Keluaran 23:25-26

23:25 You must serve ¹  the Lord your God, and he ²  will bless your bread and your water, ³  and I will remove sickness from your midst. 23:26 No woman will miscarry her young ⁴  or be barren in your land. I will fulfill ⁵  the number of your days.

Keluaran 23:2

23:2 “You must not follow a crowd ⁶  in doing evil things; ⁷  in a lawsuit you must not offer testimony that agrees with a crowd so as to pervert justice, ⁸ 

1 Raja-raja 20:5

20:5 The messengers came again and said, “This is what Ben Hadad says, ‘I sent this message to you, “You must give me your silver, gold, wives, and sons.”

Mazmur 25:11

25:11 For the sake of your reputation, ⁹  O Lord,

forgive my sin, because it is great. ¹⁰ 

[23:25]  ¹ tn The perfect tense, masculine plural, with vav (ו) consecutive is in sequence with the preceding: do not bow down to them, but serve Yahweh. It is then the equivalent of an imperfect of instruction or injunction.

[23:25]  ² tn The LXX reads “and I will bless” to make the verb conform with the speaker, Yahweh.

[23:25]  ³ sn On this unusual clause B. Jacob says that it is the reversal of the curse in Genesis, because the “bread and water” represent the field work and ground suitability for abundant blessing of provisions (Exodus, 734).

[23:26]  ⁴ tn Or “abort”; Heb “cast.”

[23:26]  ⁵ sn No one will die prematurely; this applies to the individual or the nation. The plan of God to bless was extensive, if only the people would obey.

[23:2]  ⁶ tn The word רָבִּים (rabbim), here rendered “crowd,” is also used infrequently to refer to the “mighty,” people of importance in society (Job 35:9; cf. Lev 19:15).

[23:2]  ⁷ tn For any individual to join a group that is bent on acting wickedly would be a violation of the Law and would incur personal responsibility.

[23:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “you will not answer in a lawsuit to turn after the crowd to turn.” The form translated “agrees with” (Heb “to turn after”) is a Qal infinitive construct from נָטָה (natah); the same root is used at the end of the verse but as a Hiphil infinitive construct, “to pervert [justice].”

[25:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “name.” By forgiving the sinful psalmist, the Lord’s reputation as a merciful God will be enhanced.

[25:11]  ¹⁰ sn Forgive my sin, because it is great. The psalmist readily admits his desperate need for forgiveness.