Tag Archives: 2 Samuel 12:13

Who Am I? Part 4

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I spend a large portion of my Christmas holiday with three post-Christian women I’ll call Grandmother, Mother and Daughter because of their relationship to one another.  I call them post-Christian because they were all professing Christians at one time.  Grandmother still calls herself a Christian.  She means a non-Buddhist, non-Hindu, non-Jew, non-Muslim who believes in Jesus.  Her ex-husband was a Baptist Sunday school teacher who abused her, and Mother as a child.  Daughter is the most non-Christian, vocally pagan of the three with Mother falling somewhere between.  Their transformation began with a desire for a more feminine God.  I regret now not taking Mother’s question more seriously.  I didn’t understand at the time that this desire would lead through Mother Earth to a Mother Goddess and on to full-fledged paganism.

I pointed out that yehôvâh (יהוה) created male and female: God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) created humankind in his own image, in the image of God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) he created them, male and female he created them.[1]  I talked about the meaning of El Shaddai (ʼêl, אל; shadday, שדי) and a few other references to God as feminine.  But I emphasized that the general understanding of God as masculine was due primarily to the fact that we are all feminine in relation to the operation of his grace through Jesus Christ.

I am accepted among them as the kindly, odd, somewhat benighted, old man who studies the Bible in his spare time, so ordinary conversation—what’ve you been up to?—offers many opportunities.  A recent conversation with Grandmother and Daughter turned naturally to Jesus’ dying thoughts on the cross.  I read Psalm 22 aloud.  Daughter was visibly, tearfully moved and vocally overwhelmed that David could write such exact knowledge so many centuries before Jesus was born.

I spoke of God having mercy on whoever he chooses to have mercy and hardening whoever he chooses to harden.  I said I had been considering how, and told them the story of two prophets, Nathan and John the Baptist.  When Pharisees and Sadduccees, religious leaders, came to be baptized for repentance (Matthew 3:11, 12; Mark 1:4-8; Luke 3:15-17) John said, You offspring of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?[2]  And he challenged them to put their works religion to the test: Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance…[3]

What I didn’t say but will record here for my own memory’s sake, whether these particular Pharisees and Sadduccees were directly responsible or not, John’s words were not secret and would have tended to harden the resolve of the religious elite to kill Jesus: the Lord (yehôvâh, ויהוה) desired to crush him (e.g., Jesus).  On the other hand yehôvâh desired David’s repentance and sent Nathan to that effect.

He was sent after King David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed to cover it up.  Nathan told David a story (2 Samuel 12:1-6) about a rich man who had entertained a traveler with a meal.  The rich man hadn’t served up any of his own sheep or cattle, but the one ewe lamb he took from a poor man.  Then David became very angry at this man.[4]  You are that man![5] Nathan said to him.

“Did he kill him?” Daughter asked.  I was actually surprised that she had forgotten the story.

No, I answered, I have sinned against the Lord![6] David said and then he wrote the 51st Psalm.  I got to read Psalm 51 aloud to them.  When I finished Grandmother responded to a look on Daughter’s face at the line—Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.[7]

“I don’t believe that either,” Grandmother said.

This is a point to concede by the way.  If it offends or hurts your feelings, welcome to the human race.  Being guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me is equivalent to being born of the flesh of Adam (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:42-58).  You do not want a relentless God who will pursue you with goodness and mercy all the days of your life to spend that time convincing you the hard way that you are a sinner instead (John 16:7-11).

Goodness and mercy, by the way is the NKJV translation of Psalm 23:6a.  In the NET it was translated goodness and faithfulness (chêsêd , וחסד).

chêsêd Hebrew KJV NET Tanakh Septuagint
Psalm 23:6a וחסד mercy faithfulness mercy ἔλεός[8]


Daughter informed me that my religion has a lot of guilt in it as she praised me for my adherence to it, and insisted that we, she and her pagan friends, desperately need a canon (i.e., of written scripture).

On Yule I learned that Mother had been taking drugs.  I wasn’t personally that aware of the winter solstice.  Daughter and Mother wished one another happy Yule in the car as I drove them to rehab.  It’s probably the only reason I knew anything at all.

I hadn’t known the night before that Mother had informed Daughter she was abusing drugs.  Daughter called me the next morning when Mother hesitated to actually commit herself to rehab.  In the car on the way Daughter was jubilant and excited that Mother was doing the right thing.  Yes, rehab is better than sitting home alone shooting dope, but I was much more somber and subdued.

At her home I had sat with her, held her and listened to her enough to convince myself that Mother had no interest in repentance.  Daughter was right.  My presence alone persuaded Mother to shower, dress and leave with us for the rehab facility.  But in the car I felt like I was delivering her up for more hardening.  In my admittedly limited experience I know no one who has returned to faith in Christ from the higher power mysticism of a twelve-step program.  I watched sadly the full realization of incarceration creep across her face as she was taken from us.  No matter what I say or how much I protest, Mother and Daughter believe I live a life of rules, while they are free.

I gave them My statutes, yehôvâh explained in the philosopher’s dream chapter of Ezekiel the prophet, and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live.[9] I call it the philosopher’s dream chapter because yehôvâh explained so much of his own understanding of Israel’s history there.  Then the twelve-year-old Jesus had this chapter at his disposal to renew and refresh his now human mind.

The Hebrew word translated My statutes was chûqqâh (חקותי).  It was translated προστάγματά in the Septuagint.  The Hebrew word translated My ordinances was mishpâṭ (משפטי), and δικαιώματά, a form of δικαίωμα, in the Septuagint.  This was translated the righteous requirements in: Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys the righteous requirements (δικαιώματα, a form of δικαίωμα) of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?[10]

In the same chapter yehôvâh explained: I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.[11]  Here the Hebrew word translated statutes was chôq (חקים); chûqqâh is the feminine of chôq according to Strong’s Concordance.  It was still translated προστάγματα in the Septuagint.  And again, the word translated ordinances was mishpâṭ (ומשפטים) in Hebrew and δικαιώματα in the Septuagint.  I don’t think these are different statutes or different ordinances.

