Kejadian 22:1

The Sacrifice of Isaac

22:1 Some time after these things God tested ¹  Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham ²  replied.

Hakim-hakim 3:4

3:4 They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses. ³ 

Ayub 23:10

23:10 But he knows the pathway that I take; ⁴ 

if he tested me, I would come forth like gold. ⁵ 

Mazmur 81:8

81:8 I said, ⁶  ‘Listen, my people!

I will warn ⁷  you!

O Israel, if only you would obey me! ⁸ 

Yesaya 48:10

48:10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have purified you ⁹  in the furnace of misery.

[22:1]  ¹ sn The Hebrew verb used here means “to test; to try; to prove.” In this passage God tests Abraham to see if he would be obedient. See T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 44-48. See also J. L. Crenshaw, A Whirlpool of Torment (OBT), 9-30; and J. I. Lawlor, “The Test of Abraham,” GTJ 1 (1980): 19-35.

[22:1]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:4]  ³ tn Heb “to know if they would hear the commands of the Lord which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.”

[23:10]  ⁴ tn The expression דֶּרֶךְ עִמָּדִי (derekh ’immadi) means “the way with me,” i.e., “the way that I take.” The Syriac has “my way and my standing.” Several commentators prefer “the way of my standing,” meaning where to look for me. J. Reider offers “the way of my life” (“Some notes to the text of the scriptures,” HUCA 3 [1926]: 115). Whatever the precise wording, Job knows that God can always find him.

[23:10]  ⁵ tn There is a perfect verb followed by an imperfect in this clause with the protasis and apodosis relationship (see GKC 493 §159.b).

[81:8]  ⁶ tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Verses 8-10 appear to recall what the Lord commanded the generation of Israelites that experienced the events described in v. 7. Note the statement in v. 11, “my people did not listen to me.”

[81:8]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “command.”

[81:8]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew particle אִם (“if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (GKC 321 §109.b). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.

[48:10]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text has בְּחַרְתִּיךָ (bÿkhartikha, “I have chosen you”), but the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads correctly בחנתיכה (“I have tested you”). The metallurgical background of the imagery suggests that purification through testing is the idea.