Genesis 18:2

18:2 Abraham ¹  looked up ²  and saw ³  three men standing across ⁴  from him. When he saw them ⁵  he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low ⁶  to the ground. ⁷ 

Genesis 19:1

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while ⁸  Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. ⁹  When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.

Genesis 23:7

23:7 Abraham got up and bowed down to the local people, ¹⁰  the sons of Heth.

Genesis 33:3

33:3 But Jacob ¹¹  himself went on ahead of them, and he bowed toward the ground seven times as he approached ¹²  his brother.

Genesis 42:6

42:6 Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country. ¹³  Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down ¹⁴  before him with ¹⁵  their faces to the ground.

Exodus 20:12

20:12 “Honor ¹⁶  your father and your mother, that you may live a long time ¹⁷  in the land ¹⁸  the Lord your God is giving to you.

Exodus 34:8

34:8 Moses quickly bowed ¹⁹  to the ground and worshiped

Leviticus 19:3

19:3 Each of you must respect his mother and his father, ²⁰  and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:32

19:32 You must stand up in the presence of the aged, honor the presence of an elder, and fear your God. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:1

Religious and Social Regulations

19:1 The Lord spoke to Moses:

Leviticus 2:1-2

Grain Offering Regulations: Offering of Raw Flour

2:1 “‘When a person presents a grain offering ²¹  to the Lord, his offering must consist of choice wheat flour, ²²  and he must pour olive oil on it and put frankincense ²³  on it. 2:2 Then he must bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests, and the priest ²⁴  must scoop out from there a handful of its choice wheat flour and some of its olive oil in addition to all of its frankincense, and the priest must offer its memorial portion ²⁵  up in smoke on the altar – it is ²⁶  a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Leviticus 4:1

Sin Offering Regulations

4:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ²⁷ 

Proverbs 31:28

31:28 Her children rise up ²⁸  and call her blessed,

her husband ²⁹  also praises her:

Ephesians 6:1

6:1 Children, ³⁰  obey your parents in the Lord ³¹  for this is right.

[18:2]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:2]  ² tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”

[18:2]  ³ tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to what he saw. The drawn-out description focuses the reader’s attention on Abraham’s deliberate, fixed gaze and indicates that what he is seeing is significant.

[18:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew preposition עַל (’al) indicates the three men were nearby, but not close by, for Abraham had to run to meet them.

[18:2]  ⁵ tn The pronoun “them” has been supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the verb has no stated object.

[18:2]  ⁶ tn The form וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ (vayyishtakhu, “and bowed low”) is from the verb הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה (hishtakhavah, “to worship, bow low to the ground”). It is probably from a root חָוָה (khavah), though some derive it from שָׁחָה (shakhah).

[18:2]  ⁷ sn The reader knows this is a theophany. The three visitors are probably the Lord and two angels (see Gen 19:1). It is not certain how soon Abraham recognized the true identity of the visitors. His actions suggest he suspected this was something out of the ordinary, though it is possible that his lavish treatment of the visitors was done quite unwittingly. Bowing down to the ground would be reserved for obeisance of kings or worship of the Lord. Whether he was aware of it or not, Abraham’s action was most appropriate.

[19:1]  ⁸ tn The disjunctive clause is temporal here, indicating what Lot was doing at the time of their arrival.

[19:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “sitting in the gate of Sodom.” The phrase “the gate of Sodom” has been translated “the city’s gateway” for stylistic reasons.

[23:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to the people of the land” (also in v. 12).

[33:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:3]  ¹² tn Heb “until his drawing near unto his brother.” The construction uses the preposition with the infinitive construct to express a temporal clause.

[42:6]  ¹³ tn The disjunctive clause either introduces a new episode in the unfolding drama or provides the reader with supplemental information necessary to understanding the story.

[42:6]  ¹⁴ sn Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him. Here is the beginning of the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams (see Gen 37). But it is not the complete fulfillment, since all his brothers and his parents must come. The point of the dream, of course, was not simply to get the family to bow to Joseph, but that Joseph would be placed in a position of rule and authority to save the family and the world (41:57).

[42:6]  ¹⁵ tn The word “faces” is an adverbial accusative, so the preposition has been supplied in the translation.

[20:12]  ¹⁶ tn The verb כַּבֵּד (kabbed) is a Piel imperative; it calls for people to give their parents the respect and honor that is appropriate for them. It could be paraphrased to say, give them the weight of authority that they deserve. Next to God, parents were to be highly valued, cared for, and respected.

[20:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “that your days may be long.”