The commandment…was intended to bring life.[12]  The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.[13]  But if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.[14]  God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh.[15]  For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.[16]  For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.  For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.[17]

Also I gave them My Sabbaths, yehôvâh said in the philosopher’s dream chapter, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who sanctifies them.[18]

In practice many professing faith in Jesus do not believe that yehôvâh/Jesus sanctifies[19] them.  We trust Him for justification only, primarily forgiveness.  We believe our sanctification is a measure of our own good works, obedience accomplished in our own strength for our own glory.  We do not believe that here and now a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.  For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works.[20]  I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.[21]  Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience[22] (ἀπειθείας, a form of ἀπείθεια; literally, disbelief)  Do we then nullify the law through faith?  Absolutely not!  Instead we uphold the law.[23]

I want to consider the movie The Host as a Holy Spirit metaphor for one who does not yet experience Him.  There are many spoilers here and as a metaphor the film is fatally flawed.  But in the hope of communicating some small portion of the Ineffable, here goes.

“The earth is at peace,” a resistance leader named Jebediah (William Hurt) narrates the beginning of the film.  “There is no hunger.  There is no violence.  The environment is healed.  Honesty, courtesy and kindness are practiced by all.  Our world has never been more perfect.  Only it is no longer our world.  We’ve been invaded by an alien race.  They occupy the bodies of almost all human beings on the planet.  The few humans who have survived are on the run.”

Then we are introduced to Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) fleeing her enemies: honesty, courtesy and kindness.  Following her earthly father’s example, she attempts suicide but lives, despite her best efforts, only to be possessed by Wanderer (also Saoirse Ronan).  Melanie’s old human survives to fight Wanderer for control of their body.

The Seeker (Diane Kruger) interviews Wanderer to glean Melanie’s memories for knowledge of other old humans in the resistance underground.  When she decides that Melanie’s old human is too strong for Wanderer, she plans to put Wanderer in a more compliant host, search Melanie’s memories herself and then let Melanie die the death she wanted.  But Wanderer has begun to love Melanie.  They flee The Seeker together.

Melanie tricks Wanderer into the desert and leads her to Uncle Jebediah and the underground resistance.  Uncle Jeb uses all of his authority as a leader to keep others in the resistance from killing the obviously possessed Melanie/Wanderer.  Even Melanie’s lover Jared (Max Irons) has no sympathy for her at first.  In a get-to-know-you walk-and-talk Uncle Jeb shortens Wanderer’s name to Wanda.

Melanie begins to love Wanda as she witnesses Wanda’s concern for the people Melanie loves, even some she hates or is indifferent toward.  The metaphor breaks down, of course.  The holy spirits, called souls in the film, are many and varied, and some or not as holy as Wanda.  The Seeker ironically becomes almost human in her fears that she personally is losing control to her host Lacey (also Diane Kruger) and that the holy spirits may ultimately lose their possession of the humans.  In the end The Host becomes Satan’s wet dream as The Seeker’s fears become flesh: holy spirits collaborate with the resistance to rid humans of the holy spirits.

 

Mother is on the verge of bankruptcy.  I helped her in a similar position nearly twenty years ago.  She called me before I left for Christmas.  I offered to help again.  She accepted.  As I drove the hundred miles or so to my own mother’s house the evening after Mother committed herself to rehab I understood why we hadn’t met to review her finances yet.  I recalled the things I’ve said and done with Grandmother, Mother and Daughter, fretted over some things I hadn’t said or done and heard Darth Vader echoing in my head, saying, “Now his failure is complete.”

As far as I know I am the believer of record in their lives.  I will give an account of this stewardship before Jesus.  As the enormity of my failure to live a life that commends others to Jesus inundated me in crushing waves, the image of my mother scrubbing the basement floor on her hands and knees popped into my mind.  Of all the things she had said or done, of all the things I might have complained that she hadn’t said or done, this simple image stuck with me.

I had overdosed on some hallucinogen.  I had thrown up all night long on her basement floor.  My mother cleaning up after me became a living metaphor of my life.  I had returned to drugs because a simple taste a few days earlier brought back the feeling I had lost since my early days of trusting Jesus again.  I made many more bad decisions along the way.  But my mother never gave up on me.

As I drove through the dark hills thinking perhaps I had been spared from helping Mother again financially, the admonition of my penny-pinching father came to mind:

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

The words weren’t his but Rudyard Kipling’s.[24]  A man like me would be a fool to attempt Kipling’s vision of manhood apart from the Holy Spirit.  But the image of my mother’s loving persistence and my father’s words of counsel gave me some hope that I was there, the right person at the right place and time.  And that image and those words carried me through that dark night until the continuous infusion of the Holy Spirit’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and control took over again the next morning.

[1] Genesis 1:27 (NET)

[2] Matthew 3:7 (NET)

[3] Matthew 3:8 (NET)

[4] 2 Samuel 12:5a (NET) Table

[5] 2 Samuel 12:7a (NET) Table

[6] 2 Samuel 12:13a (NET) Table

[7] Psalm 51:5 (NET) Table

[8] In the Septuagint both chêsêd (וחסד) and ṭôb (טוב) were translated by the one Greek word ἔλεός.

