David’s Forgiveness, Part 3

The Social Construction of Reality helped me understand my own life in a new way.  I didn’t take my Dad’s advice to avoid or watch out for women too much to heart.  Though, now that I think about it, I’ve never had sex without the benefit of some form of birth control.  I did, however, deeply internalize my uselessness and meaninglessness.  And I learned even better than I knew that I was the cause of my Dad’s problems.  They were my fault.

Now before I go too far with this I need to say that my Dad was not a son of his father’s youth but of his old age.  My Dad’s father died when my Dad was eight, leaving the family destitute and my Dad fearful for his own welfare and survival.  In other words, while I might fault my father for who or what he was, my father’s father for all practical purposes was not.

My father provided well enough for my survival and welfare that I grew up taking it and him for granted.  And to be fair to him, the other legacy he bequeathed me was his constant admonition from Proverbs 4:7 (KJV; Addendum below): Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.  There are times, admittedly, when I look at myself with dismay as little more than a program carrying out my father’s command.  But considering the relationship with my father in this multigenerational-social-construction-of-reality way made it fairly obvious to me that there are many ways to make a son less than a blessing, ways that fall far short of taking that son’s life.  So I discarded that reason for the death of David’s first son with Bathsheba.

Another thought occurred to me: maybe the Lord Jesus didn’t want the child of an adulterous affair and a murderous cover-up to become king of Israel.  But Jephthah—one of the Judges—was the son of an adulterous affair between Gilead and a prostitute, and The Lord’s spirit empowered Jephthah.1

I’ve covered Jephthah pretty thoroughly elsewhere and won’t do it again here, except to comment on the reality that was socially constructed for Jephthah’s daughter by her father and other adults around her.  They apparently wholeheartedly believed the Lord’s command, If a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath of binding obligation on himself, he must not break his word, but must do whatever he has promised.2  Jephthah’s daughter’s response when she learned of her father’s oath, and who was to be the victim, indicated that she knew and believed this command, too.  My father, she said, since you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised.  After all, the Lord vindicated you before your enemies, the Ammonites.3

Nothing I believe or think or feel about Jephthah can or should taint my admiration for this girl’s childlike faith.  It is as stunning today as it was to Jephthah’s contemporaries.  She only asked for two months reprieve that she might mourn her virginity with her friends.  Jephthah granted her request.

Perhaps he hoped she would flee.  He would never see her again.  She would be as good as dead to him, but she would live.  But she, like her father, was true to her word and returned after two months as she promised.

Perhaps he hoped for a pardon as he prepared the sacrifice.  The Lord Jesus had commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and then at the last moment provided a substitute for the boy.  No angel came to stay Jephthah’s hand.  No substitute was provided.  Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, his only child.  Even after the fact the Lord Jesus remained silent.  No prophets came, no dreams, no word from the Lord.  Every year Israelite women commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.4

Since the Lord was silent, what social reality could the Israelites of Jephthah’s day construct except that Jephthah was an honorable and righteous man, fulfilling his vow to the Lord, no matter the cost?  After all, Jesus told his disciples, whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.5  It was many years after Jephthah’s time in the Proverbs of Solomon that I see the first glimmer of a subtle hint: It is a snare for a person to rashly cry, “Holy!” and only afterward to consider what he has vowed.6  To declare something “Holy” was equivalent to vowing it to the Lord.  This proverb may have had Jephthah in view.  Even so, it said little more than to consider your vows carefully or you may end up like Jephthah, sacrificing your daughter for righteousness’ sake.

It was many years after that, when the Israelites were sacrificing their children to Baal, the Lord Jesus finally spoke to the prophet Jeremiah and said: Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!7  The first time I understood this passage, I thought it was the most disingenuous thing I had ever heard.  Actually, I went ballistic, “What did you expect them to think?!” I shrieked with that tone in my voice that said, “what, are you stupid or something?”

If you ever hear that I was struck by lightning, you’ll know why, though subsequent years of daily infusion of spiritual fruit8 have tempered my temper some, especially with the Lord.  And beginning to recognize the religious mind as a human phenomena as opposed to a divine one, that God is always reaching out to communicate to us through this ungodly barrier, hasn’t hurt.  Let’s face it, historically speaking God was late to the game with both a law and a religion.  There is no indication in Genesis that Cain’s (or Abel’s) offering was God’s idea.

At the designated time Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground for an offering to the Lord.9  It was either Cain’s idea or if the phrase And it happened at the end of days actually carries the meaning At the designated time that the translators of the NET have assigned it, it was Adam’s idea.  The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased.  So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast.10  His religion and his worship were unacceptable, but his younger brother’s religion and worship was?  I am an older brother, believe me, I feel Cain’s anger and dejection.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast?  Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door.  It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.”11  My mom tells a story about a time when I was angry with the boy next door.  She tried to soothe my anger with counsel about Jesus and turning the other cheek.  Apparently, I didn’t get the message any better than Cain did.  I left the house, saying, “I’ll make him turn the other cheek.”  Cain subdued his brother Abel by killing him.  I don’t recall what I did to the boy next door.  I know he survived it.

What have you done? The Lord said to Cain.  The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!  So now, you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you.  You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.12  Cain said, My punishment is too great to endure!13

For a long time I believed Cain.  But as I look back now this banishment from his occupation as a tiller of the field sounds more like the events that became David’s life after the Lord forgave his sin.  Cain’s punishment would have been his death.  Now scripture rolls and boils and tumbles in my mind:  before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law.14

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.15

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.16  He was not slow to establish a law of specific commandments and punishments, or a religion of specific rites and obligations.  He was positively resistant to the idea.  He chose to drown all but eight human beings and start over rather than establish a law or a religion.  I can only assume that He relented when it proved to be the only way to communicate to and through the ungodliness of human religious minds.  Even as He gave the law and founded the Hebrew religion He resisted it, saying defiantly to Moses, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.17

But that was all in my future the first time I understood Him to say, such a thing never even entered my mind!18  “All this started when you told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac,” I continued my rant.  “It culminates with God the Father sacrificing his only begotten Son, and somewhere in the middle of it all is Jephthah.  It never entered your mind that desperate people might think this was a good way to get your attention?”

I calmed down eventually and felt bad.  But I didn’t have some wonderful intuitive answer.  For me at the time it was a matter of brute faith.  I had to force myself to give the Lord Jesus the benefit of the doubt and simply believe that He is self-aware enough to determine the boundary between his thoughts and ours, to distinguish between his intent and his foreknowledge of our misunderstanding of that intent, and that He speaks sincerely and without guile.

Finally, with his feet firmly planted on earth, Jesus gave a definitive answer to Jephthah, to Israel and to me in the Sermon on the Mount: Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, “Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.”  But I say to you, do not take oaths at all….Let your word be “Yes, yes” or “No, no.”  More than this is from the evil one.19  The NIV translated this verse:  “Simply, let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

Now if I ask, Why would Jesus consider Jephthah’s oath from the evil one? the answer seems fairly obvious.  If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, Jephthah vowed to the Lord, then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he will belong to the Lord and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.20  I’m going to give Jephthah the benefit of the doubt that he intended to offer a goat to bribe God to help him defeat the Ammonites, and he was willing to let God choose which, or any, or all, of his goats.  I think the translators of the NET have deliberately made Jephthah’s oath even more from the evil one.21

But imagine with me for a moment that Jephthah intended to bribe God with any or all of his goats.  God could have brought any goat, or as many goats as He wanted, out to meet Jephthah on his triumphant return.  But God didn’t bring any goats to meet Jephthah.  God wasn’t satisfied with goats as a bribe.  God wanted Jephthah’s daughter, his only child.  What was Jephthah to do?  Certainly God deserves to be bribed with something better than goats.

Jephthah acted on a kind of faith.  It would have been very difficult for him to see that the bribe, the oath, was the evil, and the thing that Jephthah should have repented.  To paraphrase Paul, I can testify that Jephthah was zealous for God, but his zeal was not in line with the truth.  For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish his own righteousness, he did not submit to God’s righteousness.22  But Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Paul’s letter to the Romans were not part of Jephthah’s socially constructed reality.  Why not? I began to wonder.

Why were You silent for so long? I asked the Lord.

 

Addendum: June 21, 2020
When I discovered that Proverbs 4:7 wasn’t in the Septuagint my first thought was, “Well, that figures!”  I talked with my brother about it.  He thought it was somewhere else but couldn’t find it.  I read all of Proverbs in English translation of the Elpenor Septuagint and didn’t recognize it in any other chapter.  I also did a search of the Greek words I imagined might underlie the English translation and didn’t discover it in Proverbs.  I haven’t searched every book in the Septuagint.

I don’t know for certain what Dad actually meant when he quoted it.  He suffered a stroke and couldn’t speak or write before it ever occurred to me to ask.  I had assumed that wisdom and understanding were science and engineering.  He idolized electrical engineers.  I had also assumed that he didn’t mean the Bible, especially my mother’s interpretation of it.  At least, the Bible wasn’t where I sought wisdom or understanding as a child.  Proverbs 2:1-12 is a fairly accurate description how I understand the disputable Proverbs 4:7 as I run its programming today.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Proverbs 2:1-12 (Tanakh) Proverbs 2:1-12 (NET) Proverbs 2:1-12 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:1-12 (English Elpenor)

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; My son, if, when you accept the saying of my commandment, you hide it with yourself, [My] son, if thou wilt receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with thee;
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; by making your ear attentive to wisdom, and by turning your heart to understanding, your ear will be attentive to wisdom, and you shall incline your heart to understanding; yes, you shall incline it to the admonition of your son. thine ear shall hearken to wisdom; thou shalt also apply thine heart to understanding, and shalt apply it to the instruction of thy son.
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; indeed, if you call out for discernment—shout loudly for understanding— For if you call upon wisdom and raise your voice for understanding, as well as seek perception with a loud voice, For it thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding; (τὴν δὲ αἴσθησιν ζητήσῃς μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ was not translated into English.)
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; if you seek it like silver, and search for it like hidden treasure, and if you seek it like silver and search for it like treasures, and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. then you will understand how to fear the Lord, and you will discover knowledge about God. then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will find divine knowledge. then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. Because the Lord gives wisdom, also from his presence come knowledge and understanding, For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence [come] knowledge and understanding,
He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He stores up effective counsel for the upright, and is like a shield for those who live with integrity, and he stores up salvation for those who succeed; he will shield their journey and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way;
He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. to guard the paths of the righteous and to protect the way of his pious ones. to guard the ways of righteous deeds, and he will protect the way of the ones who revere him. that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity—every good way. Then you will understand righteousness and judgment, and you will make all good courses straight. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment; and shalt direct all thy course aright.
When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; For wisdom will enter your heart, and moral knowledge will be attractive to you. For if wisdom comes into your mind and perception seems pleasing to your soul, For if wisdom shall come into thine understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to thy soul,
Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: Discretion will protect you, understanding will guard you, good counsel will guard you, and holy insight will protect you good counsel shall guard thee, and holy understanding shall keep thee;

Tables comparing Proverbs 4:7; 2:1; 2:2; 2:3; 2:4; 2:5; 2:6; 2:7; 2:8; 2:9, 2:10; 2:11; 2:12; Judges 11:29; Numbers 30:2 (30:3); Judges 11:36; 11:40; Proverbs 20:25; Jeremiah 19:5; Genesis 4:3; 4:4; 4:5; 4:6; 4:7; 4:10; 4:11; 4:12; 4:13; Judges 11:30 and 11:31 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing Proverbs 4:7; 2:1; 2:2; 2:3; 2:4; 2:5; 2:6; 2:7; 2:8; 2:9; 2:10; 2:11; 2:12; Judges 11:29; Numbers 30:2 (30:3); Judges 11:36; 11:40; Proverbs 20:25; Jeremiah 19:5; Genesis 4:3; 4:4; 4:5; 4:6; 4:7; 4:10; 4:11; 4:12; 4:13; Judges 11:30 and 11:31 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Proverbs 4:7 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 4:7 (KJV)

Proverbs 4:7 (NET)

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Wisdom is supreme—so acquire wisdom, and whatever you acquire, acquire understanding!

