Psalms 78:67-69

78:67 He rejected the tent of Joseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

78:68 He chose the tribe of Judah,

and Mount Zion, which he loves.

78:69 He made his sanctuary as enduring as the heavens above; ¹ 

as secure as the earth, which he established permanently. ² 

Psalms 132:13-14

132:13 Certainly ³  the Lord has chosen Zion;

he decided to make it his home. ⁴ 

132:14 He said, ⁵  “This will be my resting place forever;

I will live here, for I have chosen it. ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 12:5

12:5 But you must seek only the place he ⁷  chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, ⁸  and you must go there.

Deuteronomy 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ⁹  all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 6:6

Exhortation to Teach the Covenant Principles

6:6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind,

Isaiah 14:32

14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? ¹¹ 

Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure;

the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

Joel 2:32

2:32 It will so happen that

everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. ¹² 

For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem ¹³  there will be those who survive, ¹⁴ 

just as the Lord has promised;

the remnant ¹⁵  will be those whom the Lord will call. ¹⁶ 

[78:69]  ¹ tc Heb “and he built like the exalting [ones] his sanctuary.” The phrase כְּמוֹ־רָמִים (kÿmo-ramim, “like the exalting [ones]”) is a poetic form of the comparative preposition followed by a participial form of the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”). The text should be emended to כִּמְרֹמִים (kimromim, “like the [heavenly] heights”). See Ps 148:1, where “heights” refers to the heavens above.

[78:69]  ² tn Heb “like the earth, [which] he established permanently.” The feminine singular suffix on the Hebrew verb יָסַד (yasad, “to establish”) refers to the grammatically feminine noun “earth.”

[132:13]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[132:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “he desired it for his dwelling place.”

[132:14]  ⁵ tn The words “he said” are added in the translation to clarify that what follows are the Lord’s words.

[132:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “for I desired it.”

[12:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[12:5]  ⁸ tc Some scholars, on the basis of v. 11, emend the MT reading שִׁכְנוֹ (shikhno, “his residence”) to the infinitive construct לְשָׁכֵן (lÿshakhen, “to make [his name] to dwell”), perhaps with the 3rd person masculine singular sf לְשַׁכְּנוֹ (lÿshakÿno, “to cause it to dwell”). Though the presupposed nounשֵׁכֶן (shekhen) is nowhere else attested, the parallel here with שַׁמָּה (shammah, “there”) favors retaining the MT as it stands.

[12:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”

[12:2]  ¹⁰ sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.

[14:32]  ¹¹ sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.

[2:32]  ¹² tn While a number of English versions render this as “saved” (e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT), this can suggest a “spiritual” or “theological” salvation rather than the physical deliverance from the cataclysmic events of the day of the Lord described in the context.

[2:32]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:32]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “deliverance”; or “escape.” The abstract noun “deliverance” or “escape” probably functions here as an example of antimeria, referring to those who experience deliverance or escape with their lives: “escaped remnant” or “surviving remnant” (Gen 32:8; 45:7; Judg 21:17; 2 Kgs 19:30, 31; Isa 4:2; 10:20; 15:9; 37:31, 32; Ezek 14:22; Obad 1:17; Ezra 9:8, 13-15; Neh 1:2; 1 Chr 4:43; 2 Chr 30:6).

[2:32]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and among the remnant.”

[2:32]  ¹⁶ tn The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to indicate action in the imminent future.