Psalms 48:14

48:14 For God, our God, is our defender forever! ¹ 

He guides ²  us! ³ 

Psalms 67:6

67:6 The earth yields its crops.

May God, our God, bless us!

Psalms 115:3

115:3 Our God is in heaven!

He does whatever he pleases! ⁴ 

Exodus 15:2

15:2 The Lord ⁵  is my strength and my song, ⁶ 

and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him, ⁷ 

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Exodus 20:2

20:2 “I, ⁸  the Lord, am your God, ⁹  who brought you ¹⁰  from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 31:33

31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ¹²  after I plant them back in the land,” ¹³  says the Lord. ¹⁴  “I will ¹⁵  put my law within them ¹⁶  and write it on their hearts and minds. ¹⁷  I will be their God and they will be my people. ¹⁸ 

Hebrews 11:16

11:16 But as it is, ¹⁹  they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

[48:14]  ¹ tn Heb “for this is God, our God, forever and ever.” “This” might be paraphrased, “this protector described and praised in the preceding verses.”

[48:14]  ² tn The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.

[48:14]  ³ tn In the Hebrew text the psalm ends with the words עַל־מוּת (’al-mut, “upon [unto?] dying”), which make little, if any, sense. M. Dahood (Psalms [AB], 1:293) proposes an otherwise unattested plural form עֹלָמוֹת (’olamot; from עוֹלָם, ’olam, “eternity”). This would provide a nice parallel to עוֹלָם וָעֶד (’olam va’ed, “forever”) in the preceding line, but elsewhere the plural of עוֹלָם appears as עֹלָמִים (’olamim). It is preferable to understand the phrase as a musical direction of some sort (see עַל־מוּת [’al-mut] in the superscription of Ps 9) or to emend the text to עַל־עֲלָמוֹת (’al-’alamot, “according to the alamoth style”; see the heading of Ps 46). In either case it should be understood as belonging with the superscription of the following psalm.

[115:3]  ⁴ sn He does whatever he pleases. Such sovereignty is characteristic of kings (see Eccl 8:3).

[15:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “Yah.” Moses’ poem here uses a short form of the name Yahweh, traditionally rendered in English by “the LORD.”

[15:2]  ⁶ tn The word וְזִמְרָת (vÿzimrat) is problematic. It probably had a suffix yod (י) that was accidentally dropped because of the yod (י) on the divine name following. Most scholars posit another meaning for the word. A meaning of “power” fits the line fairly well, forming a hendiadys with strength – “strength and power” becoming “strong power.” Similar lines are in Isa 12:2 and Ps 118:14. Others suggest “protection” or “glory.” However, there is nothing substantially wrong with “my song” in the line – only that it would be a nicer match if it had something to do with strength.

[15:2]  ⁷ tn The word נָוָה (navah) occurs only here. It may mean “beautify, adorn” with praises (see BDB 627 s.v.). See also M. Dahood, “Exodus 15:2: ‘anwehu and Ugaritic snwt,” Bib 59 (1979): 260-61; and M. Klein, “The Targumic Tosefta to Exodus 15:2,” JJS 26 (1975): 61-67; and S. B. Parker, “Exodus 15:2 Again,” VT 21 (1971): 373-79.

[20:2]  ⁸ sn The revelation of Yahweh here begins with the personal pronoun. “I” – a person, a living personality, not an object or a mere thought. This enabled him to address “you” – Israel, and all his people, making the binding stipulations for them to conform to his will (B. Jacob, Exodus, 544).

[20:2]  ⁹ tn Most English translations have “I am Yahweh your God.” But the preceding chapters have again and again demonstrated how he made himself known to them. Now, the emphasis is on “I am your God” – and what that would mean in their lives.

[20:2]  ¹⁰ tn The suffix on the verb is second masculine singular. It is this person that will be used throughout the commandments for the whole nation. God addresses them all as his people, but he addresses them individually for their obedience. The masculine form is not, thereby, intended to exclude women.

[20:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the house of slaves” meaning “the land of slavery.”

[31:33]  ¹² tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.

[31:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.

[31:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the Lord, ‘I will….’” The sentence has been reworded and restructured to avoid the awkwardness of the original style.

[31:33]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.

[31:33]  ¹⁷ tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.

[31:33]  ¹⁸ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.

[11:16]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “now.”