Yeremia 3:4

3:4 Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father! ¹ 

You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.

Keluaran 4:22

4:22 You must say ²  to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says ³  the Lord, “Israel is my son, my firstborn, ⁴ 

Keluaran 4:2

4:2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” ⁵ 

1 Samuel 7:14

7:14 The cities that the Philistines had captured from Israel were returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. Israel also delivered their territory from the control ⁶  of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.

[3:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Have you not just now called out to me, ‘[you are] my father!’?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer.

[4:22]  ² tn The sequence of the instruction from God uses the perfect tense with vav (ו), following the preceding imperfects.

[4:22]  ³ tn The instantaneous use of the perfect tense fits well with the prophetic announcement of what Yahweh said or says. It shows that the words given to the prophet are still binding.

[4:22]  ⁴ sn The metaphor uses the word “son” in its connotation of a political dependent, as it was used in ancient documents to describe what was intended to be a loyal relationship with well-known privileges and responsibilities, like that between a good father and son. The word can mean a literal son, a descendant, a chosen king (and so, the Messiah), a disciple (in Proverbs), and here, a nation subject to God. If the people of Israel were God’s “son,” then they should serve him and not Pharaoh. Malachi reminds people that the Law said “a son honors his father,” and so God asked, “If I am a father, where is my honor?” (Mal 1:6).

[4:2]  ⁵ tn Or “rod” (KJV, ASV); NCV, CEV “walking stick”; NLT “shepherd’s staff.”

[4:2]  sn The staff appears here to be the shepherd’s staff that he was holding. It now will become the instrument with which Moses will do the mighty works, for it is the medium of the display of the divine power (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 27; also, L. Shalit, “How Moses Turned a Staff into a Snake and Back Again,” BAR 9 [1983]: 72-73).

[7:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “hand.”