passage is not only original but the climax and center of the contrast between the Lord and idols in vv. 2-16. Holladay shows that the passage is a very carefully constructed chiasm (see accompanying study note) which argues that “these” at the end is the subject of the verb “will disappear” not the attributive adjective modifying heaven. He also makes a very good case that the verse is poetry and not prose as it is rendered in the majority of modern English versions.