Proverbs 4:7 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 4:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)

N/A N/A

Proverbs 4:7 (NETS)

Proverbs 4:7 (English Elpenor)

N/A N/A

Proverbs 2:1 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:1 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:1 (NET)

My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; My child, if you receive my words, and store up my commands inside yourself,

Proverbs 2:1 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)

υἱέ ἐὰν δεξάμενος ῥῆσιν ἐμῆς ἐντολῆς κρύψῃς παρὰ σεαυτῷ ΥΙΕ, ἐὰν δεξάμενος ῥῆσιν ἐμῆς ἐντολῆς κρύψῃς παρὰ σεαυτῷ

Proverbs 2:1 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:1 (English Elpenor)

My son, if, when you accept the saying of my commandment, you hide it with yourself, [My] son, if thou wilt receive the utterance of my commandment, and hide it with thee;

Proverbs 2:2 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:2 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:2 (NET)

So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; by making your ear attentive to wisdom, and by turning your heart to understanding,

Proverbs 2:2 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ὑπακούσεται σοφίας τὸ οὖς σου καὶ παραβαλεῗς καρδίαν σου εἰς σύνεσιν παραβαλεῗς δὲ αὐτὴν ἐπὶ νουθέτησιν τῷ υἱῷ σου ὑπακούσεται σοφία τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ παραβαλεῖς καρδίαν σου εἰς σύνεσιν, παραβαλεῖς δὲ αὐτὴν ἐπὶ νουθέτησιν τῷ υἱῷ σου

Proverbs 2:2 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:2 (English Elpenor)

your ear will be attentive to wisdom, and you shall incline your heart to understanding; yes, you shall incline it to the admonition of your son. thine ear shall hearken to wisdom; thou shalt also apply thine heart to understanding, and shalt apply it to the instruction of thy son.

Proverbs 2:3 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:3 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:3 (NET)

Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; indeed, if you call out for discernment—shout loudly for understanding—

Proverbs 2:3 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐὰν γὰρ τὴν σοφίαν ἐπικαλέσῃ καὶ τῇ συνέσει δῷς φωνήν σου τὴν δὲ αἴσθησιν ζητήσῃς μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ ἐὰν γὰρ τὴν σοφίαν ἐπικαλέσῃ καὶ τῇ συνέσει δῷς φωνήν σου, τὴν δὲ αἴσθησιν ζητήσῃς μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ

Proverbs 2:3 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:3 (English Elpenor)

For if you call upon wisdom and raise your voice for understanding, as well as seek perception with a loud voice, For it thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding;

Proverbs 2:4 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:4 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:4 (NET)

If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; if you seek it like silver, and search for it like hidden treasure,

Proverbs 2:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐὰν ζητήσῃς αὐτὴν ὡς ἀργύριον καὶ ὡς θησαυροὺς ἐξερευνήσῃς αὐτήν καὶ ἐὰν ζητήσῃς αὐτὴν ὡς ἀργύριον καὶ ὡς θησαυροὺς ἐξερευνήσῃς αὐτήν

Proverbs 2:4 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:4 (English Elpenor)

and if you seek it like silver and search for it like treasures, and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures;

Proverbs 2:5 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:5 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:5 (NET)

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. then you will understand how to fear the Lord, and you will discover knowledge about God.

Proverbs 2:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)

τότε συνήσεις φόβον κυρίου καὶ ἐπίγνωσιν θεοῦ εὑρήσεις τότε συνήσεις φόβον Κυρίου καὶ ἐπίγνωσιν Θεοῦ εὑρήσεις

Proverbs 2:5 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:5 (English Elpenor)

then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will find divine knowledge. then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 2:6 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:6 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:6 (NET)

For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ὅτι κύριος δίδωσιν σοφίαν καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ γνῶσις καὶ σύνεσις ὅτι Κύριος δίδωσι σοφίαν, καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ γνῶσις καὶ σύνεσις

Proverbs 2:6 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:6 (English Elpenor)

Because the Lord gives wisdom, also from his presence come knowledge and understanding, For the Lord gives wisdom; and from his presence [come] knowledge and understanding,

Proverbs 2:7 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:7 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:7 (NET)

He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He stores up effective counsel for the upright, and is like a shield for those who live with integrity,

Proverbs 2:7 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ θησαυρίζει τοῗς κατορθοῦσι σωτηρίαν ὑπερασπιεῗ τὴν πορείαν αὐτῶν καὶ θησαυρίζει τοῖς κατορθοῦσι σωτηρίαν, ὑπερασπιεῖ τὴν πορείαν αὐτῶν

Proverbs 2:7 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:7 (English Elpenor)

and he stores up salvation for those who succeed; he will shield their journey and he treasures up salvation for them that walk uprightly: he will protect their way;

Proverbs 2:8 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:8 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:8 (NET)

He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. to guard the paths of the righteous and to protect the way of his pious ones.

Proverbs 2:8 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)

τοῦ φυλάξαι ὁδοὺς δικαιωμάτων καὶ ὁδὸν εὐλαβουμένων αὐτὸν διαφυλάξει τοῦ φυλάξαι ὁδοὺς δικαιωμάτων καὶ ὁδὸν εὐλαβουμένων αὐτὸν διαφυλάξει

Proverbs 2:8 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:8 (English Elpenor)

to guard the ways of righteous deeds, and he will protect the way of the ones who revere him. that he may guard the righteous ways: and he will preserve the way of them that fear him.

Proverbs 2:9 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:9 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:9 (NET)

Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity—every good way.

Proverbs 2:9 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)

τότε συνήσεις δικαιοσύνην καὶ κρίμα καὶ κατορθώσεις πάντας ἄξονας ἀγαθούς τότε συνήσεις δικαιοσύνην καὶ κρίμα καὶ κατορθώσεις πάντας ἄξονας ἀγαθούς

Proverbs 2:9 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:9 (English Elpenor)

Then you will understand righteousness and judgment, and you will make all good courses straight. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment; and shalt direct all thy course aright.

Proverbs 2:10 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:10 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:10 (NET)

When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul; For wisdom will enter your heart, and moral knowledge will be attractive to you.

Proverbs 2:10 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐὰν γὰρ ἔλθῃ ἡ σοφία εἰς σὴν διάνοιαν ἡ δὲ αἴσθησις τῇ σῇ ψυχῇ καλὴ εἶναι δόξῃ ἐὰν γὰρ ἔλθῃ ἡ σοφία εἰς σὴν διάνοιαν, ἡ δὲ αἴσθησις τῇ σῇ ψυχῇ καλὴ εἶναι δόξῃ

Proverbs 2:10 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:10 (English Elpenor)

For if wisdom comes into your mind and perception seems pleasing to your soul, For if wisdom shall come into thine understanding, and discernment shall seem pleasing to thy soul,

Proverbs 2:11 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:11 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:11 (NET)

Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: Discretion will protect you, understanding will guard you,

Proverbs 2:11 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)

βουλὴ καλὴ φυλάξει σε ἔννοια δὲ ὁσία τηρήσει σε βουλὴ καλὴ φυλάξει σε, ἔννοια δὲ ὁσία τηρήσει σε

Proverbs 2:11 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:11 (English Elpenor)

good counsel will guard you, and holy insight will protect you good counsel shall guard thee, and holy understanding shall keep thee;

Proverbs 2:12 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 2:12 (KJV)

Proverbs 2:12 (NET)

To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; to deliver you from the way of the wicked, from those speaking perversity,

Proverbs 2:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 2:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἵνα ῥύσηταί σε ἀπὸ ὁδοῦ κακῆς καὶ ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς λαλοῦντος μηδὲν πιστόν ἵνα ρύσηταί σε ἀπὸ ὁδοῦ κακῆς καὶ ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς λαλοῦντος μηδὲν πιστόν

Proverbs 2:12 (NETS)

Proverbs 2:12 (English Elpenor)

in order that it can rescue you from an evil way and from a man who speaks nothing reliable. to deliver thee from the evil way, and from the man that speaks nothing faithfully.

Judges 11:29 (Tanakh)

Judges 11:29 (KJV)

Judges 11:29 (NET)

Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. The Lord’s Spirit empowered Jephthah.  He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites.

Judges 11:29 (Septuagint BLB)

Judges 11:29 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐγενήθη ἐπὶ Ιεφθαε πνεῦμα κυρίου καὶ διέβη τὴν γῆν Γαλααδ καὶ τὸν Μανασση καὶ διέβη τὴν σκοπιὰν Γαλααδ καὶ ἀπὸ σκοπιᾶς Γαλααδ εἰς τὸ πέραν υἱῶν Αμμων Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐπὶ ᾿Ιεφθάε πνεῦμα Κυρίου, καὶ παρῆλθε τὸν Γαλαὰδ καὶ τὸν Μανασσῆ καὶ παρῆλθε τὴν σκοπιὰν Γαλαὰδ εἰς τὸ πέραν υἱῶν ᾿Αμμών

Judges 11:29 (NETS)

Judges 11:29 (English Elpenor)

And a spirit of the Lord came upon Iephthae, and he passed through the land of Galaad and Manasses.  And he passed through the vantage point of Galaad and from the vantage point of Galaad to the other side of the sons of Ammon. And the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthae, and he passed over Galaad, and Manasse, and passed by the watch-tower of Galaad to the other side of the children of Ammon.

Numbers 30:3 (Tanakh)

Numbers 30:2 (KJV)

Numbers 30:2 (NET)

When a man voweth a vow unto HaShem, or sweareth an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. If a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath of binding obligation on himself, he must not break his word, but must do whatever he has promised.

Numbers 30:2 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 30:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἄνθρωπος ἄνθρωπος ὃς ἂν εὔξηται εὐχὴν κυρίῳ ἢ ὀμόσῃ ὅρκον ἢ ὁρίσηται ὁρισμῷ περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ οὐ βεβηλώσει τὸ ῥῆμα αὐτοῦ πάντα ὅσα ἐὰν ἐξέλθῃ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ποιήσει ἄνθρωπος ἄνθρωπος, ὃς ἂν εὔξηται εὐχὴν Κυρίῳ ἢ ὀμόσῃ ὅρκον ἢ ὁρίσηται ὁρισμῷ περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, οὐ βεβηλώσει τὸ ρῆμα αὐτοῦ· πάντα ὅσα ἂν ἐξέλθῃ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, ποιήσει

Numbers 30:3 (NETS)

Numbers 30:3 (English Elpenor)

Person by person—if he vows a vow to the Lord or swears an oath or determines for himself with determination about his soul, he shall not profane his word; everything that proceeds out of his mouth he shall do. Whatsoever man shall vow a vow to the Lord, or swear an oath, or bind himself with an obligation upon his soul, he shall not break his word; all that shall come out of his mouth he shall do.

