Numbers 14:14

14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants ¹  of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, ²  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.

Numbers 22:5

22:5 And he sent messengers to Balaam ³  son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River ⁴  in the land of Amaw, ⁵  to summon him, saying, “Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face ⁶  of the earth, and they are settling next to me.

Deuteronomy 2:4-5

2:4 Instruct ⁷  these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives ⁸  the descendants of Esau, ⁹  who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully. 2:5 Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir ¹⁰  as an inheritance for Esau.

Joshua 2:9-10

2:9 She said to the men, “I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. ¹¹  We are absolutely terrified of you, ¹²  and all who live in the land are cringing before ¹³  you. ¹⁴  2:10 For we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan. ¹⁵ 

Joshua 9:24

9:24 They said to Joshua, “It was carefully reported to your subjects ¹⁶  how the Lord your God commanded Moses his servant to assign you the whole land and to destroy all who live in the land from before you. Because of you we were terrified ¹⁷  we would lose our lives, so we did this thing.

Psalms 48:6

48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, ¹⁸ 

like a woman writhing in childbirth. ¹⁹ 

[14:14]  ¹ tn The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land.

[14:14]  ² tn “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possible.

[22:5]  ³ sn There is much literature on pagan diviners and especially prophecy in places in the east like Mari (see, for example, H. B. Huffmon, “Prophecy in the Mari Letters,” BA 31 [1968]: 101-24). Balaam appears to be a pagan diviner who was of some reputation; he was called to curse the Israelites, but God intervened and gave him blessings only. The passage forms a nice complement to texts that deal with blessings and curses. It shows that no one can curse someone whom God has blessed.

[22:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “by the river”; in most contexts this expression refers to the Euphrates River (cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[22:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the land of Amaw” (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV); traditionally “in the land of the sons of his people.” The LXX has “by the river of the land.”

[22:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “eye.” So also in v. 11.

[2:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “command” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “charge the people as follows.”

[2:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “brothers”; NAB “your kinsmen.”

[2:4]  ⁹ sn The descendants of Esau (Heb “sons of Esau”; the phrase also occurs in 2:8, 12, 22, 29). These are the inhabitants of the land otherwise known as Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea. Jacob’s brother Esau had settled there after his bitter strife with Jacob (Gen 36:1-8). “Edom” means “reddish,” probably because of the red sandstone of the region, but also by popular etymology because Esau, at birth, was reddish (Gen 25:25).

[2:5]  ¹⁰ sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom.

[2:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “has given the land to you.” Rahab’s statement uses the Hebrew perfect, suggesting certitude.

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “terror of you has fallen upon us.”

[2:9]  ¹³ tn Or “melting away because of.”

[2:9]  ¹⁴ tn Both of these statements are actually subordinated to “I know” in the Hebrew text, which reads, “I know that the Lord…and that terror of you…and that all the inhabitants….”

[2:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and what you did to the two Amorite kings who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, how you annihilated them.”

[9:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your servants.”

[9:24]  ¹⁷ tn Or “we were very afraid.”

[48:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “trembling seizes them there.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[48:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”