Ulangan 33:2

33:2 He said:

A Historical Review

The Lord came from Sinai

and revealed himself ¹  to Israel ²  from Seir.

He appeared in splendor ³  from Mount Paran,

and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. ⁴ 

With his right hand he gave a fiery law ⁵  to them.

Mazmur 68:18

68:18 You ascend on high, ⁶ 

you have taken many captives. ⁷ 

You receive tribute ⁸  from ⁹  men,

including even sinful rebels.

Indeed the Lord God lives there! ¹⁰ 

Yudas 1:14

1:14 Now Enoch, the seventh in descent beginning with Adam, ¹¹  even prophesied of them, ¹²  saying, “Look! The Lord is coming ¹³  with thousands and thousands ¹⁴  of his holy ones,

Yudas 1:11

1:11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, ¹⁵  and because of greed ¹⁶  have abandoned themselves ¹⁷  to ¹⁸  Balaam’s error; hence, ¹⁹  they will certainly perish ²⁰  in Korah’s rebellion.

[33:2]  ¹ tn Or “rose like the sun” (NCV, TEV).

[33:2]  ² tc Heb “to him.” The LXX reads “to us” (לָנוּ [lanu] for לָמוֹ [lamo]), the reading of the MT is acceptable since it no doubt has in mind Israel as a collective singular.

[33:2]  tn Heb “him”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:2]  ³ tn Or “he shone forth” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[33:2]  ⁴ tc With slight alteration (מִמְרִבַת קָדֵשׁ [mimrivat qadesh] for the MT’s מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ [merivvot qodesh]) the translation would be “from Meribah Kadesh” (cf. NAB, NLT; see Deut 32:51). However, the language of holy war in the immediate context favors the reading of the MT, which views the Lord as accompanied by angelic hosts.

[33:2]  ⁵ tc The mispointed Hebrew term אֵשְׁדָּת (’eshdat) should perhaps be construed as אֵשְׁהַת (’eshhat) with Smr.

[68:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.

[68:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”

[68:18]  ⁸ tn Or “gifts.”

[68:18]  ⁹ tn Or “among.”

[68:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so that the Lord God might live [there].” Many take the infinitive construct with -לְ (lamed) as indicating purpose here, but it is unclear how the offering of tribute enables the Lord to live in Zion. This may be an occurrence of the relatively rare emphatic lamed (see HALOT 510-11 s.v. II לְ, though this text is not listed as an example there). If so, the statement corresponds nicely to the final line of v. 16, which also affirms emphatically that the Lord lives in Zion.

[1:14]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the seventh from Adam.”

[1:14]  sn The genealogical count is inclusive, counting Adam as the first, for Enoch is really the sixth in descent from Adam (Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch). In this way, the picture of perfection/completion was retained (for the number seven is often used for perfection or completion in the Bible) starting with Adam and concluding with Enoch.

[1:14]  ¹² tn Grk “against them.” The dative τούτοις (toutois) is a dativus incommodi (dative of disadvantage).

[1:14]  ¹³ tn Grk “has come,” a proleptic aorist.

[1:14]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “ten thousands.” The word μυριάς (muria"), from which the English myriad is derived, means “ten thousand.” In the plural it means “ten thousands.” This would mean, minimally, 20,000 (a multiple of ten thousand). At the same time, the term was often used in apocalyptic literature to represent simply a rather large number, without any attempt to be specific.

[1:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or “they have gone the way of Cain.”

[1:11]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “for wages.”

[1:11]  ¹⁷ tn The verb ἐκχέω (ekcew) normally means “pour out.” Here, in the passive, it occasionally has a reflexive idea, as BDAG 312 s.v. 3. suggests (with extra-biblical examples).

[1:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or “in.”

[1:11]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and.” See note on “perish” later in this verse.

[1:11]  ²⁰ tn The three verbs in this verse are all aorist indicative (“have gone down,” “have abandoned,” “have perished”). Although the first and second could be considered constative or ingressive, the last is almost surely proleptic (referring to the certainty of their future judgment). Although it may seem odd that a proleptic aorist is so casually connected to other aorists with a different syntactical force, it is not unparalleled (cf. Rom 8:30).