Judges 11:36 (Tanakh)

Judges 11:36 (KJV)

Judges 11:36 (NET)

And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. She said to him, “My father, since you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised.  After all, the Lord vindicated you before your enemies, the Ammonites.”

Judges 11:36 (Septuagint BLB)

Judges 11:36 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν πάτερ μου εἰ ἐν ἐμοὶ ἤνοιξας τὸ στόμα σου πρὸς κύριον ποίει μοι ὃν τρόπον ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ στόματός σου ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἐποίησέν σοι κύριος ἐκδικήσεις ἐκ τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου ἐκ τῶν υἱῶν Αμμων δὲ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτόν· πάτερ, ἤνοιξας τὸ στόμα σου πρὸς Κύριον; ποίησόν μοι ὃν τρόπον ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ στόματός σου, ἐν τῷ ποιῆσαί σοι Κύριον ἐκδίκησιν τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου ἀπὸ τῶν υἱῶν ᾿Αμμών

Judges 11:36 (NETS)

Judges 11:36 (English Elpenor)

And she said to him, “My father, if against me you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me as it came out of your mouth, now that the Lord has exacted vengeance for you from your enemies, from the sons of Ammon.” And she said to him, Father, hast thou opened thy mouth to the Lord?  Do to me accordingly as [the word] went out of thy mouth, in that the Lord has wrought vengeance for thee on thine enemies of the children of Ammon.

Judges 11:40 (Tanakh)

Judges 11:40 (KJV)

Judges 11:40 (NET)

That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. Every year Israelite women commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days.

Judges 11:40 (Septuagint BLB)

Judges 11:40 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας συνεπορεύοντο αἱ θυγατέρες Ισραηλ θρηνεῗν τὴν θυγατέρα Ιεφθαε τοῦ Γαλααδίτου τέσσαρας ἡμέρας ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ ἀπὸ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας ἐπορεύοντο θυγατέρες ᾿Ισραὴλ θρηνεῖν τὴν θυγατέρα ᾿Ιεφθάε τοῦ Γαλααδίτου ἐπὶ τέσσαρας ἡμέρας ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ

Judges 11:40 (NETS)

Judges 11:40 (English Elpenor)

from days to days the daughters of Israel would go together to lament the daughter of Iephthae the Galaadite, four days in the year. and it was an ordinance in Israel, [That] the daughters of Israel went from year to year to bewail the daughter of Jephtha the Galaadite for four days in a year.

Proverbs 20:25 (Tanakh)

Proverbs 20:25 (KJV)

Proverbs 20:25 (NET)

It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry. It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry. It is a snare for a person to rashly cry, “Holy!” and only afterward to consider what he has vowed.

Proverbs 20:25 (Septuagint BLB)

Proverbs 20:25 (Septuagint Elpenor)

παγὶς ἀνδρὶ ταχύ τι τῶν ἰδίων ἁγιάσαι μετὰ γὰρ τὸ εὔξασθαι μετανοεῗν γίνεται παγὶς ἀνδρὶ ταχύ τι τῶν ἰδίων ἁγιάσαι, μετὰ γὰρ τὸ εὔξασθαι μετανοεῖν γίνεται

Proverbs 20:25 (NETS)

Proverbs 20:25 (English Elpenor)

Quickly to consecrate something of his own is a snare to a man, for after making a vow a change of mind can happen. It is a snare to a man hastily to consecrate some of his own property: for [in that case] repentance comes after vowing.

Jeremiah 19:5 (Tanakh)

Jeremiah 19:5 (KJV)

Jeremiah 19:5 (NET)

They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: They have built places here for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire.  Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make.  They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind.

Jeremiah 19:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Jeremiah 19:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ᾠκοδόμησαν ὑψηλὰ τῇ Βααλ τοῦ κατακαίειν τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν ἐν πυρί ἃ οὐκ ἐνετειλάμην οὐδὲ ἐλάλησα οὐδὲ διενοήθην ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου καὶ ᾠκοδόμησαν ὑψηλὰ τῇ Βάαλ τοῦ κατακαίειν τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν ἐν πυρί, ἃ οὐκ ἐνετειλάμην οὐδὲ διενοήθην ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου

Jeremiah 19:5 (NETS)

Jeremiah 19:5 (English Elpenor)

and built high places of the goddess Baal to burn their sons with fire, which things I did not command nor intended in my heart. and built high places for Baal, to burn their children in the fire, which things I commanded not, neither did I design [them] in my heart:

Genesis 4:3 (Tanakh)

Genesis 4:3 (KJV)

Genesis 4:3 (NET)

And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto HaShem. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. At the designated time Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground for an offering to the Lord.

Genesis 4:3 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 4:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐγένετο μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας ἤνεγκεν Καιν ἀπὸ τῶν καρπῶν τῆς γῆς θυσίαν τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ ἐγένετο μεθ᾿ ἡμέρας ἤνεγκε Κάϊν ἀπὸ τῶν καρπῶν τῆς γῆς θυσίαν τῷ Κυρίῳ,

Genesis 4:3 (NETS)

Genesis 4:3 (English Elpenor)

And it came about after some days that Kain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruits of the earth, And it was so after some time that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice to the Lord.

Genesis 4:4 (Tanakh)

Genesis 4:4 (KJV)

Genesis 4:4 (NET)

And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.  And HaShem had respect unto Abel and to his offering; And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But Abel brought some of the firstborn of his flock—even the fattest of them. And the Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering,

Genesis 4:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 4:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ Αβελ ἤνεγκεν καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τῶν πρωτοτόκων τῶν προβάτων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν στεάτων αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπεῗδεν ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ Αβελ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῗς δώροις αὐτοῦ καὶ Ἄβελ ἤνεγκε καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τῶν πρωτοτόκων τῶν προβάτων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν στεάτων αὐτῶν. καὶ ἐπεῖδεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ ῎Αβελ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς δώροις αὐτοῦ,

Genesis 4:4 (NETS)

Genesis 4:4 (English Elpenor)

And Habel, he also brought of the firstlings of his sheep and of their fat portions.  And God looked upon Habel and upon his gifts, And Abel also brought of the first born of his sheep and of his fatlings, and God looked upon Abel and his gifts,

Genesis 4:5 (Tanakh)

Genesis 4:5 (KJV)

Genesis 4:5 (NET)

but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect.  And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.  And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased.  So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast.

Genesis 4:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 4:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐπὶ δὲ Καιν καὶ ἐπὶ ταῗς θυσίαις αὐτοῦ οὐ προσέσχεν καὶ ἐλύπησεν τὸν Καιν λίαν καὶ συνέπεσεν τῷ προσώπῳ ἐπὶ δὲ Κάϊν καὶ ἐπὶ ταῖς θυσίαις αὐτοῦ οὐ προσέσχε. καὶ ἐλυπήθη Κάϊν λίαν, καὶ συνέπεσε τῷ προσώπῳ αὐτοῦ.

Genesis 4:5 (NETS)

Genesis 4:5 (English Elpenor)

but on Kain and on his offerings he was not intent.  And it distressed Kain exceedingly, and he collapsed in countenance. but Cain and his sacrifices he regarded not, and Cain was exceedingly sorrowful and his countenance fell.

Genesis 4:6 (Tanakh)

Genesis 4:6 (KJV)

Genesis 4:6 (NET)

And HaShem said unto Cain: ‘Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast?

Genesis 4:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 4:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῷ Καιν ἵνα τί περίλυπος ἐγένου καὶ ἵνα τί συνέπεσεν τὸ πρόσωπόν σου καὶ εἶπε Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Κάϊν· ἵνα τί περίλυπος ἐγένου, καὶ ἵνα τί συνέπεσε τὸ πρόσωπόν σου;

Genesis 4:6 (NETS)

Genesis 4:6 (English Elpenor)

And the Lord God said to Kain, “Why have you become deeply grieved, and why has your countenance collapsed? And the Lord God said to Cain, Why art thou become very sorrowful and why is thy countenance fallen?

Genesis 4:7 (Tanakh)

Genesis 4:7 (KJV)

Genesis 4:7 (NET)

If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee is its desire, but thou mayest rule over it.’ If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.  And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door.  It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.”

Genesis 4:7 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 4:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)

οὐκ ἐὰν ὀρθῶς προσενέγκῃς ὀρθῶς δὲ μὴ διέλῃς ἥμαρτες ἡσύχασον πρὸς σὲ ἡ ἀποστροφὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ σὺ ἄρξεις αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐὰν ὀρθῶς προσενέγκῃς, ὀρθῶς δὲ μὴ διέλῃς, ἥμαρτες; ἡσύχασον· πρὸς σὲ ἡ ἀποστροφὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ σὺ ἄρξεις αὐτοῦ

Genesis 4:7 (NETS)

Genesis 4:7 (English Elpenor)

If you offer correctly but do not divide correctly, have you not sinned?  Be still; his recourse is to you, and you will rule over him.” Hast thou not sinned if thou hast brought it rightly, but not rightly divided it? be still, to thee shall be his submission, and thou shalt rule over him.

Genesis 4:10 (Tanakh)

Genesis 4:10 (KJV)

Genesis 4:10 (NET)

And He said: ‘What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground. And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. But the Lord said, “What have you done?  The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!

Genesis 4:10 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 4:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπεν θεός τί ἐποίησας φωνὴ αἵματος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου βοᾷ πρός με ἐκ τῆς γῆς καί εἶπε Κύριος· τί πεποίηκας; φωνὴ αἵματος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου βοᾷ πρός με ἐκ τῆς γῆς

Genesis 4:10 (NETS)

Genesis 4:10 (English Elpenor)

And God said, “What have you done?  The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the earth! And the Lord said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood cries to me out of the ground.

Genesis 4:11 (Tanakh)

Genesis 4:11 (KJV)

Genesis 4:11 (NET)

And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; So now you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

Genesis 4:11 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 4:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ νῦν ἐπικατάρατος σὺ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἣ ἔχανεν τὸ στόμα αὐτῆς δέξασθαι τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου ἐκ τῆς χειρός σου καὶ νῦν ἐπικατάρατος σὺ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, ἣ ἔχανε τὸ στόμα αὐτῆς δέξασθαι τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου ἐκ τῆς χειρός σου

Genesis 4:11 (NETS)

Genesis 4:11 (English Elpenor)

And now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened wide its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. And now thou [art] cursed from the earth which has opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand.

Genesis 4:12 (Tanakh)

Genesis 4:12 (KJV)

Genesis 4:12 (NET)

When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth.’ When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you.  You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

Genesis 4:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 4:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ὅτι ἐργᾷ τὴν γῆν καὶ οὐ προσθήσει τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτῆς δοῦναί σοι στένων καὶ τρέμων ἔσῃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὅτε ἐργᾷ τὴν γῆν, καὶ οὐ προσθήσει τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτῆς δοῦναί σοι· στένων καὶ τρέμων ἔσῃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς

Genesis 4:12 (NETS)

Genesis 4:12 (English Elpenor)

For you will till the earth, and it will not continue to yield its strength to you; you will be groaning and trembling on the earth.” When thou tillest the earth, then it shall not continue to give its strength to thee: thou shalt be groaning and trembling on the earth.

Genesis 4:13 (Tanakh)

Genesis 4:13 (KJV)

Genesis 4:13 (NET)

And Cain said unto HaShem: ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Then Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to endure!

