Keluaran 34:10

34:10 He said, “See, I am going to make ¹  a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done ²  in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you. ³ 

Ulangan 4:34

4:34 Or has God ⁴  ever before tried to deliver ⁵  a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, ⁶  signs, wonders, war, strength, power, ⁷  and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

Ulangan 10:21

10:21 He is the one you should praise; ⁸  he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen.

Yudas 1:4-5

1:4 For certain men ⁹  have secretly slipped in among you ¹⁰  – men who long ago ¹¹  were marked out ¹²  for the condemnation I am about to describe ¹³  – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil ¹⁴  and who deny our only Master ¹⁵  and Lord, ¹⁶  Jesus Christ.

1:5 Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts ¹⁷  once for all ¹⁸ ) that Jesus, ¹⁹  having saved the ²⁰  people out of the land of Egypt, later ²¹  destroyed those who did not believe.

Yudas 1:2

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you! ²² 

1 Samuel 7:1

7:1 Then the people ²³  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.

Mazmur 65:6

65:6 You created the mountains by your power, ²⁴ 

and demonstrated your strength. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 66:3

66:3 Say to God:

“How awesome are your deeds!

Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear ²⁶  before you.

Mazmur 66:5

66:5 Come and witness ²⁷  God’s exploits! ²⁸ 

His acts on behalf of people are awesome! ²⁹ 

Mazmur 68:8

68:8 the earth shakes,

yes, the heavens pour down rain

before God, the God of Sinai, ³⁰ 

before God, the God of Israel. ³¹ 

Mazmur 76:12

76:12 He humbles princes; ³² 

the kings of the earth regard him as awesome. ³³ 

Mazmur 105:27-36

105:27 They executed his miraculous signs among them, ³⁴ 

and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham.

105:28 He made it dark; ³⁵ 

they did not disobey his orders. ³⁶ 

105:29 He turned their water into blood,

and killed their fish.

105:30 Their land was overrun by frogs,

which even got into the rooms of their kings.

105:31 He ordered flies to come; ³⁷ 

gnats invaded their whole territory.

105:32 He sent hail along with the rain; ³⁸ 

there was lightning in their land. ³⁹ 

105:33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees,

and broke the trees throughout their territory.

105:34 He ordered locusts to come, ⁴⁰ 

innumerable grasshoppers.

105:35 They ate all the vegetation in their land,

and devoured the crops of their fields. ⁴¹ 

105:36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the firstfruits of their reproductive power. ⁴² 

Mazmur 106:22

106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,

mighty ⁴³  acts by the Red Sea.

[34:10]  ¹ tn Here again is a use of the futur instans participle; the deictic particle plus the pronoun precedes the participle, showing what is about to happen.

[34:10]  ² tn The verb here is בָּרָא (bara’, “to create”). The choice of this verb is to stress that these wonders would be supernaturally performed, for the verb is used only with God as the subject.

[34:10]  ³ sn The idea is that God will be doing awesome things in dealing with them, i.e., to fulfill his program.

[4:34]  ⁴ tn The translation assumes the reference is to Israel’s God in which case the point is this: God’s intervention in Israel’s experience is unique in the sense that he has never intervened in such power for any other people on earth. The focus is on the uniqueness of Israel’s experience. Some understand the divine name here in a generic sense, “a god,” or “any god.” In this case God’s incomparability is the focus (cf. v. 35, where this theme is expressed).

[4:34]  ⁵ tn Heb “tried to go to take for himself.”

[4:34]  ⁶ tn Heb “by testings.” The reference here is the judgments upon Pharaoh in the form of plagues. See Deut 7:19 (cf. v. 18) and 29:3 (cf. v. 2).

[4:34]  ⁷ tn Heb “by strong hand and by outstretched arm.”

[10:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “your praise.” The pronoun is subjective and the noun “praise” is used here metonymically for the object of their praise (the Lord).

[1:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “people.” However, if Jude is indeed arguing that Peter’s prophecy about false teachers has come true, these are most likely men in the original historical and cultural setting. See discussion of this point in the note on the phrase “these men” in 2 Pet 2:12.

[1:4]  ¹⁰ tn “Among you” is not in the Greek text, but is obviously implied.

[1:4]  sn The infiltration referred to by the phrase slipped in among you was predicted by Peter (2 Pet 2:1), Paul (e.g., Acts 20:29-30), and OT prophets.

[1:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “in the past.” The adverb πάλαι (palai) can refer to either, though the meaning “long ago” is more common.

[1:4]  ¹² tn Grk “written about.”

