Isaiah 19:18-21

19:18 At that time five cities ¹  in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord who commands armies. One will be called the City of the Sun. ²  19:19 At that time there will be an altar for the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, as well as a sacred pillar ³  dedicated to the Lord at its border. 19:20 It ⁴  will become a visual reminder in the land of Egypt of ⁵  the Lord who commands armies. When they cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a deliverer and defender ⁶  who will rescue them. 19:21 The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they ⁷  will acknowledge the Lord’s authority ⁸  at that time. ⁹  They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.

Isaiah 44:3-5

44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground ¹⁰ 

and cause streams to flow ¹¹  on the dry land.

I will pour my spirit on your offspring

and my blessing on your children.

44:4 They will sprout up like a tree in the grass, ¹² 

like poplars beside channels of water.

44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord,’

and another will use ¹³  the name ‘Jacob.’

One will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

and use the name ‘Israel.’” ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 65:16

65:16 Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth ¹⁵ 

will do so in the name of the faithful God; ¹⁶ 

whoever makes an oath in the earth

will do so in the name of the faithful God. ¹⁷ 

For past problems will be forgotten;

I will no longer think about them. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 31:53

31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, ¹⁹  the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared. ²⁰ 

Deuteronomy 6:13

6:13 You must revere the Lord your God, serve him, and take oaths using only his name.

Deuteronomy 6:2

6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ²¹  that I am giving ²²  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days.

Deuteronomy 15:14-15

15:14 You must supply them generously ²³  from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress – as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them. 15:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today.

Nehemiah 10:29

10:29 hereby participate with their colleagues the town leaders ²⁴  and enter into a curse and an oath ²⁵  to adhere to ²⁶  the law of God which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to obey ²⁷  carefully all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, ²⁸  along with his ordinances and his statutes.

Psalms 63:11

63:11 But the king ²⁹  will rejoice in God;

everyone who takes oaths in his name ³⁰  will boast,

for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. ³¹ 

Psalms 132:2

132:2 and how he made a vow to the Lord,

and swore an oath to the powerful ruler of Jacob. ³² 

[19:18]  ¹ sn The significance of the number “five” in this context is uncertain. For a discussion of various proposals, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:376-77.

[19:18]  ² tc The Hebrew text has עִיר הַהֶרֶס (’ir haheres, “City of Destruction”; cf. NASB, NIV) but this does not fit the positive emphasis of vv. 18-22. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and some medieval Hebrew mss read עִיר הָחֶרֶס (’ir hakheres, “City of the Sun,” i.e., Heliopolis). This reading also finds support from Symmachus’ Greek version, the Targum, and the Vulgate. See HALOT 257 s.v. חֶרֶס and HALOT 355 s.v. II חֶרֶס.

[19:19]  ³ tn This word is sometimes used of a sacred pillar associated with pagan worship, but here it is associated with the worship of the Lord.

[19:20]  ⁴ tn The masculine noun מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbbeakh, “altar”) in v. 19 is probably the subject of the masculine singular verb הָיָה (hayah) rather than the feminine noun מַצֵּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”), also in v. 19.

[19:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “a sign and a witness to the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] in the land of Egypt.”

[19:20]  ⁶ tn רָב (rav) is a substantival participle (from רִיב, riv) meaning “one who strives, contends.”

[19:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “Egypt.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, the present translation uses the pronoun (“they”) here.

[19:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “will know the Lord.”

[19:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of vv. 23 and 24.

[44:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)

[44:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[44:4]  ¹² tn The Hebrew term בֵין (ven) is usually taken as a preposition, in which case one might translate, “among the grass.” But בֵין is probably the name of a tree (cf. C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 133). If one alters the preposition bet (בְּ) to kaf (כְּ), one can then read, “like a binu-tree.” (The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supports this reading.) This forms a nice parallel to “like poplars” in the next line. חָצִיר (khatsir) is functioning as an adverbial accusative of location.

[44:5]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text has a Qal verb form, “and another will call by the name of Jacob.” With support from Symmachus (an ancient Greek textual witness), some read the Niphal, “and another will be called by the name of Jacob.”

[44:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and by the name of Israel he will title.” Some, with support from several ancient versions, prefer to change the Piel (active) verb form to a Pual (passive), “and he will be titled by the name of Israel.”

[65:16]  ¹⁵ tn Or “in the land” (NIV, NCV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs again later in this verse, with the same options.

[65:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will pronounce a blessing by the God of truth.”

[65:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will take an oath by the God of truth.”

[65:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for the former distresses will be forgotten, and they will be hidden from my eyes.”

[31:53]  ¹⁹ tn The God of Abraham and the god of Nahor. The Hebrew verb translated “judge” is plural, suggesting that Laban has more than one “god” in mind. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX, apparently in an effort to make the statement monotheistic, have a singular verb. In this case one could translate, “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” However, Laban had a polytheistic world view, as evidenced by his possession of household idols (cf. 31:19). The translation uses “God” when referring to Abraham’s God, for Genesis makes it clear that Abraham worshiped the one true God. It employs “god” when referring to Nahor’s god, for in the Hebrew text Laban refers to a different god here, probably one of the local deities.

[31:53]  ²⁰ tn Heb “by the fear of his father Isaac.” See the note on the word “fears” in v. 42.

[6:2]  ²¹ tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.

[6:2]  ²² tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[15:14]  ²³ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “generously.”

[10:29]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the nobles.”

[10:29]  ²⁵ tn The expression “a curse and an oath” may be a hendiadys, meaning “an oath with penalties.”

[10:29]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[10:29]  ²⁷ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[10:29]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[63:11]  ²⁹ sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.

[63:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”

[63:11]  ³¹ tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.

[132:2]  ³² tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.”