Genesis 4:13 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 4:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπεν Καιν πρὸς τὸν κύριον μείζων ἡ αἰτία μου τοῦ ἀφεθῆναί με καὶ εἶπε Κάϊν πρὸς Κύριον τὸν Θεόν· μείζων ἡ αἰτία μου τοῦ ἀφεθῆναί με

Genesis 4:13 (NETS)

Genesis 4:13 (English Elpenor)

And Kain said to the Lord, “My guilt is too great for me to be forgiven! And Cain said to the Lord God, My crime [is] too great for me to be forgiven.

Judges 11:30 (Tanakh)

Judges 11:30 (KJV)

Judges 11:30 (NET)

And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me,

Judges 11:30 (Septuagint BLB)

Judges 11:30 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ηὔξατο Ιεφθαε εὐχὴν τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ εἶπεν ἐὰν παραδώσει παραδῷς μοι τοὺς υἱοὺς Αμμων ἐν χειρί μου καὶ ηὔξατο ᾿Ιεφθάε εὐχὴν τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ εἶπεν· ἐὰν διδοὺς δῷς μοι τοὺς υἱοὺς ᾿Αμμὼν ἐν τῇ χειρί μου

Judges 11:30 (NETS)

Judges 11:30 (English Elpenor)

And Iephthae vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If with a giving over, you will give over to me the sons of Ammon in my hand, And Jephthae vowed a vow to the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand,

Judges 11:31 (Tanakh)

Judges 11:31 (KJV)

Judges 11:31 (NET)

Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites—he will belong to the Lord and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”

Judges 11:31 (Septuagint BLB)

Judges 11:31 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἔσται ὃς ἂν ἐξέλθῃ ἐκ τῶν θυρῶν τοῦ οἴκου μου εἰς ἀπάντησίν μου ἐν τῷ ἐπιστρέψαι με ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἀπὸ τῶν υἱῶν Αμμων καὶ ἔσται τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ ἀνοίσω αὐτὸν ὁλοκαύτωμα καὶ ἔσται ἐκπορευόμενος, ὃς ἂν ἐξέλθῃ ἀπὸ τῆς θύρας τοῦ οἴκου μου εἰς συνάντησίν μου ἐν τῷ ἐπιστρέφειν με ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἀπὸ υἱῶν ᾿Αμμών, καὶ ἔσται τῷ Κυρίῳ ἀνοίσω αὐτὸν ὁλοκαύτωμα

Judges 11:31 (NETS)

Judges 11:31 (English Elpenor)

it shall also be that whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, shall also be the Lord’s, and I will offer him up as a whole burnt offering.” then it shall come to pass that whosoever shall first come out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, he shall be the Lord’s: I will offer him up for a whole-burnt-offering.

 


1 Judges 11:29a (NET)

2 Numbers 30:2 (NET)

3 Judges 11:36 (NET)

4 Judges 11:40 (NET)

5 Matthew 10:37b (NET)

6 Proverbs 20:25 (NET)

7 Jeremiah 19:5bc (NET)

9 Genesis 4:3 (NET)

10 Genesis 4:4b, 5 (NET)

11 Geneis 4:6, 7 (NET)

12 Genesis 4:10-12 (NET)  When thou tillest the earth, then it shall not continue to give its strength to thee: thou shalt be groaning and trembling on the earth. Genesis 4:12 (Elpenor English)

13 Genesis 4:13 (NET)

14 Romans 5:13 (NET)

15 Romans 7:4-6 (NET)

16 2 Peter 3:9 (NET) Table

17 Exodus 33:19b (NET) Table

18 Jeremiah 19:5 (NET)

19 Matthew 5:33, 34a, 37 (NET)

20 Judges 11:30, 31 (NET)

21 Consider the same passage in the KJV: And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

22 Paraphrase of Romans 10:2, 3 (NET)

David’s Forgiveness, Part 2

The irony wasn’t lost on me.  I had a good laugh at myself as I realized I was frustrated with the Bible and complaining because God was too merciful.  “If He would just follow the law, my life would be a whole lot simpler.”  True enough, dead is a whole lot simpler than alive.  I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy1 God said to Moses after giving the law at Mount Sinai.  I had certainly seen the verse.  I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion2 Paul reiterated in his letter to the Romans.  I had read that one, too.  But it seemed so arbitrary and unfair I had blipped it.  I wanted to think of God as good not evil, and righteousness meant obeying the law.  Didn’t it?

It was another crack in the shell my contract with God had become.  I experimented briefly with calling these events “consequences,” rather than punishments.  But “consequences” seemed to imply more universality than I believe to be the case here.  This particular concatenation of events is uniquely and personally David’s life.  So I called it “David’s personal karma from the hand of Jesus.”

David’s personal karma from the hand of Jesus

You have killed him [Uriah] with the sword of the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 12:9 (NET) Table

So now the sword will never depart from your house.

2 Samuel 12:10 (NET) Table

For [Because] you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!

2 Samuel 12:10 (NET)

This is what the Lord says: “I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household! Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight! [Table] Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight” [Table].

2 Samuel 12:11,12

…because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter…

2 Samuel 12:14 (NET) Table

…the son who has been born to you will certainly die.

2 Samuel 12:14 (NET)

This karma had something to do with David’s sin, obviously, but it also had something to do with God’s forgiveness.  I can’t actually recall how soon I began to wonder if it had something to do with “all things working together for good” and making David’s “sins as white as snow” as well.

If David’s child didn’t die as a punishment, why did he die? I began to ponder.  Come on, I argued with myself, a child contracted a fatal disease and died three thousand years before the advent of modern medicine.  What’s the big deal?  I agree with that statement, believe it or not.

I was born in the middle of the last century.  I was as thoroughly socialized in this age of medical advancement as anyone.  I expect this medical advance to continue without foreseeable end.  I don’t take The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the child became very ill3 literally.  I assume this is an ancient manner of speaking, that the Lord’s actual action was inaction, not protecting this particular child at this particular time from infection, or not healing this particular child after infection.  I don’t believe that every child’s death is as theologically meaningful as this particular child’s death.  Nor do I believe that this child’s death is a statistically random event mistakenly imbued with theological significance.  The prophetic pairing of this child’s death with David’s contempt for Jesus infuses it with significance.  And that significance is what I’m trying to understand here.

One more thing, the Lord Jesus/Yahweh, whether by action or inaction, has taken full responsibility for this child’s death: The Lord struck the child.  I realize it is more customary to argue that God’s hand was forced because David had treated the Lord with such contempt.  I’ve probably argued this way myself.  But it seems to me now that any attempt to exonerate God by limiting Him, saying He was backed into a corner, or his hand was forced by some circumstance, is simply not to know Him.  And I am always mindful now of what happened when Jesus took responsibility for Peter’s denial.

One thought occurred to me early on:  Perhaps the Lord Jesus didn’t want David to have the blessing and benefit of a son by such ill-gotten means as adultery and murder.  The Psalm I took as my point of departure is actually credited to Solomon (Psalm 127:3-5 NET):

Yes, sons are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Sons born during one’s youth are like arrows in a warrior’s hand.  How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!  They will not be put to shame when they confront enemies at the city gate.

Though the pen was Solomon’s the thought here seems to me to be David’s.  First, the warrior language seems more like David than Solomon.  Second, my own, “yeah, right” response to this Psalm the first time I read it, informs me that a man is not likely to feel this way about his sons unless he has first been treated this way by his father.

My father advised me to watch out for women.  They would try to trap and trick me into raising their children.  At school I was learning other things about the evils of children.  Children had real value in the past, helping out on the farm or in the family business.  But during my childhood, though it may have been somewhat true for rich business owners, for most working-class families children were an unnecessary expense, a meaningless burden and a general nuisance to have around.  Besides all this the population bomb defined the social and political climate of my upbringing.  We were all going to die because there were just too many of us already.  Children were not a blessing, but a curse, the punishment for sex.

This is as good a time as any to address The Social Construction of Reality.

As I became an atheist I thought I was being logical and consistently rational.  As I turned again to a semblance of faith in God I thought I was being logical and consistently rational (though I was a bit concerned as I devoured the Bible that I was “swallowing all this religious stuff hook, line and sinker”).  I assumed that I could not have been truly rational in both instances unless there was some fatal flaw in logic itself.  The binary nature of logic seemed like the culprit to me.

Its insufficiency is fairly obvious in law:  “Have you stopped beating your wife?  Answer yes or no.”  But an axiom of more conventional logic—either a statement or its negation is true—seemed just as flawed.  If one has any affection for truth, is it possible to believe one can know it by adding the word “not” to an obvious falsehood?  If I negate the word of Satan, the father of lies, do I then possess the word of God?  I believe it?  That settles it?

That kind of instinctual argument doesn’t mean much in logic.  But the best I could conjure was the statement:  Jackie must eat her vegetables.  There is a world of potential truths between Jackie must eat her vegetables and the negation of that statement:  Jackie must not eat her vegetables.  Jackie might spit up her vegetables.  Jackie might fling her vegetables against the wall.  Jackie might dump the bowl of vegetables on her head.

Of course the logician would counter with the formal:  It is not the case that Jackie must eat her vegetables.  Still, I hoped that even the most hardboiled logician might concede that he was resorting to this formalism simply to maintain the truth of the very axiom in question—either a statement or its negation is true.  I began to suspect that the two choices, true and false, were insufficient to account for reality.  Reality was tripartite in nature—three not two.  I began to collect quotations for my magnum philosophical opus “The Tripartite Rationality Index.”

Also, to counter the “hook, line and sinker” effect of reading the Bible, I began to search for ballast to keep me honest.  I started with Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russell, but he didn’t seem to know much about the Bible.  Russell did introduce me, however, to Nietzsche.

I quit my job.  It was no great sacrifice.  I hated that job.  I got a part time job, read Nietzsche, the Bible and everything else I could get my hands on, and collected notes for “The Tripartite Rationality Index.”

Finally, the day came.  I sat on the floor in my apartment, arranging and rearranging my note cards in various relationships.  I said to myself, “You haven’t written a word yet.  It’s time to put up or shut up.  What is the third thing?  Describe it.”  I sat there all afternoon trying—ever more clearly—to define the third thing.  In the end I couldn’t distinguish my clearest description from faith.  I picked up my notes, put them away, and enrolled in college for the second time in my life.

One thing was gained from my reinvention of the wheel.  Before that afternoon the opposition of faith and reason was deeply ingrained in me.  No matter what I thought or said, I believed at the very core of my being that faith was opposed to reason as reason was opposed to faith.  After that afternoon, I believed at the very core of my being that faith and reason were joined in a virtually eternal pas de deux, or dance for two, swirling and twirling, tracing out ever more complex arabesques, their patterns as individual and unique as the content of the faiths that started, and the individual application of reasons that sustained, their dance.

It was in college this second time, in a Geography class, where I first heard of The Social Construction of Reality by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann.  I wanted to read it.  I went to the Library immediately after class.  I intended to refute it.  I couldn’t.  I don’t intend to endorse every aspect of Berger’s and Luckmann’s thesis.  I’m not sure I understood every aspect of it.  But that taken for granted knowledge—this is the way the world works, this is the way things are done—is a social construct handed down from generation to generation, locale to locale, family to family, even guild or occupation or virtual community to guild, occupation or virtual community.  It is deeply internalized by all recipients, believed without question, twisted, bent, nudged and deformed by all manner of individual quirks, tastes and idiosyncrasies, until it no longer delivers the goods it was intended to deliver.  And on that last point, Berger and Luckmann may have been overly optimistic.