[1:4]  ¹³ tn Grk “for this condemnation.” τοῦτο (touto) is almost surely a kataphoric demonstrative pronoun, pointing to what follows in vv. 5-18. Otherwise, the condemnation is only implied (in v. 3b) or is merely a statement of their sinfulness (“ungodly” in v. 4b), not a judgment of it.

[1:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “debauchery.” This is the same word Peter uses to predict what the false teachers will be like (2 Pet 2:2, 7, 18).

[1:4]  sn Turned the grace of our God into a license for evil. One of the implications that the gospel in the apostolic period was truly a gospel of grace was the fact that the enemies of the gospel could pervert it into license. If it were a gospel of works, no such abuse could be imagined. Along these lines, note Rom 6:1 – “Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?” This question could not have even been asked had the gospel been one of works. But grace is easily misunderstood by those who would abuse it.

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tc Most later witnesses (P Ψ Ï sy) have θεόν (qeon, “God”) after δεσπότην (despothn, “master”), which appears to be a motivated reading in that it explicitly links “Master” to “God” in keeping with the normal NT pattern (see Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24; 2 Tim 2:21; Rev 6:10). In patristic Greek, δεσπότης (despoth") was used especially of God (cf. BDAG 220 s.v. 1.b.). The earlier and better witnesses (Ì^72,78 א A B C 0251 33 81 323 1241 1739 al co) lack θεόν; the shorter reading is thus preferred on both internal and external grounds.

[1:4]  sn The Greek term for Master (δεσπότης, despoths) is the same term the author of 2 Peter used (2 Pet 2:1) to describe his Lord when he prophesied about these false teachers. Since δεσπότης is used only ten times in the NT, the verbal connection between these two books at this juncture is striking. This is especially so since both Peter and Jude speak of these false teachers as denying the Master (both using the same verb). The basic difference is that Peter is looking to the future, while Jude is arguing that these false teachers are here now.

[1:4]  ¹⁶ tn The terms “Master and Lord” both refer to the same person. The construction in Greek is known as the Granville Sharp rule, named after the English philanthropist-linguist who first clearly articulated the rule in 1798. Sharp pointed out that in the construction article-noun-καί-noun (where καί [kai] = “and”), when two nouns are singular, personal, and common (i.e., not proper names), they always had the same referent. Illustrations such as “the friend and brother,” “the God and Father,” etc. abound in the NT to prove Sharp’s point. For more discussion see ExSyn 270-78. See also Titus 2:13 and 2 Pet 1:1

[1:5]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “knowing all things.” The subject of the participle “knowing” (εἰδότας, eidota") is an implied ὑμᾶς (Jumas), though several ancient witnesses actually add it. The πάντα (panta) takes on an adverbial force in this context (“fully”), intensifying how acquainted the readers are with the following points.

[1:5]  sn That Jude comments on his audience’s prior knowledge of what he is about to tell them (you have been fully informed of these facts) may imply that they were familiar with 2 Peter. In 2 Pet 2:4ff., the same illustrations from the OT are drawn. See the note on the following phrase once for all.

[1:5]  ¹⁸ tc ‡ Some translations take ἅπαξ (Japax) with the following clause (thus, “[Jesus,] having saved the people once for all”). Such a translation presupposes that ἅπαξ is a part of the ὅτι (Joti) clause. The reading of NA²⁷, πάντα ὅτι [ὁ] κύριος ἅπαξ (panta {oti [Jo] kurio" {apax), suggests this interpretation (though with “Lord” instead of “Jesus”). This particle is found before λαόν (laon) in the ὅτι clause in א C* Ψ 630 1241 1243 1505 1739 1846 1881 pc co. But ἅπαξ is found before the ὅτι clause in most witnesses, including several important ones (Ì⁷² A B C² 33 81 623 2344 Ï vg). What seems best able to explain the various placements of the adverb is that scribes were uncomfortable with ἅπαξ referring to the readers’ knowledge, feeling it was more appropriate to the theological significance of “saved” (σώσας, swsas).

[1:5]  sn In this translation, Jude is stressing that the readers have been informed once for all of the OT illustrations he is about to mention. Where would they get this information? Most likely from having read 2 Peter. Earlier Jude used the same adverb to indicate that these believers had a written record of the faith. This seems to be his implication here, too. Thus, for the second time Jude is appealing to the written documents of the early church as authoritative as opposed to the messages of the false teachers. As the 1st century began to draw to a close, the early church found itself increasingly dependent on the letters and gospels of the apostles and their associates. Once those apostles died, false apostles and false teachers sprang up, like wolves in sheep’s clothing (cf. Acts 20:29-30). To combat this, some of the latest books of the NT stressed the authority of what had been written (so Hebrews, Jude, Ephesians, 1 John). Although these writers anticipated the return of the Lord, they also braced their audiences for a delay of the parousia (the second coming of Christ) by suggesting that when they were gone the NT documents should guide them.

