Numbers 14:13-16

14:13 Moses said to the Lord, “When the Egyptians hear ¹  it – for you brought up this people by your power from among them – 14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants ²  of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, ³  that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night. 14:15 If you kill ⁴  this entire people at once, ⁵  then the nations that have heard of your fame will say, 14:16 ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to them, he killed them in the wilderness.’

Deuteronomy 9:28

9:28 Otherwise the people of the land ⁶  from which you brought us will say, “The Lord was unable to bring them to the land he promised them, and because of his hatred for them he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.” ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 32:26-27

The Weakness of Other Gods

32:26 “I said, ‘I want to cut them in pieces. ⁸ 

I want to make people forget they ever existed.

32:27 But I fear the reaction ⁹  of their enemies,

for ¹⁰  their adversaries would misunderstand

and say, “Our power is great, ¹¹ 

and the Lord has not done all this!”’

Joshua 7:9

7:9 When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will turn against us and destroy the very memory of us ¹²  from the earth. What will you do to protect your great reputation?” ¹³ 

Psalms 74:18

74:18 Remember how ¹⁴  the enemy hurls insults, O Lord, ¹⁵ 

and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name!

Psalms 79:9-10

79:9 Help us, O God, our deliverer!

For the sake of your glorious reputation, ¹⁶  rescue us!

Forgive our sins for the sake of your reputation! ¹⁷ 

79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants

be avenged among the nations! ¹⁸ 

Ezekiel 20:9

20:9 I acted for the sake of my reputation, ¹⁹  so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived, ²⁰  before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ²¹ 

Ezekiel 20:14

20:14 I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

Ezekiel 20:22

20:22 But I refrained from doing so, ²²  and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

[14:13]  ¹ tn The construction is unusual in that we have here a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive with no verb before it to establish the time sequence. The context requires that this be taken as a vav (ו) consecutive. It actually forms the protasis for the next verse, and would best be rendered “when…then they will say.”

[14:14]  ² tn The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land.

[14:14]  ³ tn “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possible.

[14:15]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of מוּת (mut), וְהֵמַתָּה (vÿhemattah). The vav (ו) consecutive makes this also a future time sequence verb, but again in a conditional clause.

[14:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “as one man.”

[9:28]  ⁶ tc The MT reads only “the land.” Smr supplies עַם (’am, “people”) and LXX and its dependents supply “the inhabitants of the land.” The truncated form found in the MT is adequate to communicate the intended meaning; the words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:28]  ⁷ tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[32:26]  ⁸ tc The LXX reads “I said I would scatter them.” This reading is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT, CEV).

[32:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “anger.”

[32:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lest.”

[32:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Our hand is high.” Cf. NAB “Our own hand won the victory.”

[7:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and cut off our name.”

[7:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “What will you do for your great name?”

[74:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “remember this.”

[74:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “[how] the enemy insults the Lord.”

[79:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the glory of your name.” Here and in the following line “name” stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[79:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “your name.”

[79:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[20:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for the sake of my name.”

[20:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were.”

[20:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “to whom I made myself known before their eyes to bring them out from the land of Egypt.” The translation understands the infinitive construct (“to bring them out”) as indicating manner. God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt was an act of self-revelation in that it displayed his power and his commitment to his promises.

[20:22]  ²² tn Heb “drew my hand back.” This idiom also occurs in Lam 2:8 and Ps 74:11.