And though my conservative, evangelical, fundamental Christian upbringing made me desirous to argue  that reality is not—and cannot be—socially constructed, it was my socialization in that community that made me most aware that the knowledge of reality is, in fact, socially constructed.  I had witnessed how alarmed and concerned my elders were any time they heard or read anything contrary to the laws of God revealed in the Bible.  They couldn’t very well deny the social construction of reality when they spent their lives trying to halt or reverse it (at very least, they complained about it) because it proceeded without reference to God, Christ or the Bible.

No, it’s not what I had meant by reality; it’s not what I had hoped for reality.  But I was beginning to see that this knowledge of reality mediated my experience of reality.  And the knowledge of reality is socially constructed by parents and teachers and legislators and thinkers and writers and pundits and poets and entertainers and all manner of people, even theologians, priests and preachers.

 

Addendum: May 10, 2020
A table comparing Paul’s quotation of Exodus 33:19 from the Septuagint follows:

Romans 9:15b (NET Parallel Greek)

Exodus 33:19b (Septuagint BLB)

Exodus 33:19b (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ καὶ οἰκτιρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτίρω ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ καὶ οἰκτιρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτίρω ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ, καὶ οἰκτειρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτείρω

Romans 9:15b (NET)

Exodus 33:19b (NETS)

Exodus 33:19b (English Elpenor)

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and will have pity on whom I will have pity.

Tables comparing Exodus 33:19; Psalm 127:3; 127:4 and 127:5 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing Exodus 33:19; Psalm 127:3 (126:3); 127:4 (126:4) and 127:5 (126:5) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Exodus 33:19 (Tanakh)

Exodus 33:19 (KJV)

Exodus 33:19 (NET)

And He said: ‘I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of HaShem before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.’ And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And the Lord said, “I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious; I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.”

Exodus 33:19 (Septuagint BLB)

Exodus 33:19 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπεν ἐγὼ παρελεύσομαι πρότερός σου τῇ δόξῃ μου καὶ καλέσω ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου κύριος ἐναντίον σου καὶ ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ καὶ οἰκτιρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτίρω καὶ εἶπεν· ἐγὼ παρελεύσομαι πρότερός σου τῇ δόξῃ μου καὶ καλέσω τῷ ὀνόματί μου, Κύριος ἐναντίον σου· καὶ ἐλεήσω ὃν ἂν ἐλεῶ, καὶ οἰκτειρήσω ὃν ἂν οἰκτείρω

Exodus 33:19 (NETS)

Exodus 33:19 (English Elpenor)

And he said, “I will pass by before you in my glory, and I will call by my name “Lord” before you.  And I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.” And [God] said, I will pass by before thee with my glory, and I will call by my name, the Lord, before thee; and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and will have pity on whom I will have pity.

Psalm 127:3 (Tanakh)

Psalm 127:3 (KJV)

Psalm 127:3 (NET)

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Yes, sons are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.

Psalm 127:3 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 126:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἰδοὺ ἡ κληρονομία κυρίου υἱοί ὁ μισθὸς τοῦ καρποῦ τῆς γαστρός ἰδοὺ ἡ κληρονομία Κυρίου υἱοί, ὁ μισθὸς τοῦ καρποῦ τῆς γαστρός

Psalm 126:3 (NETS)

Psalm 126:3 (English Elpenor)

Look, the heritage from the Lord is sons, the wage of the fruit of the womb. Behold, the inheritance of the Lord, children, the reward of the fruit of the womb.

Psalm 127:4 (Tanakh)

Psalm 127:4 (KJV)

Psalm 127:4 (NET)

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Sons born during one’s youth are like arrows in a warrior’s hand.

Psalm 127:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 126:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ὡσεὶ βέλη ἐν χειρὶ δυνατοῦ οὕτως οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἐκτετιναγμένων ὡσεὶ βέλη ἐν χειρὶ δυνατοῦ, οὕτως οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἐκτετιναγμένων

Psalm 126:4 (NETS)

Psalm 126:4 (English Elpenor)

Like arrows in the hand of a powerful one, so are the sons of those expelled. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man; so are the children of those who were outcasts.

Psalm 127:5 (Tanakh)

Psalm 127:5 (KJV)

Psalm 127:5 (NET)

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.  They will not be put to shame when they confront enemies at the city gate.

Psalm 127:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 126:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)

μακάριος ἄνθρωπος ὃς πληρώσει τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτοῦ ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐ καταισχυνθήσονται ὅταν λαλῶσι τοῗς ἐχθροῗς αὐτῶν ἐν πύλῃ μακάριος ὃς πληρώσει τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτοῦ ἐξ αὐτῶν· οὐ καταισχυνθήσονται, ὅταν λαλῶσι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς αὐτῶν ἐν πύλαις

Psalm 126:5 (NETS)

Psalm 126:5 (English Elpenor)

Happy the person who will satisfy his desire with them.  They shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in a gate. Blessed is the man who shall satisfy his desire with them: they shall not be ashamed when they shall speak to their enemies in the gates.

1 Exodus 33:19 (NET)

2 Romans 9:15 (NET)

3 2 Samuel 12:15 (NET) Table

David’s Forgiveness, Part 1

How blessed are those whose actions are blameless, Psalm 119 begins, who obey the law of the Lord.   How blessed are those who observe his rules, and seek him with all their heart, who, moreover, do no wrong, but follow in his footsteps.  You demand that your precepts be carefully kept.1  Every word is true [See Addendum below], but the psalmist was aware that his actions were not blameless, that he did not obey the Law of the Lord, or follow in his footsteps.

If only I were predisposed to keep your statutes!  The Psalm continues.  Then I would not be ashamed, if I were focused on all your commands.2  The psalmist made promises, whether foxhole promises or genuine I can’t say for sure.  I will give you sincere thanks, when I learn your just regulations.  I will keep your statutes.3  The psalmist’s final plea persuades me, however, that the spirit was willing even if the flesh was weakDo not completely abandon me!4

This is the human condition before God in a nutshell.  It sets the stage as I begin to grapple with what happened to David as a result of his sin.  I want to analyze David’s sin like this:

God’s Law – Exodus 20:1, 13, 14 (NET)

David’s Sin – 2 Samuel 12:9 (NET)5 Table

God spoke all these words (dâbâr, הדברים) [Table]: [David showed] contempt for the word (dâbâr, דבר) of the Lord by doing evil in [his] sight…
You shall not murder [Table]. 1. [he] struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword
You shall not commit adultery [Table]. 2. [he took] his wife as [his] own

I have returned to this incident over and over, trying to understand the Gospel and David’s relationship to it in the Lord’s mind.  Initially, given my perverse predilections, I analyzed 2 Samuel 12:9b-12 and 14 as “Sin” and its corresponding “Punishment.”

Sin

Punishment

You have killed [Uriah] with the sword of the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 12:9 (NET)

So now the sword will never depart from your house.

2 Samuel 12:10 (NET) Table

For [Because] you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!

2 Samuel 12:10 (NET)

I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household!  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion.  He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight!  Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.

2 Samuel 12:11,12 (NET) Table1 Table2

…because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter…

2 Samuel 12:14 (NET) Table

…the son who has been born to you will certainly die.

2 Samuel 12:14 (NET)

The problem with my initial analysis was that it tainted the Lord’s forgiveness in my mind.  I felt all warm and fuzzy about that forgiveness when I read the words, but my analysis convinced me that what the Lord actually did was reduce David’s sentence.

Sin

Punishment

David’s Actual Punishment

You have killed [Uriah] with the sword of the Ammonites.

2 Samuel 12:9 (NET)

Whoever strikes someone so that he dies must surely be put to death….if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, you will take him even from my altar that he may die.

Exodus 21:12, 14 (NET) Table1 Table2

So now the sword will never depart from your house.

2 Samuel 12:10 (NET)

For [Because] you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!

2 Samuel 12:10 (NET)

If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

Leviticus 20:10 (NET) Table

I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household!  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight! Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.

2 Samuel 12:11, 12 (NET)

…because you have treated (nā’aṣ, נאץ) the Lord with such contempt (nā’aṣ, נאצת) in this matter…

2 Samuel 12:14a (NET)

?

…the son who has been born to you will certainly die.

2 Samuel 12:14b (NET)

I couldn’t find a punishment in the law to relate directly to 2 Samuel 12:14a.  The Hebrew word for the way David treated the Lord (nâʼats, נאץ) is found first in Numbers.  When the Israelite spies returned from the promised land, all but Caleb said (Numbers 13:31-33 NET):

We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!…The land that we passed through to investigate is a land that devours its inhabitants.  All the people we saw there are of great stature.  We even saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them.

This majority opinion discouraged the people.  They complained to Moses and Aaron (Numbers 14:2b-4 NET):

If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished in this wilderness!  Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder?  Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?…Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt.

I was having a similar meltdown, blaming Jesus (A.K.A. “that vengeful Jehovah”) for punishing David’s innocent son for David’s sin.  Moses and Aaron prostrated themselves before their distraught people.  Joshua and Caleb rushed in, tore their robes, and said (Numbers 14:7-9 NET):

The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly good land.  If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us – a land that is flowing with milk and honey.  Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us.  Their protection has turned aside from them, but the Lord is with us.  Do not fear them!

The people threatened to stone them and probably would have if the glory of the Lord had not appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.6  The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise (nā’aṣ, ינאצני) me, and how long will they not believe in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?7

This same Hebrew word occurs in Deuteronomy 31:16-21 (NET):

Then the Lord said to Moses, “You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going.  They will reject (ʽâzab, ועזבני) me and break my covenant that I have made with them.  At that time my anger will erupt against them and I will abandon (ʽâzab, ועזבתים) them and hide my face from them until they are devoured.  Many disasters and distresses will overcome them so that they will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters overcome us because our God is not among us?’  But I will certainly hide myself at that time because of all the wickedness they will have done by turning to other gods.  Now write down for yourselves the following song and teach it to the Israelites.  Put it into their very mouths so that this song may serve as my witness against the Israelites!  For after I have brought them to the land I promised to their ancestors – one flowing with milk and honey – and they eat their fill and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and worship them; they will reject (nā’aṣ, ונאצוני) me and break my covenant.  Then when many disasters and distresses overcome them this song will testify against them, for their descendants will not forget it.  I know the intentions they have in mind today, even before I bring them to the land I have promised.”

The unbelief and rebellion in my heart that came from calling the death of David’s son a punishment for David’s sin caused me to rethink my position.  I noticed then that 2 Samuel 12:14 came after 2 Samuel 12:13 (NET Table): Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!”  Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven [See Addendum below] your sin.  You are not going to die.”

That’s right, it finally dawned on me, the punishment for David’s sin was death.  Nathan prophesied the death of David’s son after God forgave David.  If these events, for lack of a better term, were punishments they would be David’s death.  They couldn’t be punishments.  Perhaps these events had as much to do with David’s forgiveness as with his sin, I thought.  God’s forgiveness was the intervening event that changed everything, otherwise David would be dead, no fuss, no muss, and I wouldn’t be confused, trying to figure out how to think and feel about events that couldn’t happen to a dead man.