[1:5]  ¹⁹ tc ‡ The reading ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsous, “Jesus”) is deemed too hard by several scholars, since it involves the notion of Jesus acting in the early history of the nation Israel. However, not only does this reading enjoy the strongest support from a variety of early witnesses (e.g., A B 33 81 1241 1739 1881 2344 pc vg co Or^1739mg), but the plethora of variants demonstrate that scribes were uncomfortable with it, for they seemed to exchange κύριος (kurios, “Lord”) or θεός (qeos, “God”) for ᾿Ιησοῦς (though Ì⁷² has the intriguing reading θεὸς Χριστός [qeos Cristos, “God Christ”] for ᾿Ιησοῦς). In addition to the evidence supplied in NA²⁷ for this reading, note also {88 322 323 424^c 665 915 2298 eth Cyr Hier Bede}. As difficult as the reading ᾿Ιησοῦς is, in light of v. 4 and in light of the progress of revelation (Jude being one of the last books in the NT to be composed), it is wholly appropriate.

[1:5]  sn The construction our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ in v. 4 follows Granville Sharp’s rule (see note on Lord). The construction strongly implies the deity of Christ. This is followed by a statement that Jesus was involved in the salvation (and later judgment) of the Hebrews. He is thus to be identified with the Lord God, Yahweh. Verse 5, then, simply fleshes out what is implicit in v. 4.

[1:5]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps “a,” though this is less likely.

[1:5]  ²¹ tn Grk “the second time.”

[1:2]  ²² tn Grk “may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.”

[7:1]  ²³ tn Heb “men.”

[65:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[the] one who establishes [the] mountains by his power.”

[65:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “one [who] is girded with strength”; or “one [who] girds himself with strength.”

[66:3]  ²⁶ tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “be weak, powerless” (see also Ps 109:24).

[66:5]  ²⁷ tn Or “see.”

[66:5]  ²⁸ tn Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8).

[66:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “awesome [is] an act toward the sons of man.” It is unclear how the prepositional phrase relates to what precedes. If collocated with “act,” it may mean “on behalf of” or “toward.” If taken with “awesome” (see 1 Chr 16:25; Pss 89:7; 96:4; Zeph 2:11), one might translate “his awesome acts are beyond human comprehension” or “his awesome acts are superior to anything men can do.”

[68:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “this one of Sinai.” The phrase is a divine title, perhaps indicating that the Lord rules from Sinai.

[68:8]  ³¹ sn The language of vv. 7-8 is reminiscent of Judg 5:4-5, which tells how the God of Sinai came in the storm and annihilated the Canaanite forces led by Sisera. The presence of allusion does not mean, however, that this is a purely historical reference. The psalmist is describing God’s typical appearance as a warrior in terms of his prior self-revelation as ancient events are reactualized in the psalmist’s experience. (For a similar literary technique, see Hab 3.)

[76:12]  ³² tn Heb “he reduces the spirit of princes.” According to HALOT 148 s.v. II בצר, the Hebrew verb בָּצַר (batsar) is here a hapax legomenon meaning “reduce, humble.” The statement is generalizing, with the imperfect tense highlighting God’s typical behavior.

[76:12]  ³³ tn Heb “[he is] awesome to the kings of the earth.”

[105:27]  ³⁴ tn Apparently the pronoun refers to “his servants” (i.e., the Israelites, see v. 25).

[105:28]  ³⁵ tn Heb “he sent darkness and made it dark.”

[105:28]  sn He made it dark. The psalmist begins with the ninth plague (see Exod 10:21-29).

[105:28]  ³⁶ tn Heb “they did not rebel against his words.” Apparently this refers to Moses and Aaron, who obediently carried out God’s orders.

[105:31]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he spoke and flies came.”

[105:32]  ³⁸ tn Heb “he gave their rains hail.”

[105:32]  ³⁹ tn Heb “fire of flames [was] in their land.”

[105:34]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “he spoke and locusts came.”

[105:35]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the fruit of their ground.”

[105:36]  ⁴² tn Heb “the beginning of all their strength,” that is, reproductive power (see Ps 78:51).

[105:36]  sn Verses 28-36 recall the plagues in a different order than the one presented in Exodus: v. 28 (plague 9), v. 29 (plague 1), v. 30 (plague 2), v. 31a (plague 4), v. 31b (plague 3), vv. 32-33 (plague 7), vv. 34-35 (plague 8), v. 36 (plague 10). No reference is made in Ps 105 to plagues 5 and 6.

[106:22]  ⁴³ tn Or “awe-inspiring.”