Keluaran 4:30

4:30 Aaron spoke ¹  all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people,

Bilangan 23:5

23:5 Then the Lord put a message ²  in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.” ³ 

Bilangan 23:12

23:12 Balaam replied, ⁴  “Must I not be careful ⁵  to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?” ⁶ 

Bilangan 23:16

23:16 Then the Lord met Balaam and put a message ⁷  in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.”

Ulangan 18:18

18:18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command.

Yosua 1:8

1:8 This law scroll must not leave your lips! ⁸  You must memorize it ⁹  day and night so you can carefully obey ¹⁰  all that is written in it. Then you will prosper ¹¹  and be successful. ¹² 

Yesaya 51:16

Zion’s Time to Celebrate

51:16 I commission you ¹³  as my spokesman; ¹⁴ 

I cover you with the palm of my hand, ¹⁵ 

to establish ¹⁶  the sky and to found the earth,

to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” ¹⁷ 

[4:30]  ¹ tn Heb “And Aaron spoke.”

[23:5]  ² tn Heb “word.”

[23:5]  ³ tn Heb “and thus you shall speak.”

[23:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “he answered and said.” The referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:12]  ⁵ tn The verb שָׁמַר (shamar) means “to guard, watch, observe” and so here with a sense of “be careful” or even “take heed” (so KJV, ASV). The nuance of the imperfect tense would be obligatory: “I must be careful” – to do what? to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth. The infinitive construct “to speak” is therefore serving as the direct object of שָׁמַר.

[23:12]  ⁶ tn The clause is a noun clause serving as the direct object of “to speak.” It begins with the sign of the accusative, and then the relative pronoun that indicates the whole clause is the accusative.

[23:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “word.”

[1:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “mouth.”

[1:8]  sn This law scroll must not leave your lips. The ancient practice of reading aloud to oneself as an aid to memorization is in view here.

[1:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “read it in undertones,” or “recite it quietly” (see HALOT 1:237).

[1:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “be careful to do.”

[1:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you will make your way prosperous.”

[1:8]  ¹² tn Heb “and be wise,” but the word can mean “be successful” by metonymy.

[51:16]  ¹³ tn The addressee (second masculine singular, as in vv. 13, 15) in this verse is unclear. The exiles are addressed in the immediately preceding verses (note the critical tone of vv. 12-13 and the reference to the exiles in v. 14). However, it seems unlikely that they are addressed in v. 16, for the addressee appears to be commissioned to tell Zion, who here represents the restored exiles, “you are my people.” The addressee is distinct from the exiles. The language of v. 16a is reminiscent of 49:2 and 50:4, where the Lord’s special servant says he is God’s spokesman and effective instrument. Perhaps the Lord, having spoken to the exiles in vv. 1-15, now responds to this servant, who spoke just prior to this in 50:4-11.

[51:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I place my words in your mouth.”

[51:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “with the shadow of my hand.”

[51:16]  ¹⁶ tc The Hebrew text has לִנְטֹעַ (lintoa’, “to plant”). Several scholars prefer to emend this form to לִנְטֹת (lintot) from נָטָה (natah, “to stretch out”); see v. 13, as well as 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV. However, since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, LXX (and Aquila and Symmachus), and Vulgate support the MT reading, there is no need to emend the form. The interpretation is clear enough: Yahweh fixed the sky in its place.

[51:16]  ¹⁷ tn The infinitives in v. 16b are most naturally understood as indicating the purpose of the divine actions described in v. 16a. The relationship of the third infinitive to the commission is clear enough – the Lord has made the addressee (his special servant?) his spokesman so that the latter might speak encouraging words to those in Zion. But how do the first two infinitives relate? The text seems to indicate that the Lord has commissioned the addressee so that the latter might create the universe! Perhaps creation imagery is employed metaphorically here to refer to the transformation that Jerusalem will experience (see 65:17-18).