 

Addendum: November 22, 2014
For some reason it didn’t occur to me two years ago to question the translation of ʽâbar as forgiven.  The Septuagint’s παρεβίβασεν [February 15, 2018: παρεβίβασεν is a form of παραβιβάζω: “to put aside, remove, to usurp, to pass over”] was not defined on most sites I visited.  One site braved “cause to mount.”  I’m not inclined to touch that at the moment, beyond the observation that it doesn’t sound like the translators of the Septuagint believed that David was forgiven anything.  Only the modern translations and paraphrases in my possession, NET and CEV, translate ʽâbar as forgiven (forgives, TEV, TMSG); put away, KJV, NKJV, ASV, DNT; taken away, GWT, NIV; pass away, YLT.  If put away, taken away or pass away are something less than forgiven, I would consider returning to my original position that the events following the ʽâbar of David’s sin are punishments.

 

Addendum: April 14, 2020
The difference between the Masoretic text and Septuagint in Psalm 119:2 (118:2) seemed important enough to highlight.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Psalm 119:2 (Tanakh) Psalm 119:2 (NET) Psalm 118:2 (NETS)

Psalm 118:2 (English Elpenor)

Blessed are they that keep (נֹֽצְרֵ֥י) his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. How blessed are those who observe (nāṣar, נצרי) his rules, and seek him with all their heart, Happy are those who search out (ἐξερευνῶντες) his testimonies; wholeheartedly they will seek (ἐκζητήσουσιν) him. Blessed are they that search out (ἐξερευνῶντες) his testimonies: they will diligently seek (ἐκζητήσουσιν) him with the whole heart.

Where the Masoretic text had (nāṣar, נֹֽצְרֵ֥י), the rabbis chose ἐξερευνῶντες (a form of ἐξερευνάω).  They firmly established the link between searching the Scriptures and seeking the Lord.  The Greek word translated seek in the Septuagint was ἐκζητήσουσιν (a form of ἐκζητέω).  Running נֹֽצְרֵ֥י through Morfix was very interesting.

Morfix

Hebrew Tanakh Homographs Definition
נֹֽצְרֵ֥ keep נֵצֶר stem, shoot; (literary) scion; נצרים – reeds
נָצַר (literary) to guard, to save; (weaponry) to lock; to keep, to maintain
הֵצֵר to narrow; (sewing) to take in
יָצַר to create; to produce, to generate
נִצֵּר to Christianize
הֵצֵר to be sorry (for something), to regret

Peter used different forms of both ἐξερευνάω and ἐκζητέω in his first letter (1 Peter 1:10-12 NET):

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who predicted the grace that would come to you searched (ἐξεζήτησαν, a form of ἐκζητέω) and investigated carefully8 (ἐξηραύνησαν, a form of ἐξερευνάω).  They probed (ἐραυνῶντες, a form of ἐρευνάω) into what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified beforehand about the sufferings appointed for Christ and his subsequent glory.  They were shown that they were serving not themselves but you,9 in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things angels long to catch a glimpse of.

Again, the rabbis who translated the Hebrew text into Greek before Jesus had come to be rejected by Israel understood Psalm 119:3 (118:3) differently, or had different Hebrew text to understand and translate.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Psalm 119:3 (Tanakh) Psalm 119:3 (NET) Psalm 118:3 (NETS)

Psalm 118:3 (English Elpenor)

They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. who, moreover, do no wrong, but follow in his footsteps. For those who practice lawlessness did not walk in his ways. For they that work iniquity have not walked in his ways.

Tables comparing Psalm 119:1; 119:2; 119:3; 119:4; 119:5; 119:6; 119:7; 119:8; Numbers 13:31; 13:32; 13:33; 14:2; 14:3; 14:4; 14:7; 14:8; 14:9; 14:10; 14:11; Deuteronomy 31:16; 31:17; 31:18; 31:19; 31:20 and 31:21 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and Psalm 119:1 (118:1); 119:2 (118:2); 119:3 (118:3); 119:4 (118:4); 119:5 (118:5); 119:6 (118:6); 119:7 (118:7); 119:8 (118:8); Numbers 13:31 (13:32); 13:32 (13:33); 13:33 (13:34); 14:2 (14:2, 3a); 14:3 (14:3b); 14:4; 14:7; 14:8; 14:9; 14:10; 14:11; Deuteronomy 31:16; 31:17; 31:18; 31:19; 31:20 and 31:21 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.  Following those are tables comparing 1 Peter 1:10 and 1:12 in the NET and KJV.

Psalm 119:1 (Tanakh)

Psalm 119:1 (KJV)

Psalm 119:1 (NET)

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. ALEPH.  Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. (Alef) How blessed are those whose actions are blameless, who obey the law of the Lord.

Psalm 119:1 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 118:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)

αλληλουια αʹ αλφ μακάριοι οἱ ἄμωμοι ἐν ὁδῷ οἱ πορευόμενοι ἐν νόμῳ κυρίου ᾿Αλληλούϊα. – ΜΑΚΑΡΙΟΙ οἱ ἄμωμοι ἐν ὁδῷ οἱ πορευόμενοι ἐν νόμῳ Κυρίου

Psalm 118:1 (NETS)

Psalm 118:1 (English Elpenor)

Hallelouia.  alph.  Happy are the blameless in way, who walk in the Lord’s law. [Alleluia.]  Blessed are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.

Psalm 119:2 (Tanakh)

Psalm 119:2 (KJV)

Psalm 119:2 (NET)

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. How blessed are those who observe his rules, and seek him with all their heart,

Psalm 119:2 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 118:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)

μακάριοι οἱ ἐξερευνῶντες τὰ μαρτύρια αὐτοῦ ἐν ὅλῃ καρδίᾳ ἐκζητήσουσιν αὐτόν μακάριοι οἱ ἐξερευνῶντες τὰ μαρτύρια αὐτοῦ· ἐν ὅλῃ καρδίᾳ ἐκζητήσουσιν αὐτόν

Psalm 118:2 (NETS)

Psalm 118:2 (English Elpenor)

Happy are those who search out his testimonies; wholeheartedly they will seek him. Blessed are they that search out his testimonies: they will diligently seek him with the whole heart.

Psalm 119:3 (Tanakh)

Psalm 119:3 (KJV)

Psalm 119:3 (NET)

They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. Yea, they do no unrighteousness; They walk in his ways. who, moreover, do no wrong, but follow in his footsteps.

Psalm 119:3 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 118:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)

οὐ γὰρ οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν ἀνομίαν ἐν ταῗς ὁδοῗς αὐτοῦ ἐπορεύθησαν οὐ γὰρ οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν ἀνομίαν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ ἐπορεύθησαν

Psalm 118:3 (NETS)

Psalm 118:3 (English Elpenor)

For those who practice lawlessness did not walk in his ways. For they that work iniquity have not walked in his ways.

Psalm 119:4 (Tanakh)

Psalm 119:4 (KJV)

Psalm 119:4 (NET)

Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. You demand that your precepts be carefully kept.

Psalm 119:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 118:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)

σὺ ἐνετείλω τὰς ἐντολάς σου φυλάξασθαι σφόδρα σὺ ἐνετείλω τὰς ἐντολάς σου τοῦ φυλάξασθαι σφόδρα

Psalm 118:4 (NETS)

Psalm 118:4 (English Elpenor)

It is you who commanded your commandments to keep diligently. Thou hast commanded [us] diligently to keep thy precepts.

Psalm 119:5 (Tanakh)

Psalm 119:5 (KJV)

Psalm 119:5 (NET)

O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Oh that my ways were established To observe thy statutes! If only I were predisposed to keep your statutes.

Psalm 119:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 118:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ὄφελον κατευθυνθείησαν αἱ ὁδοί μου τοῦ φυλάξασθαι τὰ δικαιώματά σου ὄφελον κατευθυνθείησαν αἱ ὁδοί μου τοῦ φυλάξασθαι τὰ δικαιώματά σου.

Psalm 118:5 (NETS)

Psalm 118:5 (English Elpenor)

O that my ways may be directed to keep your statutes! O that my ways were directed to keep thine ordinances.

Psalm 119:6 (Tanakh)

Psalm 119:6 (KJV)

Psalm 119:6 (NET)

Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. Then I would not be ashamed, if I were focused on all your commands.

Psalm 119:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 118:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)

τότε οὐ μὴ ἐπαισχυνθῶ ἐν τῷ με ἐπιβλέπειν ἐπὶ πάσας τὰς ἐντολάς σου τότε οὐ μὴ αἰσχυνθῶ ἐν τῷ με ἐπιβλέπειν ἐπὶ πάσας τὰς ἐντολάς σου

Psalm 118:6 (NETS)

Psalm 118:6 (English Elpenor)

Then I shall not be put to shame, as I regard all your commandments. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all thy commandments.

Psalm 119:7 (Tanakh)

Psalm 119:7 (KJV)

Psalm 119:7 (NET)

I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. I will give you sincere thanks, when I learn your just regulations.

Psalm 119:7 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 118:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι κύριε ἐν εὐθύτητι καρδίας ἐν τῷ μεμαθηκέναι με τὰ κρίματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης σου ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν εὐθύτητι καρδίας ἐν τῷ μεμαθηκέναι με τὰ κρίματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης σου

Psalm 118:7 (NETS)

Psalm 118:7 (English Elpenor)

I will acknowledge you with uprightness of heart, when I have learned the judgments of your righteousness. I will give thee thanks with uprightness of heart, when I have learnt the judgments of thy righteousness.

Psalm 119:8 (Tanakh)

Psalm 119:8 (KJV)

Psalm 119:8 (NET)

I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly. I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly. I will keep your statutes.  Do not completely abandon me.

Psalm 119:8 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 118:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)

τὰ δικαιώματά σου φυλάξω μή με ἐγκαταλίπῃς ἕως σφόδρα τὰ δικαιώματά σου φυλάξω· μή με ἐγκαταλίπῃς ἕως σφόδρα

Psalm 118:8 (NETS)

Psalm 118:8 (English Elpenor)

Your statutes I will observe; do not utterly forsake me. I will keep thine ordinances: O forsake me not greatly.

Numbers 13:31 (Tanakh)

Numbers 13:31 (KJV)

Numbers 13:31 (NET)

But the men that went up with him said: ‘We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.’ But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!”

Numbers 13:31 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 13:32 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ συναναβάντες μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ εἶπαν οὐκ ἀναβαίνομεν ὅτι οὐ μὴ δυνώμεθα ἀναβῆναι πρὸς τὸ ἔθνος ὅτι ἰσχυρότερόν ἐστιν ἡμῶν μᾶλλον καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ συναναβάντες μετ’ αὐτοῦ εἶπαν· οὐκ ἀναβαίνομεν, ὅτι οὐ μὴ δυνώμεθα ἀναβῆναι πρὸς τὸ ἔθνος, ὅτι ἰσχυρότερον ἡμῶν ἐστι μᾶλλον.

Numbers 13:32 (NETS)

Numbers 13:32 (English Elpenor)

But the men who went up together with him said, “We are not going up, because by no means will we be able to go up against the nation, because they are much stronger than we.” But the men that went up together with him said, We will not go up, for we shall not by any means be able to go up against the nation, for it is much stronger than we.

Numbers 13:32 (Tanakh)

Numbers 13:32 (KJV)

Numbers 13:32 (NET)

And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying: ‘The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through to investigate is a land that devours its inhabitants.  All the people we saw there are of great stature.