[9] Ezekiel 20:11 (NASB)

[10] Romans 2:26 (NET) Table

[11] Ezekiel 20:25 (NASB)

[12] Romans 7:10 (NET)

[13] Romans 7:12 (NET)

[14] Galatians 3:21b (NET)

[15] Romans 8:3a (NET)

[16] Romans 7:11 (NET)

[17] Romans 7:14, 15 (NET)

[18] Ezekiel 20:12 (NASB)

[19] When I struggled the most with this concept my Pastor was from the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  Today, as I scanned their webpage titled “Sanctification,” nothing jumps out at me as problematic except my own spiritual tic.  My flesh and my religious mind hear obedience in step 3 “to A Spirit-Filled Life”—“We maintain a continuous relationship with Jesus through obedience to His Word”—as a trigger word, calling me back to a DIY works religion.  But now I just translate obedience back into Greek, ὑπακοή, attentive hearkening, and the trigger obey disappears.  I remain (μείνατε, a form of μένω) in Jesus through faith instead (which is the actual word used in John 15:1-11 the Scriptural source of step 3).

[Addendum 1/26/2017] I’m not so sure Paul would agree that 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 “clearly teaches that there are two kinds of Christians.”

[20] Hebrews 4:9, 10 (NET)

[21] Galatians 2:20 (NET)

[22] Hebrews 4:11 (NET)

[23] Romans 3:31 (NET)

[24] If, by Rudyard Kipling

Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 2

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I studied ʽâbar through Genesis.  Nothing so far justifies translating it forgiven in Nathan’s response to David’s confession—Yes, and the Lord has forgiven (ʽâbar, העביר; Septuagint: παρεβίβασεν) your sin.[1]  But ʽâbar kept some evocative company for anyone studying the Torah in Hebrew (Genesis 6:5-7, 11-13 NET).

But the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth.  Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.  The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.  So the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”

The earth was ruined in the sight of God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, האלהים); the earth was filled with violence.  God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful.  So God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) said to Noah, “I have decided that all living creatures must die, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.  Now I am about to destroy them and the earth.

His chosen method of destruction was water: I am about to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them.  Everything that is on the earth will die…[2]  The waters completely overwhelmed the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.[3]  So [He] destroyed every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky.  They were wiped off the earth.  Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived.  The waters prevailed over the earth for 150 days.[4]

Then ʽâbar was the action of the wind that proceeded (if not caused) the recession of the waters of this destruction: But God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) remembered Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark.  God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים) caused a wind to blow (ʽâbar, ויעבר; Septuagint: ἐπήγαγεν) over the earth and the waters receded.[5]

The next occurrences of ʽâbar are found in the story of Abram/Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3 NET):

Now the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said to Abram, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you [Table].  Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing [Table].  I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name” [Table].

So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do,[6] and ʽâbar was what Abram did as he obeyed yehôvâh.  Abram traveled (ʽâbar, ויעבר; Septuagint: διώδευσεν[7]) through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem.[8]

I am the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), He said to Abram still clearly within the word of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) that came to Abram in a vision,[9] who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.[10]  O sovereign (ʼădônây, אדני) Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), by what can I know that I am to possess it?[11] Take for me a heifer, He answered, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.[12]

I suppose it is possible that Abram took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other[13] outside of the vision of verses 1-9.  Perhaps I am meant to take—When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away[14]—in precisely that mundane way.  Then when the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him[15] and Abram had a second vision.

My problem with this interpretation is that as Abram slept nocturnal birds of prey came to feast upon the carcasses of the heifer, the goat, the ram, the dove and the pigeon he had protected all day for yehôvâh in the real world, even as Abram heard and saw something completely different in a dream.  I am more inclined to take the text at face value and assume that Abram acted within the vision of Genesis 15:1 and that he was a dream within a vision deep in Genesis 15:13-16 (NET):

Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country.  They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years [Table].  But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve.  Afterward they will come out with many possessions [Table].  But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age [Table].  In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit [Table].

Then ʽâbar was the action of a smoking firepot with a flaming torch in a vision designed to overcome the doubts of Abram the believer:[16] When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed (ʽâbar, עבר; Septuagint: διῆλθον) between the animal parts.[17]  It would have been disconcerting, to say the least, if Abram woke up the next morning to find the bones picked clean by nocturnal birds and other scavengers.

That day, the vision concluded, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River [Table]– the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, [Table] Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, [Table] Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites [Table].”[18]

This brings me to the beginning of the Parashat Vayera (פרשת וירא), Genesis 18:1-22:24.  Ben Zion Katz, a pediatrician and self-proclaimed recreational Bible scholar, in an essay—“God’s Appearance to Abraham: Vision or Visit?”—posted on TheTorah.com contrasted “The Traditional Approach” to “A Peshat Reading” of Genesis 18.  In the traditional approach Abraham interrupted a vision of God to entertain three guests.  “This reading thus exemplifies the performance of two mitzvot – visiting the sick and welcoming guests.”

Even when I searched the Bible for mitzvot I was never quite this clever.  I certainly recognized Abraham’s hospitality but had serious doubts and questions about Lot’s practice of the same with two of the same men.  And I didn’t see “visiting the sick” here until I read Dr. Katz article: “God is ‘visiting’ Abraham (in a vision) because Abraham was recuperating from his circumcision.”  As long as I searched the Bible for rules to obey I, like Nicodemus, didn’t see—I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God[19]—as the take away message of the Old Testament.

I was taught that I must be born again.  I was taught to mock Nicodemus’ dull-wittedness: How can a man be born when he is old?  He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?[20] And, How can these things be?[21] But I didn’t understand Jesus’ retort either (John 3:10-12 NET):

Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things?  I tell you the solemn truth, we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony.  If I have told you people about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

I was George McFly in the diner in “Back to the Future.”  I felt as bullied by Jesus as he did by Biff Tannen.  When Jesus turned his attention to Nicodemus, like Biff’s followers turned on Marty, I could feel like a winner for a moment, piling on Nicodemus.  But only for a moment, for Jesus was soon back to bullying me as his words seemed at the time.  God come to earth, mocking everyone who was not God.

