Numbers 23:19

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a human being, ¹  that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? ² 

Genesis 32:12

32:12 But you ³  said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper ⁴  and will make ⁵  your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.’” ⁶ 

Exodus 3:8

3:8 I have come down ⁷  to deliver them ⁸  from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, ⁹  to a land flowing with milk and honey, ¹⁰  to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ¹¹ 

Exodus 6:7-8

6:7 I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. ¹²  Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to ¹³  the Egyptians. 6:8 I will bring you to the land I swore to give ¹⁴  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob – and I will give it to you ¹⁵  as a possession. I am the Lord!’”

Titus 1:2

1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began. ¹⁶ 

Hebrews 6:18

6:18 so that we who have found refuge in him ¹⁷  may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

[23:19]  ¹ tn Heb “son of man.”

[23:19]  ² tn The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of fulfilling the promises made.

[32:12]  ³ tn Heb “But you, you said.” One of the occurrences of the pronoun “you” has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[32:12]  ⁴ tn Or “will certainly deal well with you.” The infinitive absolute appears before the imperfect, underscoring God’s promise to bless. The statement is more emphatic than in v. 9.

[32:12]  ⁵ tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the nuance of the preceding verb forward.

[32:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “which cannot be counted because of abundance.” The imperfect verbal form indicates potential here.

[3:8]  ⁷ sn God’s coming down is a frequent anthropomorphism in Genesis and Exodus. It expresses his direct involvement, often in the exercise of judgment.

[3:8]  ⁸ tn The Hiphil infinitive with the suffix is לְהַצִּילוֹ (lÿhatsilo, “to deliver them”). It expresses the purpose of God’s coming down. The verb itself is used for delivering or rescuing in the general sense, and snatching out of danger for the specific.

[3:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “to a land good and large”; NRSV “to a good and broad land.” In the translation the words “that is both” are supplied because in contemporary English “good and” combined with any additional descriptive term can be understood as elative (“good and large” = “very large”; “good and spacious” = “very spacious”; “good and ready” = “very ready”). The point made in the Hebrew text is that the land to which they are going is both good (in terms of quality) and large (in terms of size).

[3:8]  ¹⁰ tn This vibrant description of the promised land is a familiar one. Gesenius classifies “milk and honey” as epexegetical genitives because they provide more precise description following a verbal adjective in the construct state (GKC 418-19 §128.x). The land is modified by “flowing,” and “flowing” is explained by the genitives “milk and honey.” These two products will be in abundance in the land, and they therefore exemplify what a desirable land it is. The language is hyperbolic, as if the land were streaming with these products.

[3:8]  ¹¹ tn Each people group is joined to the preceding by the vav conjunction, “and.” Each also has the definite article, as in other similar lists (3:17; 13:5; 34:11). To repeat the conjunction and article in the translation seems to put more weight on the list in English than is necessary to its function in identifying what land God was giving the Israelites.

[6:7]  ¹² sn These covenant promises are being reiterated here because they are about to be fulfilled. They are addressed to the nation, not individuals, as the plural suffixes show. Yahweh was their God already, because they had been praying to him and he is acting on their behalf. When they enter into covenant with God at Sinai, then he will be the God of Israel in a new way (19:4-6; cf. Gen 17:7-8; 28:20-22; Lev 26:11-12; Jer 24:7; Ezek 11:17-20).

[6:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “from under the burdens of” (so KJV, NASB); NIV “from under the yoke of.”

[6:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “which I raised my hand to give it.” The relative clause specifies which land is their goal. The bold anthropomorphism mentions part of an oath-taking ceremony to refer to the whole event and reminds the reader that God swore that he would give the land to them. The reference to taking an oath would have made the promise of God sure in the mind of the Israelite.

[6:8]  ¹⁵ sn Here is the twofold aspect again clearly depicted: God swore the promise to the patriarchs, but he is about to give what he promised to this generation. This generation will know more about him as a result.

[1:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “before eternal ages.”

[6:18]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “have taken refuge”; the basis of that refuge is implied in the preceding verse.