Numbers 13:32 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 13:33 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐξήνεγκαν ἔκστασιν τῆς γῆς ἣν κατεσκέψαντο αὐτήν πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ λέγοντες τὴν γῆν ἣν παρήλθομεν αὐτὴν κατασκέψασθαι γῆ κατέσθουσα τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπ᾽ αὐτῆς ἐστιν πᾶς ὁ λαός ὃν ἑωράκαμεν ἐν αὐτῇ ἄνδρες ὑπερμήκεις καὶ ἐξήνεγκαν ἔκστασιν τῆς γῆς, ἣν κατεσκέψαντο αὐτὴν πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς ᾿Ισραήλ, λέγοντες· τὴν γῆν, ἣν παρήλθομεν αὐτὴν κατασκέψασθαι, γῆ κατέσθουσα τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπ’ αὐτῆς ἐστι· καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαός, ὃν ἑωράκαμεν ἐν αὐτῇ, ἄνδρες ὑπερμήκεις

Numbers 13:33 (NETS)

Numbers 13:33 (English Elpenor)

And they brought about consternation for the land that they had spied out, to the sons of Israel, saying, “The land we passed through to spy out—it is a land that devours those who live upon it.  All the people that we saw in it are very tall men, And they brought a horror of that land which they surveyed upon the children of Israel, saying, The land which we passed by to survey it, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of extraordinary stature.

Numbers 13:33 (Tanakh)

Numbers 13:33 (KJV)

Numbers 13:33 (NET)

And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.’ And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. We even saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed like grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them.”

Numbers 13:33 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 13:34 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐκεῗ ἑωράκαμεν τοὺς γίγαντας καὶ ἦμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ ἀκρίδες ἀλλὰ καὶ οὕτως ἦμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκεῖ ἑωράκαμεν τοὺς γίγαντας καὶ ἦμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ ἀκρίδες, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὕτως ἦμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν

Numbers 13:34 (NETS)

Numbers 13:34 (English Elpenor)

and we have seen the giants there, and we were before them like grasshoppers—indeed even so we were before them.” And there we saw the giants; and we were before them as locusts, yea even so were we before them.

Numbers 14:2 (Tanakh)

Numbers 14:2 (KJV)

Numbers 14:2 (NET)

And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said unto them: ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would we had died in this wilderness! And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And all the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished in this wilderness!

Numbers 14:2 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 14:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ διεγόγγυζον ἐπὶ Μωυσῆν καὶ Ααρων πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ καὶ εἶπαν πρὸς αὐτοὺς πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγή ὄφελον ἀπεθάνομεν ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτῳ ἢ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ταύτῃ εἰ ἀπεθάνομεν καὶ διεγόγγυζον ἐπὶ Μωυσῆν καὶ ᾿Ααρὼν πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ, καὶ εἶπαν πρὸς αὐτοὺς πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγή· ὄφελον ἀπεθάνομεν ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ, ἢ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ταύτῃ εἰ ἀπεθάνομεν

Numbers 14:2 (NETS)

Numbers 14:2, 3a (English Elpenor)

And all the sons of Israel were complaining against Moyses and Aaron, and all the congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!  Or if we had died in this wilderness! And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron; and all the congregation said to them, (3) Would we had died in the land of Egypt! or in this wilderness, would we had died!

Numbers 14:3 (Tanakh)

Numbers 14:3 (KJV)

Numbers 14:3 (NET)

And wherefore doth HaShem bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword?  Our wives and our little ones will be a prey; were it not better for us to return into Egypt?’ And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder?  Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”

Numbers 14:3 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 14:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἵνα τί κύριος εἰσάγει ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν γῆν ταύτην πεσεῗν ἐν πολέμῳ αἱ γυναῗκες ἡμῶν καὶ τὰ παιδία ἔσονται εἰς διαρπαγήν νῦν οὖν βέλτιον ἡμῗν ἐστιν ἀποστραφῆναι εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ ἱνατί Κύριος εἰσάγει ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν γῆν ταύτην πεσεῖν ἐν πολέμῳ; αἱ γυναῖκες ἡμῶν καὶ τὰ παιδία ἔσονται εἰς διαρπαγήν· νῦν οὖν βέλτιον ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἀποστραφῆναι εἰς Αἴγυπτον

Numbers 14:3 (NETS)

Numbers 14:3b (English Elpenor)

And why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall in war? Our wives and children will become plunder!  Now then, it is better for us to turn back into Egypt.” and why does the Lord bring us into this land to fall in war? our wives and our children shall be for a prey: now then it is better to return into Egypt.

Numbers 14:4 (Tanakh)

Numbers 14:4 (KJV)

Numbers 14:4 (NET)

And they said one to another: ‘Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.’ And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

Numbers 14:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 14:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπαν ἕτερος τῷ ἑτέρῳ δῶμεν ἀρχηγὸν καὶ ἀποστρέψωμεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ εἶπαν ἕτερος τῷ ἑτέρῳ· δῶμεν ἀρχηγὸν καὶ ἀποστρέψωμεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον

Numbers 14:4 (NETS)

Numbers 14:4 (English Elpenor)

And they said one to the other, “Let us assign a chief and turn back into Egypt.” And they said one to another, Let us make a ruler, and return into Egypt.

Numbers 14:7 (Tanakh)

Numbers 14:7 (KJV)

Numbers 14:7 (NET)

And they spoke unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: ‘The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. They said to the whole community of the Israelites, “The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly good land.

Numbers 14:7 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 14:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπαν πρὸς πᾶσαν συναγωγὴν υἱῶν Ισραηλ λέγοντες ἡ γῆ ἣν κατεσκεψάμεθα αὐτήν ἀγαθή ἐστιν σφόδρα σφόδρα καὶ εἶπαν πρὸς πᾶσαν συναγωγὴν υἱῶν ᾿Ισραὴλ λέγοντες· ἡ γῆ, ἣν κατεσκεψάμεθα αὐτήν, ἀγαθή ἐστι σφόδρα σφόδρα

Numbers 14:7 (NETS)

Numbers 14:7 (English Elpenor)

and they said to all the congregation of Israel’s sons, saying, “The land, that which we spied out, is very, very good. and spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land which we surveyed is indeed extremely good.

Numbers 14:8 (Tanakh)

Numbers 14:8 (KJV)

Numbers 14:8 (NET)

If HaShem delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it unto us–a land which floweth with milk and honey. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land that is flowing with milk and honey.

Numbers 14:8 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 14:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)

εἰ αἱρετίζει ἡμᾶς κύριος εἰσάξει ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν γῆν ταύτην καὶ δώσει αὐτὴν ἡμῗν γῆ ἥτις ἐστὶν ῥέουσα γάλα καὶ μέλι εἰ αἱρετίζει ἡμᾶς Κύριος, εἰσάξει ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν γῆν ταύτην καὶ δώσει αὐτὴν ἡμῖν, γῆ ἥτις ἐστὶ ῥέουσα γάλα καὶ μέλι

Numbers 14:8 (NETS)

Numbers 14:8 (English Elpenor)

If the Lord is choosing us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us: a land that is flowing with milk and honey. If the Lord choose us, he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which flows with milk and honey.

Numbers 14:9 (Tanakh)

Numbers 14:9 (KJV)

Numbers 14:9 (NET)

Only rebel not against HaShem, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us; their defence is removed from over them, and HaShem is with us; fear them not.’ Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us.  Their protection has turned aside from them, but the Lord is with us.  Do not fear them!”

Numbers 14:9 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 14:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου μὴ ἀποστάται γίνεσθε ὑμεῗς δὲ μὴ φοβηθῆτε τὸν λαὸν τῆς γῆς ὅτι κατάβρωμα ἡμῗν ἐστιν ἀφέστηκεν γὰρ ὁ καιρὸς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ὁ δὲ κύριος ἐν ἡμῗν μὴ φοβηθῆτε αὐτούς ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου μὴ ἀποστάται γίνεσθε· ὑμεῖς δὲ μὴ φοβηθῆτε τὸν λαὸν τῆς γῆς, ὅτι κατάβρωμα ἡμῖν ἐστιν· ἀφέστηκε γὰρ ὁ καιρὸς ἀπ’ αὐτῶν, ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἐν ἡμῖν· μὴ φοβηθῆτε αὐτούς

Numbers 14:9 (NETS)

Numbers 14:9 (English Elpenor)

Only do not become deserters from the Lord.  But as for you, do not fear the people of the land, since they are food for us; for the right time has departed from them, but the Lord is among us.  Do not fear them.” Only depart not from the Lord; and fear ye not the people of the land, for they are meat for us; for the season [of prosperity] is departed from them, but the Lord [is] among us: fear them not.

Numbers 14:10 (Tanakh)

Numbers 14:10 (KJV)

Numbers 14:10 (NET)

But all the congregation bade stone them with stones, when the glory of HaShem appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones.  And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. However, the whole community threatened to stone them.  But the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.

Numbers 14:10 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 14:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπεν πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ καταλιθοβολῆσαι αὐτοὺς ἐν λίθοις καὶ ἡ δόξα κυρίου ὤφθη ἐν νεφέλῃ ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἐν πᾶσι τοῗς υἱοῗς Ισραηλ καὶ εἶπε πᾶσα ἡ συναγωγὴ καταλιθοβολῆσαι αὐτοὺς ἐν λίθοις. καὶ ἡ δόξα Κυρίου ὤφθη ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου πᾶσι τοῖς υἱοῖς ᾿Ισραήλ.

Numbers 14:10 (NETS)

Numbers 14:10 (English Elpenor)

And all the congregation said that they would stone them with stones.  And the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud upon the tent of witness among all the sons of Israel. And all the congregation bade stone them with stones; and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud on the tabernacle of witness to all the children of Israel.

Numbers 14:11 (Tanakh)

Numbers 14:11 (KJV)

Numbers 14:11 (NET)

And HaShem said unto Moses: ‘How long will this people despise Me? and how long will they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me, and how long will they not believe in me, in spite of the signs that I have done among them?

Numbers 14:11 (Septuagint BLB)

Numbers 14:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν ἕως τίνος παροξύνει με ὁ λαὸς οὗτος καὶ ἕως τίνος οὐ πιστεύουσίν μοι ἐν πᾶσιν τοῗς σημείοις οἷς ἐποίησα ἐν αὐτοῗς καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν· ἕως τίνος παροξύνει με ὁ λαὸς οὗτος καὶ ἕως τίνος οὐ πιστεύουσί μοι ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς σημείοις, οἷς ἐποίησα ἐν αὐτοῖς

Numbers 14:11 (NETS)

Numbers 14:11 (English Elpenor)

And the Lord said to Moyses, “How long is this people going to provoke me, and how long are they not going to believe me amidst all the signs that I have performed among them? And the Lord said to Moses, How long does this people provoke me? and how long do they refuse to believe me for all the signs which I have wrought among them?

Deuteronomy 31:16 (Tanakh)

Deuteronomy 31:16 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 31:16 (NET)

And HaShem said unto Moses: ‘Behold, thou art about to sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray after the foreign gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them. And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then the Lord said to Moses, “You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going.  They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

Deuteronomy 31:16 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 31:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν ἰδοὺ σὺ κοιμᾷ μετὰ τῶν πατέρων σου καὶ ἀναστὰς ὁ λαὸς οὗτος ἐκπορνεύσει ὀπίσω θεῶν ἀλλοτρίων τῆς γῆς εἰς ἣν οὗτος εἰσπορεύεται ἐκεῗ εἰς αὐτήν καὶ ἐγκαταλείψουσίν με καὶ διασκεδάσουσιν τὴν διαθήκην μου ἣν διεθέμην αὐτοῗς καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν· ἰδοὺ σὺ κοιμᾷ μετὰ τῶν πατέρων σου, καὶ ἀναστὰς οὗτος ὁ λαὸς ἐκπορνεύσει ὀπίσω θεῶν ἀλλοτρίων τῆς γῆς, εἰς ἣν οὗτος εἰσπορεύεται, καὶ καταλείψουσί με καὶ διασκεδάσουσι τὴν διαθήκην μου, ἣν διεθέμην αὐτοῖς

Deuteronomy 31:16 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 31:16 (English Elpenor)

And the Lord said to Moyses, “Look, you are lying down with your fathers.  And this people, having risen up, will prostitute after foreign gods of the land into which it is going there into it, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have established with them. And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people will arise and go a whoring after the strange gods of the land, into which they are entering: and they will forsake me, and break my covenant, which I made with them.