The revolution came when I began to see Jesus as a baby and a child learning everything anew.  He studied the Hebrew Bible, what I call the Old Testament, and from it through the Holy Spirit learned the solemn truth (John 3:5-8 NET):

unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’  The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

You must all be born from above, because no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.[22]  God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.[23]

Dr. Katz continued:

Although clever and ethically uplifting, the traditional reading is not the peshat, the plain meaning of the text. The peshat reading, which is in consonance with modern literary analysis, is rather straightforward.  In verse 1, we are given an introduction that God appeared to Abraham.  That appearance then begins in verse 2, and of the 3 “people” Abraham sees, one is God personified while the other 2 are angels or messengers of God.

My lord (ʼâdôn, אדני), Abraham said, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass (ʽâbar, תעבר; Septuagint: παρέλθῃς[24]) by and leave your servant.[25]  Here ʽâbar became the action that yehôvâh would take if He did not favor Abraham.  Let a little water be brought so that you may all wash your feet and rest under the tree,[26] Abraham continued.  It sounds to me as if Abraham wished to honor his guests in a manner in keeping with the favor their consenting to be his guests implied.  But in the “traditional” commentary Abraham was seen as a strict adherent 430 years before the law:

and bathe your feet: He thought that they were Arabs, who prostrate themselves to the dust of their feet, and he was strict not to allow any idolatry into his house.  But Lot, who was not strict, mentioned lodging before washing, as it is said (below 19:2): “and lodge and bathe your feet.” – [from Gen. Rabbah 54:4]

And let me get a bit of food, Abraham continued, so that you may refresh yourselves since you have passed (ʽâbar, עברתם; Septuagint: ἐξεκλίνατε[27]) by your servant’s home.  After that you may (ʽâbar, תעברו; Septuagint: παρελεύσεσθε[28]) be on your way.[29]  Here even the “traditional” commentary recognized the honor Abraham perceived:

because you have passed by: For I request this from you [i.e., to sustain your hearts] because you have passed by me [i.e., have stopped in my home] to honor me.

If yehôvâh consented not to ʽâbar by Abraham, Abraham’s hospitality would become the reason that yehôvâh ʽâbar Abraham’s tent.  All right, yehôvâh and his two companions replied, you may do as you say.[30]

After Sarah died Abraham negotiated with Ephron for a field with a cave to bury her body.  It was a curious negotiation.  As a wanderer in the promised land Abraham owned no property.  As a respected prince Ephron was willing to give him the property, but Abraham insisted that he would pay full price.  Here ʽâbar was according to the standard of that price: So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price and weighed out for him the price that Ephron had quoted in the hearing of the sons of Heth – 400 pieces of silver, according to the standard (ʽâbar, עבר; Septuagint: δοκίμου) measurement at the time.[31]  The note in the NET reads: “Heb ‘passing for the merchant.’  The final clause affirms that the measurement of silver was according to the standards used by the merchants of the time.”

I’ll continue in the next essay.

[1] 2 Samuel 12:13b (NET) Table

[2] Genesis 6:17 (NET)

[3] Genesis 7:18 (NET)

[4] Genesis 7:23, 24 (NET)

[5] Genesis 8:1 (NET)

[6] Genesis 12:4a (NET)

[7] διώδευσεν, a form of διοδεύω

[8] Genesis 12:6a (NET)

[9] Genesis 15:1 (NET)

[10] Genesis 15:7 (NET)

[11] Genesis 15:8 (NET)

[12] Genesis 15:9 (NET) Table

[13] Genesis 15:10 (NET) Table

[14] Genesis 15:11 (NET) Table

[15] Genesis 15:12 (NET) Table

[16] For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3 NET, quoting Genesis 15:6 NKJV)

[17] Genesis 15:17 (NET) Table

[18] Genesis 15:18-21 (NET)

[19] John 3:3 (NET) Table

[20] John 3:4 (NET)

[21] John 3:9 (NET)

[22] Romans 3:20 (NET)

[23] Romans 8:3, 4 (NET)

[24] παρέλθῃς, a form of παρέρχομαι

[25] Genesis 18:3 (NET)

[26] Genesis 18:4 (NET)

[27] ἐξεκλίνατε, a form of ἐκκλίνω

[28] παρελεύσεσθε, another form of παρέρχομαι

[29] Genesis 18:5a (NET)

[30] Genesis 18:5b (NET)

[31] Genesis 23:16 (NET)

Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 1

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Revisiting an essay—David’s Forgiveness, Part 1—I realized I had put an inordinate emphasis on the word forgiven without looking into the meaning of the original Hebrew word.  My suspicion of Bible translators feels at times like a paranoid schizophrenic’s fear of the CIA.  Lapses like this one renew my appreciation for the maxim, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”[1]

This essay could be very short.  I could simply say that Nathan actually responded to David’s confession with the words, Yes, and the Lord has passed over[2] (ʽâbar) your sin.  You are not going to die.[3]  Such a translation would agree with Paul’s assessment of God’s past actions: God in his forbearance had passed over (πάρεσιν, a form of πάρεσις) the sins previously committed.[4]  I could simply accept the text at face value, that ʽâbar is not forgiveness and God is free to exact whatever penalty He chooses.

It seems like an ironclad argument.  But five of the twelve Bibles I checked translate ʽâbar in 2 Samuel 12:13 forgiven or forgives.  Of the remaining seven four have it put away, two are taken away, and one, Jehovah hath caused thy sin to pass away.  How different is that from forgiven really?

ʽâbar 2 Samuel 12:13

Bible Versions
forgiven NET, CEV, NAB
put away ASV, DNT, KJV, NKJV
taken away GWT, NIV
forgives TEV, TMSG
pass away YLT

Do the translators believe that this is all I should expect from the forgiveness God exalted Jesus to give to Israel?  God exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness (ἄφεσιν, a form of ἄφεσις) of sins.[5]  Apparently a primary verb to forgive is as absent from holy Hebrew as it is from pagan Greek.  The concept to forgive is either shoehorned into, or extrapolated from, other verbs in both languages.  [Addendum 2/14/2018: This is wrong regarding Hebrew: sâlach (סלח).]  That gives me cause to study ʽâbar in more detail to get a feel for its capacity to carry forgiveness.

