Joshua 14:10

14:10 So now, look, the Lord has preserved my life, just as he promised, these past forty-five years since the Lord spoke these words to Moses, during which Israel traveled through the wilderness. Now look, I am today eighty-five years old.

Joshua 23:1-2

Joshua Challenges Israel to be Faithful

23:1 A long time ¹  passed after the Lord made Israel secure from all their enemies, ²  and Joshua was very old. ³  23:2 So Joshua summoned all Israel, including the elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and told them: “I am very old.

Joshua 24:29

An Era Ends

24:29 After all this ⁴  Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of one hundred ten.

Genesis 18:11

18:11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; ⁵  Sarah had long since passed menopause.) ⁶ 

Genesis 18:1

Three Special Visitors

18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham ⁷  by the oaks ⁸  of Mamre while ⁹  he was sitting at the entrance ¹⁰  to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

Genesis 1:1

The Creation of the World

1:1 In the beginning ¹¹  God ¹²  created ¹³  the heavens and the earth. ¹⁴ 

Luke 1:7

1:7 But they did not have a child, because Elizabeth was barren, ¹⁵  and they were both very old. ¹⁶ 

[23:1]  ¹ tn Heb “many days.”

[23:1]  ² tn Heb “the Lord had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around.”

[23:1]  ³ tn Heb “was old, coming into the days.” This expression, referring to advancing in years, also occurs in the following verse.

[24:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “after these things.”

[18:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “days.”

[18:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “it had ceased to be for Sarah [after] a way like women.”

[18:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ⁸ tn Or “terebinths.”

[18:1]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive clause here is circumstantial to the main clause.

[18:1]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew noun translated “entrance” is an adverbial accusative of place.

[1:1]  ¹¹ tn The translation assumes that the form translated “beginning” is in the absolute state rather than the construct (“in the beginning of,” or “when God created”). In other words, the clause in v. 1 is a main clause, v. 2 has three clauses that are descriptive and supply background information, and v. 3 begins the narrative sequence proper. The referent of the word “beginning” has to be defined from the context since there is no beginning or ending with God.

[1:1]  ¹² sn God. This frequently used Hebrew name for God (אֱלֹהִים,’elohim ) is a plural form. When it refers to the one true God, the singular verb is normally used, as here. The plural form indicates majesty; the name stresses God’s sovereignty and incomparability – he is the “God of gods.”

[1:1]  ¹³ tn The English verb “create” captures well the meaning of the Hebrew term in this context. The verb בָּרָא (bara’) always describes the divine activity of fashioning something new, fresh, and perfect. The verb does not necessarily describe creation out of nothing (see, for example, v. 27, where it refers to the creation of man); it often stresses forming anew, reforming, renewing (see Ps 51:10; Isa 43:15, 65:17).

[1:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the entire universe”; or “the sky and the dry land.” This phrase is often interpreted as a merism, referring to the entire ordered universe, including the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The “heavens and the earth” were completed in seven days (see Gen 2:1) and are characterized by fixed laws (see Jer 33:25). “Heavens” refers specifically to the sky, created on the second day (see v. 8), while “earth” refers specifically to the dry land, created on the third day (see v. 10). Both are distinct from the sea/seas (see v. 10 and Exod 20:11).

[1:7]  ¹⁵ sn Elizabeth was barren. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth are regarded by Luke as righteous in the sight of God, following all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly (v. 6). With this language, reminiscent of various passages in the OT, Luke is probably drawing implicit comparisons to the age and barrenness of such famous OT personalities as Abraham and Sarah (see, e.g., Gen 18:9-15), the mother of Samson (Judg 13:2-5), and Hannah, the mother of Samuel (1 Sam 1:1-20). And, as it was in the case of these OT saints, so it is with Elizabeth: After much anguish and seeking the Lord, she too is going to have a son in her barrenness. In that day it was a great reproach to be childless, for children were a sign of God’s blessing (cf. Gen 1:28; Lev 20:20-21; Pss 127 and 128; Jer 22:30). As the dawn of salvation draws near, however, God will change this elderly couple’s grief into great joy and grant them the one desire time had rendered impossible.

[1:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “were both advanced in days” (an idiom for old age).