Discovery Box| (0.35) | (Exo 20:20) | 1 tn נַסּוֹת (nassot) is the Piel infinitive construct; it forms the purpose of God’s coming with all the accompanying phenomena. The verb can mean “to try, test, prove.” The sense of “prove” fits this context best because the terrifying phenomena were intended to put the fear of God in their hearts so that they would obey. In other words, God was inspiring them to obey, not simply testing to see if they would. |
| (0.35) | (Exo 14:17) | 3 tn For the comments on this verb see the discussion in v. 4. God would get glory by defeating Egypt. |
| (0.35) | (Exo 8:19) | 2 tn The word “finger” is a bold anthropomorphism (a figure of speech in which God is described using human characteristics). |
| (0.35) | (Exo 8:15) | 3 sn The end of the plague revealed clearly God’s absolute control over Egypt’s life and deities—all at the power of the man who prayed to God. Yahweh had made life unpleasant for the people by sending the plague, but he was also the one who could remove it. The only recourse anyone has in such trouble is to pray to the sovereign Lord God. Everyone should know that there is no one like Yahweh. |
| (0.35) | (Exo 5:22) | 4 sn Moses’ question is rhetorical; the point is more of a complaint or accusation to God, although there is in it the desire to know why. B. Jacob (Exodus, 139) comments that such frank words were a sign of the man’s closeness to God. God never has objected to such bold complaints by the devout. He then notes how God was angered by his defenders in the book of Job rather than by Job’s heated accusations. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 50:20) | 2 tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.” |
| (0.35) | (Gen 48:3) | 1 tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “Sovereign God” in Gen 17:1. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 43:14) | 1 tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “Sovereign God” in Gen 17:1. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 42:28) | 3 tn Heb “What is this God has done to us?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 33:10) | 4 tn Heb “for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me.” |
| (0.35) | (Gen 32:30) | 4 sn I have seen God face-to-face. See the note on the name “Peniel” earlier in the verse. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 32:2) | 2 sn The name Mahanaim apparently means “two camps.” Perhaps the two camps were those of God and of Jacob. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 28:3) | 1 tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 21:17) | 3 sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 9:27) | 1 tn Heb “may God enlarge Japheth.” The words “territory and numbers” are supplied in the translation for clarity. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 3:11) | 1 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (the Lord God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. |
| (0.35) | (Gen 3:5) | 3 sn You will be like God, knowing good and evil. The serpent raises doubts about the integrity of God. He implies that the only reason for the prohibition was that God was protecting the divine domain. If the man and woman were to eat, they would enter into that domain. The temptation is to overstep divinely established boundaries. (See D. E. Gowan, When Man Becomes God [PTMS], 25.) |
| (0.35) | (Gen 1:7) | 2 tn This statement indicates that it happened the way God designed it, underscoring the connection between word and event. |
| (0.35) | (1Jo 4:20) | 5 sn In 4:20 the author again describes the opponents, who claim to love God. Their failure to show love for their fellow Christians proves their claim to know God to be false: The one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. |
| (0.35) | (1Jo 4:12) | 3 tn The phrase “his [God’s] love is perfected (τετελειωμένη ἐστίν, teteleiōmenē estin) in us” in 4:12 is difficult. First it is necessary to decide whether αὐτοῦ (autou), which refers to God, is (1) subjective (God’s love for us) or (2) objective (our love for God). It is clear that a subjective genitive, stressing God’s love for us, is in view here because the immediate context, 4:11a, has believers as the objects of God’s love (ὁ θεὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, ho theos ēgapēsen hēmas). The entire phrase ἡ ἀγάπη αὐτοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν τετελειωμένη ἐστίν (hē agapē autou en hēmin teteleiōmenē estin) then refers to what happens when believers love one another (note the protasis of the conditional sentence in 4:12, ἐάν ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους [ean agapōmen allēlous]). The love that comes from God, the love that he has for us, reaches perfection in our love for others, which is what God wants and what believers are commanded to do (see 3:23b). |