I had the opportunity to go home for a month at Christmas.  Home is a relative concept.  I alternated between my mother’s house visiting her, my sister and her husband, and my ex-mother-in-law’s house about a hundred miles north visiting her, my kids, my ex-wife and her husband.  The day after I arrived I attended my son’s wedding.

We all sat in the front row.  I offered the seat next to our ex-wife to my son’s biological father.  He declined the offer and sat next to me.  (Her current husband sat on her other side.)  He is about two years from a painful break-up with his significant other.  He leaned over and whispered to me, “I don’t know how you do it.  I don’t think I could sit next to my ex, smiling, at her son’s wedding.”  He gave me the opportunity to say that I couldn’t take the credit, that it is not my doing so much as my getting out of the way of the Lord’s doing: his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and firm control.  He received it well and acknowledged that he was seeking a similar peace.

Later, in a phone conversation with another friend who questioned me more specifically about the fruit of the Spirit, I acknowledged that sadly the Lord’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness aren’t always my first impulse.  Sometimes letting the fruit of his Spirit shine through me is a matter of waiting in that firm control until the second, third or fourth impulse holds sway.  But as I think of it now there is something else that makes friendship with my ex-wife possible.

I forgave her for divorcing me.  I forgive her every night I go to bed alone and every morning I wake up.  And I will forgive her for as long as we both shall live.  “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel…[6]  I don’t forgive her because I am so righteous.

Jesus taught us to pray, forgive (ἄφες, a form of ἀφίημι) us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven (ἀφήκαμεν, another form of ἀφίημι) our debtors.[7]  I, a sinful man in need of the Father’s forgiveness, pray this daily, and I believe Jesus’ saying: For if you forgive (ἀφῆτε, another form of ἀφίημι) others their sins (παραπτώματα, a form of παράπτωμα), your heavenly Father will also forgive (ἀφήσει, another form of ἀφίημι) you.  But if you do not forgive (ἀφῆτε, another form of ἀφίημι) others, your Father will not forgive (ἀφήσει, another form of ἀφίημι) you your sins (παραπτώματα, a form of παράπτωμα).[8]

And here I probably give myself too much credit for rational consistency.  I forgive because I am schooled in this teaching by the Holy Spirit and filled continuously with his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and firm control.  It occurs to me, however, that one who feels more righteous than I, might feel less need of the Father’s forgiveness and less compulsion to forgive others.  The fault in this logic is that the most righteous man of all prayed, Father, forgive (ἄφες, a form of ἀφίημι) them, for they don’t know what they are doing[9] as He surrendered[10] to his Father’s will.

The Father’s answer to his beloved Son’s request is the hope of all us sinners if it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy[11] (ἐλεῶντος, a form of ἐλεέω).  For God has consigned all people to disobedience (ἀπείθειαν, a form of ἀπείθεια) so that he may show mercy (ἐλεήσῃ, another form of ἐλεέω) to them all.[12]  What shall we say then?  Is there injustice with God?  Absolutely not!  For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy (ἐλεήσω, another form of ἐλεέω) on whom I have mercy (ἐλεῶ, another form of ἐλεέω), and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[13]

The Greek word ὡς persuades me that forgiveness is, and will be perceived as, a relative as opposed to an absolute concept.  So then, be perfect, as (ὡς) your heavenly Father is perfect.[14]  Whenever you pray, do not be like (ὡς) the hypocrites…[15]  …may your will be done on earth as (ὡς) it is in heaven.[16]  …and forgive us our debts, as (ὡς) we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.[17]  The absolute on/off positions are clear.[18]  But some form of continuum from none to full pardon seems to be indicated by ὡς, contingent upon that quality of forgiveness we extend to others.

Still, I would suggest that we will be inclined to extend the same forgiveness to others that we believe we receive from God.  If that forgiveness seems to include punishment we are more likely to believe that some form of punishment should be meted out with our forgiveness as well.  Or if the one extending such forgiveness has no authority to punish, conditions may be attached, making forgiveness something that must be earned as opposed to something graciously given and received.  I take the interaction between David and Shimei as a case in point.

As David fled from Jerusalem during the events that fulfilled the Lord’s promise to bring disaster (raʽ ) on you from inside your own household,[19] Shimei threw stones and yelled, “Leave!  Leave!  You man of bloodshed, you wicked man!  The Lord has punished (shûb) you for all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule.  Now the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom.  Disaster (raʽ ) has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed [Table]!”[20]  Clearly, Shimei’s assessment does not agree with Nathan the prophet’s assessment.

Nathan the Prophet’s Assessment

This is what the Lord God of Israel says:

2 Samuel 12:7b (NET) Table

Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my sight?

2 Samuel 12:9a (NET) Table
You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword…

2 Samuel 12:9b (NET)

 …and you have taken his wife as your own!

2 Samuel 2:9c (NET)
You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.  So now the sword will never depart from your house.

2 Samuel 12:9d, 10a (NET)

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

2 Samuel 12:10b (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) Table1 Table2
Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!”  Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has ʽâbar your sin.  You are not going to die.

2 Samuel 12:13 (NET) Table
Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.

2 Samuel 12:14 (NET) Table

The Hebrew word translated punished (shûb) is not found among the words the Lord God of Israel spoke through Nathan,[21] though I have certainly interpreted them as if they described recompense.  As a child I assumed that “forgiveness” only pertained to hell.  I believed that God would still punish me for my sins some other way.  He couldn’t help Himself, I thought, it’s who He is.