[20:12]  ¹⁸ sn The promise here is national rather than individual, although it is certainly true that the blessing of life was promised for anyone who was obedient to God’s commands (Deut 4:1, 8:1, etc.). But as W. C. Kaiser (“Exodus,” EBC 2:424) summarizes, the land that was promised was the land of Canaan, and the duration of Israel in the land was to be based on morality and the fear of God as expressed in the home (Deut 4:26, 33, 40; 32:46-47). The captivity was in part caused by a breakdown in this area (Ezek 22:7, 15). Malachi would announce at the end of his book that Elijah would come at the end of the age to turn the hearts of the children and the parents toward each other again.

[34:8]  ¹⁹ tn The first two verbs form a hendiadys: “he hurried…he bowed,” meaning “he quickly bowed down.”

[19:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “A man his mother and his father you [plural] shall fear.” The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and certain Targum mss reverse the order, “his father and his mother.” The term “fear” is subject to misunderstanding by the modern reader, so “respect” has been used in the translation. Cf. NAB, NRSV “revere”; NASB “reverence.”

[2:1]  ²¹ sn The “grain offering” ( מִנְחָה[minkhah]; here קָרְבַּן מִנְחָה, [qorbban minkhah], “an offering of a grain offering”) generally accompanied a burnt or peace offering to supplement the meat with bread (the libation provided the drink; cf. Num 15:1-10), thus completing the food “gift” to the Lord. It made atonement (see the note on Lev 1:4) along with the burnt offering (e.g., Lev 14:20) or alone as a sin offering for the poor (Lev 5:11-13).

[2:1]  ²² tn The Hebrew term for “choice wheat flour” (סֹלֶת, selet) is often translated “fine flour” (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NCV), but it refers specifically to wheat as opposed to barley (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 10). Moreover, the translation “flour” might be problematic, since the Hebrew term may designate the “grits” rather than the more finely ground “flour” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:179 as opposed to Levine, 10, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 30).

[2:1]  ²³ sn This is not just any “incense” (קְטֹרֶת, qÿtoret; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:913-16), but specifically “frankincense” (לְבֹנָה, lÿvonah; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:756-57).

[2:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. The syntax is strange here and might suggest that it was the offerer who scooped out a handful of the grain offering for the memorial portion (G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 66), but based on v. 9 below it should be understood that it was the priest who performed this act (see, e.g., NRSV “After taking from it a handful of the choice flour and oil…the priest shall…”; see also J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:177, 181 and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 30).

[2:2]  ²⁵ sn The “memorial portion” (אַזְכָרָה, ’azkharah) was the part of the grain offering that was burnt on the altar (see the previous clause), as opposed to the remainder, which was normally consumed by the priests (v. 3; see the full regulations in Lev 6:14-23[7-16]). It was probably intended to call to mind (i.e., memorialize) before the Lord the reason for the presentation of the particular offering (see the remarks in R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:335-39).

[2:2]  ²⁶ tn The words “it is” have been supplied. See the notes on Lev 1:9 and 2:3. There is no text critical problem here, but the syntax suggests the same translation.

[4:1]  ²⁷ sn The quotation introduced here extends from Lev 4:2 through 5:13, and encompasses all the sin offering regulations. Compare the notes on Lev 1:1 above, and 5:14 and 6:1 [5:20 HT] below.

[31:28]  ²⁸ tn The first word of the nineteenth line begins with ק (qof), the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:28]  ²⁹ tn The text uses an independent nominative absolute to draw attention to her husband: “her husband, and he praises her.” Prominent as he is, her husband speaks in glowing terms of his noble wife.

[6:1]  ³⁰ tn The use of the article τά (ta) with τέκνα (tekna) functions in a generic way to distinguish this group from husbands, wives, fathers and slaves and is left, therefore, untranslated. The generic article is used with γύναῖκες (gunaikes) in 5:22, ἄνδρες (andres) in 5:25, δοῦλοι (douloi) in 6:5, and κύριοι (kurioi) in 6:9.

[6:1]  ³¹ tc B D* F G as well as a few versional and patristic representatives lack “in the Lord” (ἐν κυρίῳ, en kuriw), while the phrase is well represented in Ì⁴⁶ א A D¹ I^vid Ψ 0278 0285 33 1739 1881 Ï sy co. Scribes may have thought that the phrase could be regarded a qualifier on the kind of parents a child should obey (viz., only Christian parents), and would thus be tempted to delete the phrase to counter such an interpretation. It is unlikely that the phrase would have been added, since the form used to express such sentiment in this Haustafel is ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ/Χριστῷ (Jw" tw kuriw/Cristw, “as to the Lord/Christ”; see 5:22; 6:5). Even though the witnesses for the omission are impressive, it is more likely that the phrase was deleted than added by scribal activity.