Keluaran 4:31

4:31 and the people believed. When they heard ¹  that the Lord had attended to ²  the Israelites and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed down close to the ground. ³ 

Keluaran 4:1

The Source of Sufficiency

4:1 ⁴ Moses answered again, ⁵  “And if ⁶  they do not believe me or pay attention to me, ⁷  but say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’?”

1 Samuel 1:11

1:11 She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will look with compassion ⁸  on the suffering of your female servant, ⁹  remembering me and not forgetting your servant, and give a male child ¹⁰  to your servant, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” ¹¹ 

1 Samuel 1:2

1:2 He had two wives; the name of the first was Hannah and the name of the second was Peninnah. Now Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.

1 Samuel 16:12

16:12 So Jesse had him brought in. ¹²  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

Ayub 33:27

33:27 That person sings ¹³  to others, ¹⁴  saying:

‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,

but I was not punished according to what I deserved. ¹⁵ 

Lukas 1:25

1:25 “This is what ¹⁶  the Lord has done for me at the time ¹⁷  when he has been gracious to me, ¹⁸  to take away my disgrace ¹⁹  among people.” ²⁰ 

[4:31]  ¹ tc The LXX (Greek OT) has “and they rejoiced,” probably reading וַיִּשְׂמְחוּ (vayyismÿkhu) instead of what the MT reading, וַיִּשְׂמְעוּ (vayyismÿ’u, “and they heard”). To rejoice would have seemed a natural response of the people at the news, and the words sound similar in Hebrew.

[4:31]  tn The form is the preterite with the vav consecutive, “and they heard.” It clearly is a temporal clause subordinate to the following verbs that report how they bowed and worshiped. But it is also in sequence to the preceding: they believed, and then they bowed when they heard.

[4:31]  ² tn Or “intervened for.” The word פָּקַד (paqad) has traditionally been translated “visited,” which is open to many interpretations. It means that God intervened in the life of the Israelites to bless them with the fulfillment of the promises. It says more than that he took notice of them, took pity on them, or remembered them. He had not yet fulfilled the promises, but he had begun to act by calling Moses and Aaron. The translation “attended to” attempts to capture that much.

[4:31]  ³ tn The verb וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ (vayyishtakhavu) is usually rendered “worshiped.” More specifically, the verbal root חָוָה (khava) in the hishtaphel stem means “to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” While there is nothing wrong with giving it a general translation of “worship,” it may be better in a passage like this to take it in conjunction with the other verb (“bow”) as a verbal hendiadys, using it as an adverb to that verb. The implication is certainly that they prayed, or praised, and performed some other aspect of worship, but the text may just be describing it from their posture of worship. With this response, all the fears of Moses are swept aside – they believed and they were thankful to God.

[4:1]  ⁴ sn In chap. 3, the first part of this extensive call, Yahweh promises to deliver his people. At the hesitancy of Moses, God guarantees his presence will be with him, and that assures the success of the mission. But with chap. 4, the second half of the call, the tone changes sharply. Now Moses protests his inadequacies in view of the nature of the task. In many ways, these verses address the question, “Who is sufficient for these things?” There are three basic movements in the passage. The first nine verses tell how God gave Moses signs in case Israel did not believe him (4:1-9). The second section records how God dealt with the speech problem of Moses (4:10-12). And finally, the last section records God’s provision of a helper, someone who could talk well (4:13-17). See also J. E. Hamlin, “The Liberator’s Ordeal: A Study of Exodus 4:1-9,” Rhetorical Criticism [PTMS], 33-42.

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “and Moses answered and said.”

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Or “What if.” The use of הֵן (hen) is unusual here, introducing a conditional idea in the question without a following consequence clause (see Exod 8:22 HT [8:26 ET]; Jer 2:10; 2 Chr 7:13). The Greek has “if not” but adds the clause “what shall I say to them?”

[4:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “listen to my voice,” so as to respond positively.

[1:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “if looking you look.” The expression can refer, as here, to looking favorably upon another, in this case with compassion.

[1:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “handmaid.” The use of this term (translated two more times in this verse and once each in vv. 16, 17 simply as “servant” for stylistic reasons) is an expression of humility.

[1:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “seed of men.”

[1:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a razor will not go up upon his head.”

[16:12]  ¹² tn Heb “and he sent and brought him.”

[33:27]  ¹³ tc The verb יָשֹׁר (yashor) is unusual. The typical view is to change it to יָשִׁיר (yashir, “he sings”), but that may seem out of harmony with a confession. Dhorme suggests a root שׁוּר (shur, “to repeat”), but this is a doubtful root. J. Reider reads it יָשֵׁיר (yasher) and links it to an Arabic word “confesses” (ZAW 24 [1953]: 275).

[33:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to men.”

[33:27]  ¹⁵ tn The verb שָׁוָה (shavah) has the impersonal meaning here, “it has not been requited to me.” The meaning is that the sinner has not been treated in accordance with his deeds: “I was not punished according to what I deserved.”

[1:25]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Thus.”

[1:25]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in the days.”

[1:25]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “has looked on me” (an idiom for taking favorable notice of someone).

[1:25]  ¹⁹ sn Barrenness was often seen as a reproach or disgrace (Lev 20:20-21; Jer 22:30), but now at her late age (the exact age is never given in Luke’s account), God had miraculously removed it (see also Luke 1:7).

[1:25]  ²⁰ tn Grk “among men”; but the context clearly indicates a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") here.