Abishai couldn’t tolerate hearing his king and commander spoken to as Shimei had spoken to him: Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?  Let me go over (ʽâbar) and cut off his head![22]  Abishai’s use of ʽâbar doesn’t sound much like forgiveness, but David said, “What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah?  If he curses because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David!’, who can say to him, ‘Why have you done this [Table]?’”[23]  David exercised what I have come to call an experimental faith (2 Samuel 16:11, 12 NKJV):

And David said to Abishai and all his servants, “See how my son who came from my own body seeks my life.  How much more now may this Benjamite?  Let him alone, and let him curse; for so the Lord has ordered him [Table].  It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and that the Lord will repay (shûb) me with good for his cursing this day [Table].”

As David returned, lamenting his Pyrrhic victory[24] over his son Absalom, Shimei was one of the first[25] to greet him.  Don’t think badly of me, my lord, he said, and don’t recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left Jerusalem!  Please don’t call it to mind!  For I, your servant, know that I sinned, and I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.[26]  These are reminiscent of David’s words after Nathan confronted him (Psalm 51:1-3 NET):

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love!  Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! [Table]  Wash away my wrongdoing!  Cleanse me of my sin! [Table]  For I am aware of my rebellious acts; I am forever conscious of my sin [Table].

Abishai, who may have been hiding with David in the cave when Saul entered to relieve himself,[27] pursued a pious good (possibly expecting David’s approval): For this should not Shimei be put to death?  After all, he cursed the Lord’s anointed (mâshı̂yach)![28]  But David seemed to pursue something more like a beautiful good: What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah?  You are like my enemy today!  Should anyone be put to death in Israel today?  Don’t you realize that today I am king over Israel?[29]

David said to Shimei, “You won’t die.”  The king vowed an oath concerning this.[30]  Here it sounds like he forgave Shimei.  But apparently that wasn’t the case.  He held onto his grudge against Shimei for the rest of his life.  With his dying breath[31] he instructed Solomon, another son by Bathsheba (1 Kings 2:8, 9 NET):

Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim.  He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down with the sword.’  But now don’t treat him as if he were innocent.  You are a wise man and you know how to handle him; make sure he has a bloody death.

The Lord however didn’t treat David that way.  He didn’t recall David’s sin when He spoke to Jeroboams’s wife by Ahijah the prophet (1 Kings 14:7, 8 NET Table1 Table2):

“Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.  I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only (raq) what I approve.”’”

This is another reason I wish to look deeper into ʽâbar.  Whatever it means, it altered reality for the God, who does not lie[32] when He extended it to David.

[1] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/98153-just-because-you-re-paranoid-doesn-t-mean-they-aren-t-after-you

[2] The first occurrence in the Bible is Genesis 8:1b (NKJV), And God made a wind to pass (ʽâbar) over the earth, and the waters subsided.

[3] 2 Samuel 12:13b (NET) Table

[4] Romans 3:25b (NET)

[5] Acts 5:31 (NET)

[6] Malachi 2:16a (NET) Table

[7] Matthew 6:12 (NET) Table

[8] Matthew 6:14, 15 (NET) Table

[9] Luke 23:34a (NET) Table

[10] Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled (πληρωθῶσιν, a form of πληρόω)? (Matthew 26:53, 54 NET) Table

[11] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

[12] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[13] Romans 9:14, 15 (NET)

[14] Matthew 5:48 (NET)

[15] Matthew 6:5a (NET) Table

[16] Matthew 6:10b (NET)

[17] Matthew 6:12 (NET)

[18] Matthew 6:14, 15 (NET)

[19] 2 Samuel 12:11 (NET) Table

[20] 2 Samuel 16:7, 8 (NET)

[21] It does occur in the description of events leading up to and following those words (2 Samuel 11:4, 15; 12:23) but seems to be used in its more literal sense, to return.

[22] 2 Samuel 16:9 (NET)

[23] 2 Samuel 16:10 (NET)

[24] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory See: 2 Samuel 18:33 (NET)

[25] 2 Samuel 19:16 (NET)

[26] 2 Samuel 19:19, 20 (NET)

[27] 1 Samuel 24:3 (NET)

[28] 2 Samuel 19:21 (NET)  See also: 1 Samuel 24:6 (NET)

[29] 2 Samuel 19:22 (NET)

[30] 2 Samuel 19:23 (NET)

[31] 1 Kings 2:10 (NET)

[32] Titus 1:2 (NET)

David’s Forgiveness, Part 1

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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 weak.  Do 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).

Jedidiah, Part 2

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Imagine if Bill Clinton or George W. Bush did what David did and got off like that.  But I’m more interested in knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ,1 and trying to understand Him these days, than fretting over ancient history.  Besides, I’m nobody, and though I probably deserve Nadab’s, Abihu’s and Achan’s fate more than they did, the Lord has treated me more like David (not that any prophets have come calling).  And for all his patience and kindness, what has He gotten in return from me?  Unbelief, at least lingering doubt.  That’s the essence of my perversity.

I laugh at myself when I stumble around wondering if I can really distinguish God’s kindness and patience toward me from his non-existence: “What is it, Dan?  You need Him to strike you with lightning to prove that He loves you?”  But for the most part that doubt is overcome by Bible study.  My day is sort of empty when I’m too tired to study any more.  I wake in the morning excited to get to it again.  I chafe when my “real life” impinges on my study time.  The Eric Liddell character in Chariots of Fire said something like, “When I run, I feel his pleasure.”  I’m not a runner.  But when I study the Bible I feel his pleasure.

If I am honest the real issue of doubt for me is something else now.  Being struck down by lightning is something I can live up to; been there, done that, mission accomplished!  The doubt creeps in when I consider living up to his patience and kindness.  Can I do that in a lifetime? In an eternity?  I know the answer is yes and no.  No, I can’t.  Yes, He can, by his Spirit, through his grace.  But the doubt lingers all the same.  David, however, remained faithful despite God’s forgiveness.

