Joshua 4:21

4:21 He told the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones represent?’ ¹ 

Exodus 12:26-27

12:26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²  – 12:27 then you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice ³  of the Lord’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck ⁴  Egypt and delivered our households.’” The people bowed down low ⁵  to the ground,

Exodus 13:14

13:14 ⁶ In the future, ⁷  when your son asks you ⁸  ‘What is this?’ ⁹  you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand ¹⁰  the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery. ¹¹ 

Deuteronomy 6:20-21

Exhortation to Remember the Past

6:20 When your children ¹²  ask you later on, “What are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?” 6:21 you must say to them, ¹³  “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way. ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 11:19

11:19 Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ¹⁵  as you lie down, and as you get up.

Psalms 44:1

Psalm 44 ¹⁶ 

For the music director; by the Korahites, a well-written song. ¹⁷ 

44:1 O God, we have clearly heard; ¹⁸ 

our ancestors ¹⁹  have told us

what you did ²⁰  in their days,

in ancient times. ²¹ 

Psalms 71:18

71:18 Even when I am old and gray, ²² 

O God, do not abandon me,

until I tell the next generation about your strength,

and those coming after me about your power. ²³ 

Psalms 78:3-8

78:3 What we have heard and learned ²⁴  –

that which our ancestors ²⁵  have told us –

78:4 we will not hide from their ²⁶  descendants.

We will tell the next generation

about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts, ²⁷ 

about his strength and the amazing things he has done.

78:5 He established a rule ²⁸  in Jacob;

he set up a law in Israel.

He commanded our ancestors

to make his deeds known to their descendants, ²⁹ 

78:6 so that the next generation, children yet to be born,

might know about them.

They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. ³⁰ 

78:7 Then they will place their confidence in God.

They will not forget the works of God,

and they will obey ³¹  his commands.

78:8 Then they will not be like their ancestors,

who were a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation that was not committed

and faithful to God. ³² 

Isaiah 38:19

38:19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,

as I do today.

A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.

Acts 2:39

2:39 For the promise ³³  is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

[4:21]  ¹ tn Heb “What are these stones?”

[12:26]  ² tn Heb “what is this service to you?”

[12:27]  ³ sn This expression “the sacrifice of Yahweh’s Passover” occurs only here. The word זֶבַח (zevakh) means “slaughtering” and so a blood sacrifice. The fact that this word is used in Lev 3 for the peace offering has linked the Passover as a kind of peace offering, and both the Passover and the peace offerings were eaten as communal meals.

[12:27]  ⁴ tn The verb means “to strike, smite, plague”; it is the same verb that has been used throughout this section (נָגַף, nagaf). Here the construction is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause.

[12:27]  ⁵ tn The two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “and the people bowed down and they worshiped.” The words are synonymous, and so one is taken as the adverb for the other.

[13:14]  ⁶ sn As with v. 8, the Law now requires that the children be instructed on the meaning of this observance. It is a memorial of the deliverance from bondage and the killing of the firstborn in Egypt.

[13:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “tomorrow.”

[13:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it will be when your son will ask you.”

[13:14]  ⁹ tn The question is cryptic; it simply says, “What is this?” but certainly refers to the custom just mentioned. It asks, “What does this mean?” or “Why do we do this?”

[13:14]  ¹⁰ tn The expression is “with strength of hand,” making “hand” the genitive of specification. In translation “strength” becomes the modifier, because “hand” specifies where the strength was. But of course the whole expression is anthropomorphic for the power of God.

[13:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house of slaves.”

[6:20]  ¹² tn Heb “your son.”

[6:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “to your son.”

[6:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “by a strong hand.” The image is that of a warrior who, with weapon in hand, overcomes his enemies. The Lord is commonly depicted as a divine warrior in the Book of Deuteronomy (cf. 5:15; 7:8; 9:26; 26:8).

[11:19]  ¹⁵ tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

[44:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 44. The speakers in this psalm (the worshiping community within the nation Israel) were disappointed with God. The psalm begins on a positive note, praising God for leading Israel to past military victories. Verses 1-8 appear to be a song of confidence and petition which the people recited prior to battle. But suddenly the mood changes as the nation laments a recent defeat. The stark contrast between the present and the past only heightens the nation’s confusion. Israel trusted in God for victory, but the Lord rejected them and allowed them to be humiliated in battle. If Israel had been unfaithful to God, their defeat would make sense, but the nation was loyal to the Lord. Comparing the Lord to a careless shepherd, the nation urges God to wake up and to extend his compassion to his suffering people.

[44:1]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.

[44:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “with our ears we have heard.”

[44:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 2; the same Hebrew word may be translated either “fathers” or “ancestors” depending on the context.

[44:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the work you worked.”

[44:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “in the days of old.” This refers specifically to the days of Joshua, during Israel’s conquest of the land, as vv. 2-3 indicate.

[71:18]  ²² tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”

[71:18]  ²³ tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.

[78:3]  ²⁴ tn Or “known.”

[78:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 5, 8, 12, 57).

[78:4]  ²⁶ tn The pronominal suffix refers back to the “fathers” (“our ancestors,” v. 3).

[78:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to a following generation telling the praises of the Lord.” “Praises” stand by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.

[78:5]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to God’s command that the older generation teach their children about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history (see Exod 10:2; Deut 4:9; 6:20-25).

[78:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “which he commanded our fathers to make them known to their sons.” The plural suffix “them” probably refers back to the Lord’s mighty deeds (see vv. 3-4).

[78:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in order that they might know, a following generation, sons [who] will be born, they will arise and will tell to their sons.”

[78:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “keep.”

[78:8]  ³² tn Heb “a generation that did not make firm its heart and whose spirit was not faithful with God.” The expression “make firm the heart” means “to be committed, devoted” (see 1 Sam 7:3).

[2:39]  ³³ sn The promise refers to the promise of the Holy Spirit that Jesus received from the Father in 2:33 and which he now pours out on others. The promise consists of the Holy Spirit (see note in 2:33). Jesus is the active mediator of God’s blessing.