7:30 “After 1 forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert 2 of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 3 7:31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached to investigate, there came the voice of the Lord, 7:32 ‘I am the God of your forefathers, 4 the God of Abraham, Isaac, 5 and Jacob.’ 6 Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely. 7 7:33 But the Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 8
1 tn Grk “And after.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and contemporary English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
2 tn Or “wilderness.”
3 sn An allusion to Exod 3:2.
4 tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”
5 tn Grk “and Isaac,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
6 sn A quotation from Exod 3:6. The phrase suggests the God of promise, the God of the nation.
7 tn Or “to investigate,” “to contemplate” (BDAG 522 s.v. κατανοέω 2).
8 sn A quotation from Exod 3:5. The phrase holy ground points to the fact that God is not limited to a particular locale. The place where he is active in revealing himself is a holy place.