Deuteronomy 31:17 (Tanakh)

Deuteronomy 31:17 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 31:17 (NET)

Then My anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day: Are not these evils come upon us because our G-d is not among us? Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? At that time my anger will erupt against them, and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured.  Many disasters and distresses will overcome them so that they will say at that time, ‘Have not these disasters overcome us because our God is not among us?’

Deuteronomy 31:17 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 31:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ὀργισθήσομαι θυμῷ εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ καὶ καταλείψω αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀποστρέψω τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ ἔσται κατάβρωμα καὶ εὑρήσουσιν αὐτὸν κακὰ πολλὰ καὶ θλίψεις καὶ ἐρεῗ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ διότι οὐκ ἔστιν κύριος ὁ θεός μου ἐν ἐμοί εὕροσάν με τὰ κακὰ ταῦτα καὶ ὀργισθήσομαι θυμῷ εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ καὶ καταλείψω αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀποστρέψω τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔσται κατάβρωμα, καὶ εὑρήσουσιν αὐτὸν κακὰ πολλὰ καὶ θλίψεις, καὶ ἐρεῖ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ· διότι οὐκ ἔστι Κύριος ὁ Θεός μου ἐν ἐμοί, εὕροσάν με τὰ κακὰ ταῦτα

Deuteronomy 31:17 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 31:17 (English Elpenor)

And I shall be angry with wrath against them in that day, and I will abandon them and turn away my face from them, and it will become food, and many evils and afflictions will find it.  And in that day it will say, ‘Because the Lord my God is not with me, these evils have found me.’ And I will be very angry with them in that day, and I will leave them and turn my face away from them, and they shall be devoured; and many evils and afflictions shall come upon them; and they shall say in that day, Because the Lord my God is not with me, these evils have come upon me.

Deuteronomy 31:18 (Tanakh)

Deuteronomy 31:18 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 31:18 (NET)

And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. But I will certainly hide myself at that time because of all the wickedness they will have done by turning to other gods.

Deuteronomy 31:18 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 31:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐγὼ δὲ ἀποστροφῇ ἀποστρέψω τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ διὰ πάσας τὰς κακίας ἃς ἐποίησαν ὅτι ἐπέστρεψαν ἐπὶ θεοὺς ἀλλοτρίους ἐγὼ δὲ ἀποστροφῇ ἀποστρέψω τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ διὰ πάσας τὰς κακίας, ἃς ἐποίησαν, ὅτι ἀπέστρεψαν ἐπὶ θεοὺς ἀλλοτρίους

Deuteronomy 31:18 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 31:18 (English Elpenor)

But I by turning will turn my face from them on that day, on account of all the evils they have done, because they turned to foreign gods. And I will surely turn away my face from them in that day, because of all their evil doings which they have done, because they turned aside after strange gods.

Deuteronomy 31:19 (Tanakh)

Deuteronomy 31:19 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 31:19 (NET)

Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. Now write down for yourselves the following song and teach it to the Israelites.  Put it into their very mouths so that this song may serve as my witness against the Israelites!

Deuteronomy 31:19 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 31:19 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ νῦν γράψατε τὰ ῥήματα τῆς ᾠδῆς ταύτης καὶ διδάξετε αὐτὴν τοὺς υἱοὺς Ισραηλ καὶ ἐμβαλεῗτε αὐτὴν εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν ἵνα γένηταί μοι ἡ ᾠδὴ αὕτη εἰς μαρτύριον ἐν υἱοῗς Ισραηλ καὶ νῦν γράψατε τὰ ρήματα τῆς ᾠδῆς ταύτης καὶ διδάξατε αὐτὴν τοὺς υἱοὺς ᾿Ισραὴλ καὶ ἐμβαλεῖτε αὐτὴν εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν, ἵνα γένηταί μοι ἡ ᾠδὴ αὕτη κατὰ πρόσωπον μαρτυροῦσα ἐν υἱοῖς ᾿Ισραήλ

Deuteronomy 31:19 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 31:19 (English Elpenor)

And now write the words of this song, and teach it to the sons of Israel, and put it in their mouth in order that this song may be to me a witness among the sons of Israel. And now write the words of this song, and teach it to the children of Israel, and ye shall put it into their mouth, that this song may witness for me among the children of Israel to their face.

Deuteronomy 31:20 (Tanakh)

Deuteronomy 31:20 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 31:20 (NET)

For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore unto their fathers, flowing with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten their fill, and waxen fat; and turned unto other gods, and served them, and despised Me, and broken My covenant; For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. For after I have brought them to the land I promised to their ancestors—one flowing with milk and honey—and they eat their fill and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and worship them; they will reject me and break my covenant.

Deuteronomy 31:20 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 31:20 (Septuagint Elpenor)

εἰσάξω γὰρ αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν ἣν ὤμοσα τοῗς πατράσιν αὐτῶν δοῦναι αὐτοῗς γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι καὶ φάγονται καὶ ἐμπλησθέντες κορήσουσιν καὶ ἐπιστραφήσονται ἐπὶ θεοὺς ἀλλοτρίους καὶ λατρεύσουσιν αὐτοῗς καὶ παροξυνοῦσίν με καὶ διασκεδάσουσιν τὴν διαθήκην μου εἰσάξω γὰρ αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν, ἣν ὤμοσα τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτῶν δοῦναι αὐτοῖς, γῆν ρέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι, καὶ φάγονται καὶ ἐμπλησθέντες κορήσουσι· καί ἐπιστραφήσονται ἐπὶ θεοὺς ἀλλοτρίους καὶ λατρεύσουσιν αὐτοῖς καὶ παροξυνοῦσί με καὶ διασκεδάσουσι τὴν διαθήκην μου

Deuteronomy 31:20 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 31:20 (English Elpenor)

For I will bring them into the good land which I swore to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they shall eat and, filled, shall be sated and will turn to foreign gods and serve them and provoke me and break my covenant. For I will bring them into the good land, which I sware to their fathers, to give to them a land flowing with milk and honey: and they shall eat and be filled and satisfy [themselves]; then will they turn aside after other gods, and serve them, and they will provoke me, and break my covenant.

Deuteronomy 31:21 (Tanakh)

Deuteronomy 31:21 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 31:21 (NET)

then it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination how they do even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.’ And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. Then when many disasters and distresses overcome them this song will testify against them, for their descendants will not forget it.  I know the intentions they have in mind today, even before I bring them to the land I have promised.”

Deuteronomy 31:21 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 31:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἀντικαταστήσεται ἡ ᾠδὴ αὕτη κατὰ πρόσωπον μαρτυροῦσα οὐ γὰρ μὴ ἐπιλησθῇ ἀπὸ στόματος αὐτῶν καὶ ἀπὸ στόματος τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῶν ἐγὼ γὰρ οἶδα τὴν πονηρίαν αὐτῶν ὅσα ποιοῦσιν ὧδε σήμερον πρὸ τοῦ εἰσαγαγεῗν με αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν ἣν ὤμοσα τοῗς πατράσιν αὐτῶν καὶ ἀντικαταστήσεται ἡ ᾠδὴ αὕτη κατὰ πρόσωπον μαρτυροῦσα, οὐ γὰρ μὴ ἐπιλησθῇ ἀπὸ στόματος αὐτῶν καὶ ἀπὸ στόματος τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῶν· ἐγὼ γὰρ οἶδα τὴν πονηρίαν αὐτῶν, ὅσα ποιοῦσιν ὧδε σήμερον πρὸ τοῦ εἰσαγαγεῖν με αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθήν, ἣν ὤμοσα τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτῶν

Deuteronomy 31:21 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 31:21 (English Elpenor)

And this song will confront them, by witnessing contrariwise, for it will not be forgotten from the mouth of their offspring. For I know their evil, what they are doing here today, before I have brought them into the good land I swore to their fathers. And this song shall stand up to witness against them; for they shall not forget it out of their mouth, or out of the mouth of their seed; for I know their wickedness, what they are doing here this day, before I have brought them into the good land, which sware to their fathers.

1 Peter 1:10 (NET)

1 Peter 1:10 (KJV)

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who predicted the grace that would come to you searched and investigated carefully. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

NET Parallel Greek

Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text

περὶ ἧς σωτηρίας ἐξεζήτησαν καὶ ἐξηραύνησαν προφῆται οἱ περὶ τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς χάριτος προφητεύσαντες περι ης σωτηριας εξεζητησαν και εξηρευνησαν προφηται οι περι της εις υμας χαριτος προφητευσαντες περι ης σωτηριας εξεζητησαν και εξηρευνησαν προφηται οι περι της εις υμας χαριτος προφητευσαντες

1 Peter 1:12 (NET)

1 Peter 1:12 (KJV)

They were shown that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things angels long to catch a glimpse of. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

NET Parallel Greek

Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text

οἷς ἀπεκαλύφθη ὅτι οὐχ ἑαυτοῖς ὑμῖν δὲ διηκόνουν αὐτά, ἃ νῦν ἀνηγγέλη ὑμῖν διὰ τῶν εὐαγγελισαμένων ὑμᾶς [ἐν] πνεύματι ἁγίῳ ἀποσταλέντι ἀπ᾿ οὐρανοῦ, εἰς ἃ ἐπιθυμοῦσιν ἄγγελοι παρακύψαι οις απεκαλυφθη οτι ουχ εαυτοις ημιν δε διηκονουν αυτα α νυν ανηγγελη υμιν δια των ευαγγελισαμενων υμας εν πνευματι αγιω αποσταλεντι απ ουρανου εις α επιθυμουσιν αγγελοι παρακυψαι οις απεκαλυφθη οτι ουχ εαυτοις υμιν δε διηκονουν αυτα α νυν ανηγγελη υμιν δια των ευαγγελισαμενων υμας εν πνευματι αγιω αποσταλεντι απ ουρανου εις α επιθυμουσιν αγγελοι παρακυψαι

1 Psalm 119:1-4 (NET)

2 Psalm 119:5, 6 (NET)

3 Psalm 119:7, 8a (NET)

4 Psalm 119:8b (NET)  A note in the NET, apparently by a dissenting translator, could spin this differently if it is the more correct translation.  “Heb ‘do not abandon me to excess.’ For other uses of the phrase עַד מְאֹד (’ad mÿ’od, ‘to excess’), see Ps 38:6, 8.”

5 April 13, 2020: 2 Samuel 12:9 in the NET now reads: Why have you shown contempt for the Lord’s decrees (dâbâr, דבר) by doing evil in my sight?  You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife to be your own wife! You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

6 Numbers 14:10 (NET)

7 Numbers 14:11 (NET)

9 The NET parallel Greek text, NA28 and Byzantine Majority Text had ὑμῖν here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus had ημιν (KJV: unto us).