John 1:17

1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but ¹  grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.

Numbers 12:2-7

12:2 They ²  said, “Has the Lord only ³  spoken through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” ⁴  And the Lord heard it. ⁵ 

12:3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, ⁶  more so than any man on the face of the earth.)

The Response of the Lord

12:4 The Lord spoke immediately to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: “The three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went. 12:5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; he then called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

12:6 The Lord ⁷  said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, ⁸  I the Lord ⁹  will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream. 12:7 My servant ¹⁰  Moses is not like this; he is faithful ¹¹  in all my house.

Numbers 16:28

16:28 Then Moses said, “This is how ¹²  you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. ¹³ 

Deuteronomy 34:10

34:10 No prophet ever again arose in Israel like Moses, who knew the Lord face to face. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 103:7

103:7 The Lord revealed his faithful acts ¹⁵  to Moses,

his deeds to the Israelites.

Psalms 105:26

105:26 He sent his servant Moses,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

Psalms 106:16

106:16 In the camp they resented ¹⁶  Moses,

and Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest. ¹⁷ 

Malachi 4:4

Restoration through the Lord

4:4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb ¹⁸  I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. ¹⁹ 

Acts 7:35

7:35 This same ²⁰  Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ ²¹  God sent as both ruler and deliverer ²²  through the hand of the angel ²³  who appeared to him in the bush.

Acts 26:22

26:22 I have experienced ²⁴  help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except ²⁵  what the prophets and Moses said ²⁶  was going to happen:

Hebrews 3:2-5

3:2 who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s ²⁷  house. ²⁸  3:3 For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s ²⁹  house ³⁰  as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken.

[1:17]  ¹ tn “But” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the implied contrast between the Mosaic law and grace through Jesus Christ. John 1:17 seems to indicate clearly that the Old Covenant (Sinai) was being contrasted with the New. In Jewish sources the Law was regarded as a gift from God (Josephus, Ant. 3.8.10 [3.223]; Pirqe Avot 1.1; Sifre Deut 31:4 §305). Further information can be found in T. F. Glasson, Moses in the Fourth Gospel (SBT).

[12:2]  ² tn Now the text changes to use a plural form of the verb. The indication is that Miriam criticized the marriage, and then the two of them raised questions about his sole leadership of the nation.

[12:2]  ³ tn The use of both רַק and אַךְ (raq and ’akh) underscore the point that the issue is Moses’ uniqueness.

[12:2]  ⁴ tn There is irony in the construction in the text. The expression “speak through us” also uses דִּבֵּר + בְּ(dibber + bÿ). They ask if God has not also spoken through them, after they have spoken against Moses. Shortly God will speak against them – their words are prophetic, but not as they imagined.

[12:2]  ⁵ sn The statement is striking. Obviously the Lord knows all things. But the statement of the obvious here is meant to indicate that the Lord was about to do something about this.

[12:3]  ⁶ tc The spelling of the word is a Kethib-Qere reading with only a slight difference between the two.

[12:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “he.”

[12:6]  ⁸ tn The form of this construction is rare: נְבִיאֲכֶם (nÿvi’akhem) would normally be rendered “your prophet.” The singular noun is suffixed with a plural pronominal suffix. Some commentators think the MT has condensed “a prophet” with “to you.”

[12:6]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew syntax is difficult here. “The Lord” is separated from the verb by two intervening prepositional phrases. Some scholars conclude that this word belongs with the verb at the beginning of v. 6 (“And the Lord spoke”).

[12:7]  ¹⁰ sn The title “my servant” or “servant of the Lord” is reserved in the Bible for distinguished personages, people who are truly spiritual leaders, like Moses, David, Hezekiah, and also the Messiah. Here it underscores Moses’ obedience.

[12:7]  ¹¹ tn The word “faithful” is נֶאֱמָן (ne’eman), the Niphal participle of the verb אָמַן (’aman). This basic word has the sense of “support, be firm.” In the Niphal it describes something that is firm, reliable, dependable – what can be counted on. It could actually be translated “trustworthy.”

[16:28]  ¹² tn Heb “in this.”

[16:28]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text simply has כִּי־לֹא מִלִּבִּי (ki-lo’ millibbi, “for not from my heart”). The heart is the center of the will, the place decisions are made (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament). Moses is saying that the things he has done have not come “from the will of man” so to speak – and certainly not from some secret desire on his part to seize power.

[34:10]  ¹⁴ sn See Num 12:8; Deut 18:15-18.

[103:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “made known his ways.” God’s “ways” in this context are his protective and salvific acts in fulfillment of his promise (see also Deut 32:4; Pss 18:30; 67:2; 77:13 [note vv. 11-12, 14]; 138:5; 145:17).

[106:16]  ¹⁶ tn Or “envied.”

[106:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the holy one of the Lord.”

[4:4]  ¹⁸ sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (cf. Exod 3:1).

[4:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “which I commanded him in Horeb concerning all Israel, statutes and ordinances.”

[7:35]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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).

[26:22]  ²⁴ tn Grk “So experiencing…I stand.” The participle τυχών (tucwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[26:22]  ²⁵ tn BDAG 311 s.v. ἐκτός 3.b, “functions as prep. w. gen. οὐδὲν ἐ. ὧν nothing except what (cf. 1 Ch 29:3; 2 Ch 17:19; TestNapht. 6:2) Ac 26:22.”

[26:22]  ²⁶ sn What the prophets and Moses said. Paul argued that his message reflected the hope of the Jewish scriptures.

[3:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.

[3:2]  ²⁸ tc ‡ The reading adopted by the translation follows a few early mss and some versions (Ì^13,46vid B vg^ms co Ambr). The majority of mss (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy) insert “all” (“in all his house”), apparently in anticipation of Heb 3:5 which quotes directly from Num 12:7. On balance, the omission better explains the rise of ὅλῳ ({olw, “all”) than vice versa. NA²⁷ puts ὅλῳ in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[3:5]  ²⁹ tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.

[3:5]  ³⁰ sn A quotation from Num 12:7.