Leviticus 26:17

26:17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.

Leviticus 26:36

26:36 “‘As for ¹  the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer.

Deuteronomy 28:65-67

28:65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair. 28:66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next. ²  28:67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’ because of the things you will fear and the things you will see.

Deuteronomy 28:1

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ³  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ⁴  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 14:15

14:15 the ostrich, ⁵  the owl, ⁶  the seagull, the falcon ⁷  after its species,

Deuteronomy 14:2

14:2 For you are a people holy ⁸  to the Lord your God. He ⁹  has chosen you to be his people, prized ¹⁰  above all others on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 7:6-7

7:6 For you are a people holy ¹¹  to the Lord your God. He ¹²  has chosen you to be his people, prized ¹³  above all others on the face of the earth.

The Basis of Israel’s Election

7:7 It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you – for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples.

Job 15:21

15:21 Terrifying sounds fill ¹⁴  his ears;

in a time of peace marauders ¹⁵  attack him.

Proverbs 28:1

28:1 The wicked person flees when there is no one pursuing, ¹⁶ 

but the righteous person is as confident ¹⁷  as a lion.

[26:36]  ¹ tn Heb “And.”

[28:66]  ² tn Heb “you will not be confident in your life.” The phrase “from one day to the next” is implied by the following verse.

[28:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[14:15]  ⁵ tn Or “owl.” The Hebrew term בַּת הַיַּעֲנָה (bat hayya’anah) is sometimes taken as “ostrich” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT), but may refer instead to some species of owl (cf. KJV “owl”; NEB “desert-owl”; NIV “horned owl”).

[14:15]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term תַּחְמָס (takhmas) is either a type of owl (cf. NEB “short-eared owl”; NIV “screech owl”) or possibly the nighthawk (so NRSV, NLT).

[14:15]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term נֵץ (nets) may refer to the falcon or perhaps the hawk (so NEB, NIV).

[14:2]  ⁸ tn Or “set apart.”

[14:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “The Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[14:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “treasured.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

[7:6]  ¹¹ tn That is, “set apart.”

[7:6]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[7:6]  ¹³ tn Or “treasured” (so NIV, NRSV); NLT “his own special treasure.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

[15:21]  ¹⁴ tn The word “fill” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.

[15:21]  ¹⁵ tn The word שׁוֹדֵד (shoded) means “a robber; a plunderer” (see Job 12:6). With the verb bo’ the sentence means that the robber pounces on or comes against him (see GKC 373 §118.f). H. H. Rowley observes that the text does not say that he is under attack, but that the sound of fears is in his ears, i.e., that he is terrified by thoughts of this.

[28:1]  ¹⁶ sn The line portrays the insecurity of a guilty person – he flees because he has a guilty conscience, or because he is suspicious of others around him, or because he fears judgment.

[28:1]  ¹⁷ tn The verb בָּטַח (batakh) means “to trust; to be secure; to be confident.” Cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “bold.”