Joshua 2:18

2:18 When we invade the land ¹ , tie this red rope ²  in the window through which you let us down, and gather together in your house your father, mother, brothers, and all who live in your father’s house. ³ 

Genesis 12:2

12:2 Then I will make you ⁴  into a great nation, and I will bless you, ⁵ 

and I will make your name great, ⁶ 

so that you will exemplify divine blessing. ⁷ 

Genesis 18:24

18:24 What if there are fifty godly people in the city? Will you really wipe it out and not spare ⁸  the place for the sake of the fifty godly people who are in it?

Genesis 19:29

19:29 So when God destroyed ⁹  the cities of the region, ¹⁰  God honored ¹¹  Abraham’s request. He removed Lot ¹²  from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed ¹³  the cities Lot had lived in.

Acts 27:24

27:24 and said, ¹⁴  ‘Do not be afraid, Paul! You must stand before ¹⁵  Caesar, ¹⁶  and God has graciously granted you the safety ¹⁷  of all who are sailing with you.’

Hebrews 11:7

11:7 By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard ¹⁸  constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

[2:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Look! We are about to enter the land.”

[2:18]  ² tn Heb “the cord of this red thread.”

[2:18]  ³ tn Heb “and your father and your mother and your brothers and all the house of your father gather to yourself to the house.”

[12:2]  ⁴ tn The three first person verbs in v. 2a should be classified as cohortatives. The first two have pronominal suffixes, so the form itself does not indicate a cohortative. The third verb form is clearly cohortative.

[12:2]  ⁵ sn I will bless you. The blessing of creation is now carried forward to the patriarch. In the garden God blessed Adam and Eve; in that blessing he gave them (1) a fruitful place, (2) endowed them with fertility to multiply, and (3) made them rulers over creation. That was all ruined at the fall. Now God begins to build his covenant people; in Gen 12-22 he promises to give Abram (1) a land flowing with milk and honey, (2) a great nation without number, and (3) kingship.

[12:2]  ⁶ tn Or “I will make you famous.”

[12:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and be a blessing.” The verb form הְיֵה (hÿyeh) is the Qal imperative of the verb הָיָה (hayah). The vav (ו) with the imperative after the cohortatives indicates purpose or consequence. What does it mean for Abram to “be a blessing”? Will he be a channel or source of blessing for others, or a prime example of divine blessing? A similar statement occurs in Zech 8:13, where God assures his people, “You will be a blessing,” in contrast to the past when they “were a curse.” Certainly “curse” here does not refer to Israel being a source of a curse, but rather to the fact that they became a curse-word or byword among the nations, who regarded them as the epitome of an accursed people (see 2 Kgs 22:19; Jer 42:18; 44:8, 12, 22). Therefore the statement “be a blessing” seems to refer to Israel being transformed into a prime example of a blessed people, whose name will be used in blessing formulae, rather than in curses. If the statement “be a blessing” is understood in the same way in Gen 12:2, then it means that God would so bless Abram that other nations would hear of his fame and hold him up as a paradigm of divine blessing in their blessing formulae.

[18:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “lift up,” perhaps in the sense of “bear with” (cf. NRSV “forgive”).

[19:29]  ⁹ tn The construction is a temporal clause comprised of the temporal indicator, an infinitive construct with a preposition, and the subjective genitive.

[19:29]  ¹⁰ tn Or “of the plain”; Heb “of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “remembered,” but this means more than mental recollection here. Abraham’s request (Gen 18:23-32) was that the Lord not destroy the righteous with the wicked. While the requisite minimum number of righteous people (ten, v. 32) needed for God to spare the cities was not found, God nevertheless rescued the righteous before destroying the wicked.

[19:29]  ¹² sn God’s removal of Lot before the judgment is paradigmatic. He typically delivers the godly before destroying their world.

[19:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “the overthrow when [he] overthrew.”

[27:24]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “came to me saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[27:24]  ¹⁵ tn BDAG 778 s.v. παρίστημι/παριστάνω 2.a.α states, “Also as a t.t. of legal usage appear before, come before…Καίσαρι σε δεῖ παραστῆναι you must stand before the Emperor (as judge) Ac 27:24.” See Acts 23:11. Luke uses the verb δεῖ (dei) to describe what must occur.

[27:24]  ¹⁶ tn Or “before the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[27:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “God has graciously granted you all who are sailing with you.” The words “the safety of” have been supplied to clarify the meaning of the verb κεχάρισται (kecaristai) in this context.

[11:7]  ¹⁸ tn Cf. BDAG 407 s.v. εὐλαβέομαι 2, “out of reverent regard (for God’s command).”