2 Tawarikh 1:10

1:10 Now give me wisdom and discernment so ¹  I can effectively lead this nation. ²  Otherwise ³  no one is able ⁴  to make judicial decisions for ⁵  this great nation of yours.” ⁶ 

Keluaran 3:11

3:11 Moses said ⁷  to God, ⁸  “Who am I, that I should go ⁹  to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Keluaran 3:2

3:2 The angel of the Lord ¹⁰  appeared ¹¹  to him in ¹²  a flame of fire from within a bush. ¹³  He looked ¹⁴  – and ¹⁵  the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! ¹⁶ 

1 Samuel 7:1

7:1 Then the people ¹⁷  of Kiriath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord; they brought it to the house of Abinadab located on the hill. They consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord.

1 Samuel 7:1

7:1 Then the people ¹⁸  of Kiriath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord; they brought it to the house of Abinadab located on the hill. They consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord.

1 Samuel 29:1-2

David Is Rejected by the Philistine Leaders

29:1 The Philistines assembled all their troops ¹⁹  at Aphek, while Israel camped at the spring that is in Jezreel. 29:2 When the leaders of the Philistines were passing in review at the head of their units of hundreds and thousands, ²⁰  David and his men were passing in review in the rear with Achish.

Kolose 2:16

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days –

Efesus 3:8

3:8 To me – less than the least of all the saints ²¹  – this grace was given, ²²  to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

[1:10]  ¹ tn The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) following the imperative here indicates purpose/result.

[1:10]  ² tn Heb “so I may go out before this nation and come in.” The expression “go out…and come in” here means “to lead” (see HALOT 425 s.v. יצא qal.4).

[1:10]  ³ tn Heb “for.” The word “otherwise” is used to reflect the logical sense of the statement.

[1:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “who is able?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[1:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “to judge.”

[1:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “these numerous people of yours.”

[3:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “And Moses said.”

[3:11]  ⁸ sn When he was younger, Moses was confident and impulsive, but now that he is older the greatness of the task makes him unsure. The remainder of this chapter and the next chapter record the four difficulties of Moses and how the Lord answers them (11-12, 13-22; then 4:1-9; and finally 4:10-17).

[3:11]  ⁹ tn The imperfect tense אֵלֵךְ (’elekh) carries the modal nuance of obligatory imperfect, i.e., “that I should go.” Moses at this point is overwhelmed with the task of representing God, and with his personal insufficiency, and so in honest humility questions the choice.

[3:2]  ¹⁰ sn The designation “the angel of the Lord” (Heb “the angel of Yahweh”) occurred in Genesis already (16:7-13; 21:17; 22:11-18). There is some ambiguity in the expression, but it seems often to be interchangeable with God’s name itself, indicating that it refers to the Lord.

[3:2]  ¹¹ tn The verb וַיֵּרָא (vayyera’) is the Niphal preterite of the verb “to see.” For similar examples of רָאָה (ra’ah) in Niphal where the subject “appears,” that is, allows himself to be seen, or presents himself, see Gen 12:7; 35:9; 46:29; Exod 6:3; and 23:17. B. Jacob notes that God appears in this way only to individuals and never to masses of people; it is his glory that appears to the masses (Exodus, 49).

[3:2]  ¹² tn Gesenius rightly classifies this as a bet (ב) essentiae (GKC 379 §119.i); it would then indicate that Yahweh appeared to Moses “as a flame.”

[3:2]  ¹³ sn Fire frequently accompanies the revelation of Yahweh in Exodus as he delivers Israel, guides her, and purifies her. The description here is unique, calling attention to the manifestation as a flame of fire from within the bush. Philo was the first to interpret the bush as Israel, suffering under the persecution of Egypt but never consumed. The Bible leaves the interpretation open. However, in this revelation the fire is coming from within the bush, not from outside, and it represents the Lord who will deliver his people from persecution. See further E. Levine, “The Evolving Symbolism of the Burning Bush,” Dor le Dor 8 (1979): 185-93.

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And he saw.”

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn The text again uses the deictic particle with vav, וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), traditionally rendered “and behold.” The particle goes with the intense gaze, the outstretched arm, the raised eyebrow – excitement and intense interest: “look, over there.” It draws the reader into the immediate experience of the subject.

[3:2]  ¹⁶ tn The construction uses the suffixed negative אֵינֶנּוּ (’enennu) to convey the subject of the passive verb: “It was not” consumed. This was the amazing thing, for nothing would burn faster in the desert than a thornbush on fire.

[7:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “men.”

[7:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “men.”

[29:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “camps.”

[29:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “passing by with respect to hundreds and thousands.” This apparently describes a mustering of troops for the purpose of inspection and readiness.

[3:8]  ²¹ sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.

[3:8]  ²² sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).