He wrote a song after Nathan confronted him:  Have mercy on me, O God, because I’m not such a bad guy.  No, that’s not what he wrote.   Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love!  Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts!  Wash away my wrongdoing!2  Somehow, in a way my perversity has forbidden me from fully embracing, David saw through all the commandments, laws, crimes and punishments to a God who is loyal love and great compassion.  And David believed that God’s loyal love and great compassion were sufficient cause to wipe away his rebellious acts and wash away his wrongdoing despite all the commandments, laws, crimes and punishments proscribed against him.

Of course, this might have been desperate emotional hyperbole:  David, the sinner in the hands of an angry God, trying to convince himself and perhaps persuade God that God’s loyal love and great compassion were good reasons to spare David’s life.  I was certainly no stranger to emotional hyperbole.  I wrote off a lot of the sayings of Jesus and most of Paul’s writings as just that—emotional hyperbole, wild exaggeration.  But the more I failed to keep my end of the contract with God, the more I sinned despite my best efforts not to, the more I turned a willing ear to Paul’s letters, to those things that are hard to understand,” as Peter described Paul’s writing (2 Peter 3:14-16 NET).

Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for these things, strive to be found at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence.  And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of these things in all his letters.3  Some things in these letters4 are hard to understand, things the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures.

Paul had written (Romans 13:8-10 NET Table):

Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no wrong to a neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

On this point Jesus and Paul seemed to agree.  When asked, Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?  Jesus answered (Matthew 22:36-40 NET):

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart,5 with all your soul,6 and with all your mind.”  This is the first and greatest7 commandment.  The second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  All the law and the prophets depend8 on these two commandments.

“I’ve been going about this all wrong,” I thought.  I had been attempting to do a negative.  I was trying not to sin.  What I should have been doing was trying to love.  I had missed the significance of these passages many times because I thought love was an emotion, a feeling.  I knew that no feeling would solve my sin problem.  But this time I had connected these passages with Paul’s definition of love.9  Love was anything and everything but an emotion according to Paul.  So I took Paul’s definition and reworked it.  It became my new law.

Love is patient, love is kind,10 Paul penned.  Thou shalt be patient, I reworked the text.  Thou shalt be kind.  Thou shalt not be envious.  Thou shalt not brag.  Thou shalt not be puffed up.  Thou shalt not be rude.  Thou shalt not be self-serving.  Thou shalt not be easily angered.  Thou shalt not be resentful.  Thou shalt not be glad about injustice.  Thou shalt rejoice in the truth.  Thou shalt bear all things.  Thou shalt believe all things.  Thou shalt hope all things.  Thou shalt endure all things.

Though such things are difficult to measure, I think it is fair to say that I did incrementally better at not sinning by trying to love like this rather than trying not to sin.  But “incrementally better” was a long way from anything anyone would mistake for righteousness.  Meanwhile, I kept reading Paul with my ears slightly more open.  It occurred to me that Paul didn’t think his definition of love was just a list of rules he made for me to obey.  Paul thought he was describing love as Jesus himself loved.  The idea was staggering.

I began to use my commandments, “Thou shalt not be puffed up, rude, or self-serving” to force myself to hear Jesus in a new way.  No matter what I thought or felt about how puffed-up, self-serving and rude Jesus was, I told myself he was not puffed-up, self-serving or rude, because that would be contrary to the law of his own love.  There had to be other explanations.

Also, I began to wonder, if 1 Corinthians actually was a definition of Jesus’ love, of God’s love, could I make myself righteous—love like Jesus—by turning the definition into a law and striving to obey it?  As I considered that, it seemed that Paul was shouting at me:  crazy things, hopeful things, alarming-could-they-possibly-be-true-I’ve-never-heard-anything-like-these-things-in-my-life things.  So I went searching through the Old Testament, looking for any precedent for these wonderful, frightening things.  And in that state of mind David’s confession did not seem like emotional hyperbole to me.  In fact, there are two David’s revealed in the Scripture.

Nathan went home.  The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the child became very ill.11  David fasted and prayed and wept.  He spent the night lying on the ground.  He wouldn’t eat and he refused to listen to those who pleaded with him to take better care of himself.  A week later the child died.  The people around David were afraid to tell him.

While the child was still alive he would not listen to us, they said.  How can we tell him that the child is dead?12  David was so distraught they thought he would hurt or possibly kill himself.  He noticed them whispering to one another.  Is the child dead? David asked.  Yes,13 they replied.

So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate.14

David’s people didn’t know what to make of this.  While the child was still alive, you fasted and wept, they exclaimed.  Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!   David explained, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, “Perhaps the Lord will show pity and the child will live.”  But now he is dead.  Why should I fast?  Am I able to bring him back?  I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!”15

So the former David expressed what I’ll call an experimental faith: Let’s see what God will do if I do this.  The latter David displayed what I can only call a super-rational faith accompanied by a profound peace.  There was nothing cold about it.  On the contrary, David was the same man whose first concern was not for his own welfare but rather how he might change God’s mind and if possible spare the cursed child.

This latter David, I believe, was the one who penned the song I am considering:  Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love!  Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts!  Wash away my wrongdoing!  David was neither emotionally distraught nor particularly concerned for his own welfare when he wrote those words.  For Psalm 51 was written sometime after Nathan informed David:  Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin.  You are not going to die.16

 

Addendum: October 4, 2019
A table of English translations of the Deuteronomy 6:5 from the Masoretic text and the Septuagint follows:

Masoretic Text

 Septuagint
Deuteronomy 6:5 (Tanakh) Deuteronomy 6:5 (NET) Deuteronomy 6:5 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 6:5 (English Elpenor)
And thou shalt love HaShem thy G-d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. And you shall love the Lord your God with the whole of your mind and with the whole of your soul and with the whole of your power. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and all thy strength.

