Imamat 26:44

26:44 In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.

Imamat 26:1

Exhortation to Obedience

26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, ¹  so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before ²  it, for I am the Lord your God.

1 Samuel 12:22

12:22 The Lord will not abandon his people because he wants to uphold his great reputation. ³  The Lord was pleased to make you his own people.

Mazmur 94:14

94:14 Certainly ⁴  the Lord does not forsake his people;

he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him. ⁵ 

Yeremia 31:37

31:37 The Lord says, “I will not reject all the descendants of Israel

because of all that they have done. ⁶ 

That could only happen if the heavens above could be measured

or the foundations of the earth below could all be explored,” ⁷ 

says the Lord. ⁸ 

[26:1]  ¹ sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”

[26:1]  ² tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).

[12:22]  ³ tn Heb “on account of his great name.”

[94:14]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[94:14]  ⁵ tn Or “his inheritance.”

[31:37]  ⁶ sn This answers Jeremiah’s question in 14:19.

[31:37]  ⁷ tn Heb “If the heavens above could be measured or the foundations of the earth below be explored, then also I could reject all the seed of Israel for all they have done.”

[31:37]  ⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”