Mazmur 74:19

74:19 Do not hand the life of your dove ¹  over to a wild animal!

Do not continue to disregard ²  the lives of your oppressed people!

Mazmur 74:23

74:23 Do not disregard ³  what your enemies say, ⁴ 

or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you. ⁵ 

Keluaran 2:23-24

The Call of the Deliverer

2:23 ⁶ During ⁷  that long period of time ⁸  the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites ⁹  groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry ¹⁰  because of their slave labor went up to God. 2:24 God heard their groaning, ¹¹  God remembered ¹²  his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob,

Yesaya 40:27-28

40:27 Why do you say, Jacob,

Why do you say, Israel,

“The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me, ¹³ 

My God is not concerned with my vindication”? ¹⁴ 

40:28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is an eternal God,

the creator of the whole earth. ¹⁵ 

He does not get tired or weary;

there is no limit to his wisdom. ¹⁶ 

Wahyu 6:9-10

6:9 Now ¹⁷  when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed ¹⁸  because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given. 6:10 They ¹⁹  cried out with a loud voice, ²⁰  “How long, ²¹  Sovereign Master, ²²  holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

[74:19]  ¹ sn Your dove. The psalmist compares weak and vulnerable Israel to a helpless dove.

[74:19]  ² tn Heb “do not forget forever.”

[74:23]  ³ tn Or “forget.”

[74:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “the voice of your enemies.”

[74:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “the roar of those who rise up against you, which ascends continually.”

[2:23]  ⁶ sn The next section of the book is often referred to as the “Call of Moses,” and that is certainly true. But it is much more than that. It is the divine preparation of the servant of God, a servant who already knew what his destiny was. In this section Moses is shown how his destiny will be accomplished. It will be accomplished because the divine presence will guarantee the power, and the promise of that presence comes with the important “I AM” revelation. The message that comes through in this, and other “I will be with you” passages, is that when the promise of God’s presence is correctly appropriated by faith, the servant of God can begin to build confidence for the task that lies ahead. It will no longer be, “Who am I that I should go?” but “I AM with you” that matters. The first little section, 2:23-25, serves as a transition and introduction, for it records the Lord’s response to Israel in her affliction. The second part is the revelation to Moses at the burning bush (3:1-10), which is one of the most significant theological sections in the Torah. Finally, the record of Moses’ response to the call with his objections (3:11-22), makes up the third part, and in a way, is a transition to the next section, where God supplies proof of his power.

[2:23]  ⁷ tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator “And it was” (cf. KJV, ASV “And it came to pass”). This has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[2:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “in those many days.”

[2:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[2:23]  ¹⁰ tn “They cried out” is from זָעַק (za’aq), and “desperate cry” is from שַׁוְעָה (shava’h).

[2:24]  ¹¹ sn The word for this painfully intense “groaning” appears elsewhere to describe a response to having two broken arms (Ezek 30:24).

[2:24]  ¹² sn The two verbs “heard” and “remembered,” both preterites, say far more than they seem to say. The verb שָׁמַע (shama’, “to hear”) ordinarily includes responding to what is heard. It can even be found in idiomatic constructions meaning “to obey.” To say God heard their complaint means that God responded to it. Likewise, the verb זָכַר (zakhar, “to remember”) means to begin to act on the basis of what is remembered. A prayer to God that says, “Remember me,” is asking for more than mere recollection (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], 1-8). The structure of this section at the end of the chapter is powerful. There are four descriptions of the Israelites, with a fourfold reaction from God. On the Israelites’ side, they groaned (אָנַח [’anakh], נְאָקָה [nÿ’aqah]) and cried out (זָעַק [za’aq], שַׁוְעָה [shav’ah]) to God. On the divine side God heard (שָׁמָע, shama’) their groaning, remembered (זָכַר, zakhar) his covenant, looked (רָאָה, ra’ah) at the Israelites, and took notice (יָדַע, yada’) of them. These verbs emphasize God’s sympathy and compassion for the people. God is near to those in need; in fact, the deliverer had already been chosen. It is important to note at this point the repetition of the word “God.” The text is waiting to introduce the name “Yahweh” in a special way. Meanwhile, the fourfold repetition of “God” in vv. 24-25 is unusual and draws attention to the statements about his attention to Israel’s plight.

[40:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “my way is hidden from the Lord” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and from my God my justice passes away”; NRSV “my right is disregarded by my God.”

[40:28]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

[40:28]  ¹⁶ sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor is his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).

[6:9]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of a new and somewhat different topic after the introduction of the four riders.

[6:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “murdered.” See the note on the word “butcher” in 6:4.

[6:10]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:10]  ²⁰ tn Grk “voice, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[6:10]  ²¹ tn The expression ἕως πότε (ews pote) was translated “how long.” Cf. BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.γ.

[6:10]  ²² tn The Greek term here is δεσπότης (despoths; see L&N 37.63).