Psalms 74:18

74:18 Remember how ¹  the enemy hurls insults, O Lord, ² 

and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name!

Psalms 79:8-12

79:8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! ³ 

Quickly send your compassion our way, ⁴ 

for we are in serious trouble! ⁵ 

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

For the sake of your glorious reputation, ⁶  rescue us!

Forgive our sins for the sake of your reputation! ⁷ 

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! ⁸ 

79:11 Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! ⁹ 

Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die! ¹⁰ 

79:12 Pay back our neighbors in full! ¹¹ 

May they be insulted the same way they insulted you, O Lord! ¹² 

Exodus 17:14

17:14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the ¹³  book, and rehearse ¹⁴  it in Joshua’s hearing; ¹⁵  for I will surely wipe out ¹⁶  the remembrance ¹⁷  of Amalek from under heaven.

Exodus 17:1

Water at Massa and Meribah

17:1 ¹⁸ The whole community ¹⁹  of the Israelites traveled on their journey ²⁰  from the Desert of Sin according to the Lord’s instruction, and they pitched camp in Rephidim. ²¹  Now ²²  there was no water for the people to drink. ²³ 

Exodus 15:2

15:2 The Lord ²⁴  is my strength and my song, ²⁵ 

and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him, ²⁶ 

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

Hosea 7:2

7:2 They do not realize ²⁷ 

that I remember all of their wicked deeds.

Their evil deeds have now surrounded them;

their sinful deeds are always before me. ²⁸ 

[74:18]  ¹ tn Heb “remember this.”

[74:18]  ² tn Or “[how] the enemy insults the Lord.”

[79:8]  ³ tn Heb “do not remember against us sins, former.” Some understand “former” as an attributive adjective modifying sins, “former [i.e., chronologically prior] sins” (see BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן). The present translation assumes that ראשׁנים (“former”) here refers to those who lived formerly, that is, the people’s ancestors (see Lam 5:7). The word is used in this way in Lev 26:45; Deut 19:14 and Eccl 1:11.

[79:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “may your compassion quickly confront us.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating a tone of prayer.

[79:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “for we are very low.”

[79:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “the glory of your name.” Here and in the following line “name” stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[79:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “your name.”

[79:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[79:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “may the painful cry of the prisoner come before you.”

[79:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to the greatness of your arm leave the sons of death.” God’s “arm” here symbolizes his strength to deliver. The verbal form הוֹתֵר (hoter) is a Hiphil imperative from יָתַר (yatar, “to remain; to be left over”). Here it must mean “to leave over; to preserve.” However, it is preferable to emend the form to הַתֵּר (hatter), a Hiphil imperative from נָתַר (natar, “be free”). The Hiphil form is used in Ps 105:20 of Pharaoh freeing Joseph from prison. The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 102:21) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.

[79:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their lap.” The number seven is used rhetorically to express the thorough nature of the action. For other rhetorical/figurative uses of the Hebrew phrase שִׁבְעָתַיִם (shiv’atayim, “seven times”) see Gen 4:15, 24; Ps 12:6; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.

[79:12]  ¹² tn Heb “their reproach with which they reproached you, O Lord.”

[17:14]  ¹³ tn The presence of the article does not mean that he was to write this in a book that was existing now, but in one dedicated to this purpose (book, meaning scroll). See GKC 408 §126.s.

[17:14]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew word is “place,” meaning that the events were to be impressed on Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the ears of Joshua.” The account should be read to Joshua.

[17:14]  ¹⁶ tn The construction uses the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense to stress the resolution of Yahweh to destroy Amalek. The verb מָחָה (makhah) is often translated “blot out” – but that is not a very satisfactory image, since it would not remove completely what is the object. “Efface, erase, scrape off” (as in a palimpsest, a manuscript that is scraped clean so it can be reused) is a more accurate image.

[17:14]  ¹⁷ sn This would seem to be defeated by the preceding statement that the events would be written in a book for a memorial. If this war is recorded, then the Amalekites would be remembered. But here God was going to wipe out the memory of them. But the idea of removing the memory of a people is an idiom for destroying them – they will have no posterity and no lasting heritage.

[17:1]  ¹⁸ sn This is the famous story telling how the people rebelled against Yahweh when they thirsted, saying that Moses had brought them out into the wilderness to kill them by thirst, and how Moses with the staff brought water from the rock. As a result of this the name was called Massa and Meribah because of the testing and the striving. It was a challenge to Moses’ leadership as well as a test of Yahweh’s presence. The narrative in its present form serves an important point in the argument of the book. The story turns on the gracious provision of God who can give his people water when there is none available. The narrative is structured to show how the people strove. Thus, the story intertwines God’s free flowing grace with the sad memory of Israel’s sins. The passage can be divided into three parts: the situation and the complaint (1-3), the cry and the miracle (4-6), and the commemoration by naming (7).

[17:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “congregation” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[17:1]  ²⁰ tn The text says that they journeyed “according to their journeyings.” Since the verb form (and therefore the derived noun) essentially means to pull up the tent pegs and move along, this verse would be saying that they traveled by stages, or, from place to place.

[17:1]  ²¹ sn The location is a bit of a problem. Exod 19:1-2 suggests that it is near Sinai, whereas it is normally located near Kadesh in the north. Without any details provided, M. Noth concludes that two versions came together (Exodus [OTL], 138). S. R. Driver says that the writer wrote not knowing that they were 24 miles apart (Exodus, 157). Critics have long been bothered by this passage because of the two names given at the same place. If two sources had been brought together, it is not possible now to identify them. But Noth insisted that if there were two names there were two different locations. The names Massah and Meribah occur alone in Scripture (Deut 9:22, and Num 20:1 for examples), but together in Ps 95 and in Deut 33:8. But none of these passages is a clarification of the difficulty. Most critics would argue that Massah was a secondary element that was introduced into this account, because Exod 17 focuses on Meribah. From that starting point they can diverge greatly on the interpretation, usually having something to do with a water test. But although Num 20 is parallel in several ways, there are major differences: 1) it takes place 40 years later than this, 2) the name Kadesh is joined to the name Meribah there, and 3) Moses is punished there. One must conclude that if an event could occur twice in similar ways (complaint about water would be a good candidate for such), then there is no reason a similar name could not be given.

[17:1]  ²² tn The disjunctive vav introduces a parenthetical clause that is essential for this passage – there was no water.

[17:1]  ²³ tn Here the construction uses a genitive after the infinitive construct for the subject: “there was no water for the drinking of the people” (GKC 353-54 §115.c).

[15:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Yah.” Moses’ poem here uses a short form of the name Yahweh, traditionally rendered in English by “the LORD.”

[15:2]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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.

[7:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and they do not say in their heart”; TEV “It never enters their heads.”

[7:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they [the sinful deeds] are before my face” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NCV “they are right in front of me.”