A table comparing the Greek of Matthew 22:37 with that of Deuteronomy 6:5 follows:

Matthew 22:37 (NET)

 Deuteronomy 6:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 6:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐν ὅλῃ |τῇ| καρδίᾳ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ σου ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς δυνάμεώς σου ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς δυνάμεώς σου

A table of English translations of the Leviticus 19:18 from the Masoretic text and the Septuagint follows:

Masoretic Text

Septuagint

Leviticus 19:18 (Tanakh)

 Leviticus 19:18 (NET) Leviticus 19:18 (NETS)

Leviticus 19:18 (English Elpenor)
Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am HaShem. You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the Lord. And your own hand shall not take vengeance, and you shall not be angry against the sons of your people, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself; it is I who am the Lord. And thy hand shall not avenge thee; and thou shalt not be angry with the children of thy people; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; I am the Lord

A table comparing the Greek of Matthew 22:39 with that of Leviticus 19:18 follows:

Matthew 22:39 (NET)

 Leviticus 19:18 (Septuagint BLB)

Leviticus 19:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν

Tables comparing Psalm 51:1; 51:2; Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18; 2 Samuel 12:15; 12:18; 12:19; 12:20; 12:21; 12:22 and 12:23 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing Psalm 51:1 (50:1-3); 51:2 (50:4); Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18; 2 Samuel (Kings, Reigns) 12:15; 12:18; 12:19; 12:20; 12:21; 12:22 and 12:23 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.  Following those are tables comparing 2 Peter 3:16; Matthew 22:37, 38 and 22:40 in the NET and KJV.

Psalm 51:1 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 51:1 (KJV)

Psalm 51:1 (NET)
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. For the music director, a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba.  Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love.  Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts.

Psalm 51:1 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 50:1-3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἰς τὸ τέλος ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυιδ ἐν τῷ ἐλθεῗν πρὸς αὐτὸν Ναθαν τὸν προφήτην ἡνίκα εἰσῆλθεν πρὸς Βηρσαβεε ἐλέησόν με ὁ θεός κατὰ τὸ μέγα ἔλεός σου καὶ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν σου ἐξάλειψον τὸ ἀνόμημά μου Εἰς τὸ τέλος· ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυΐδ ἐν τῷ ἐλθεῖν πρὸς αὐτὸν Νάθαν τὸν προφήτην, ἡνίκα εἰσῆλθε πρὸς Βηρσαβεέ. – ΕΛΕΗΣΟΝ με, ὁ Θεός, κατὰ τὸ μέγα ἔλεός σου καὶ κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν σου ἐξάλειψον τὸ ἀνόμημά μου

Psalm 50:1-3 (NETS)

Psalm 50:1-3 (English Elpenor)
Regarding completion.  A psalm.  Pertaining to Dauid.  When the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bersabee.  Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy, and according to the abundance of your compassion blot out my lawless deed. [For the end, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, when he had gone to Bersabee.]  Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of thy compassions blot out my transgression.

Psalm 51:2 (Tanakh)

 Psalm 51:2 (KJV)

Psalm 51:2 (NET)
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Wash away my wrongdoing.  Cleanse me of my sin.

Psalm 51:2 (Septuagint BLB)

Psalm 50:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐπὶ πλεῗον πλῦνόν με ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνομίας μου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας μου καθάρισόν με ἐπὶ πλεῖον πλῦνόν με ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνομίας μου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας μου καθάρισόν με

Psalm 50:4 (NETS)

Psalm 50:4 (English Elpenor)
Wash me thoroughly from my lawlessness, and from my sin cleanse me, Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Deuteronomy 6:5 (Tanakh)

 Deuteronomy 6:5 (KJV)

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NET)
And thou shalt love HaShem thy G-d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Deuteronomy 6:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς δυνάμεώς σου καὶ ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς δυνάμεώς σου

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NETS)

Deuteronomy 6:5 (English Elpenor)
And you shall love the Lord your God with the whole of your mind and with the whole of your soul and with the whole of your power. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and all thy strength.

Leviticus 19:18 (Tanakh)

 Leviticus 19:18 (KJV)

Leviticus 19:18 (NET)
Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am HaShem. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you must love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:18 (Septuagint BLB)

Leviticus 19:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ οὐκ ἐκδικᾶταί σου ἡ χείρ καὶ οὐ μηνιεῗς τοῗς υἱοῗς τοῦ λαοῦ σου καὶ ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος καὶ οὐκ ἐκδικᾶταί σου ἡ χείρ, καὶ οὐ μηνιεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ λαοῦ σου, καὶ ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν· ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος

Leviticus 19:18 (NETS)

Leviticus 19:18 (English Elpenor)
And your own hand shall not take vengeance, and you shall not be angry against the sons of your people, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself; it is I who am the Lord. And thy hand shall not avenge thee; and thou shalt not be angry with the children of thy people; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; I am the Lord

2 Samuel 12:15 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:15 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:15 (NET)
And Nathan departed unto his house. And HaShem struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore unto David, and it was very sick. And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. Then Nathan went to his home.  The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the child became very ill.

2 Samuel 12:15 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἀπῆλθεν Ναθαν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔθραυσεν κύριος τὸ παιδίον ὃ ἔτεκεν ἡ γυνὴ Ουριου τῷ Δαυιδ καὶ ἠρρώστησεν καὶ ἀπῆλθε Νάθαν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἔθραυσε Κύριος τὸ παιδίον, ὃ ἔτεκεν ἡ γυνὴ Οὐρίου τοῦ Χετταίου τῷ Δαυίδ, καὶ ἠρρώστησε

2 Reigns 12:15 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:15 (English Elpenor)
And Nathan went away to his house.  And the Lord weakened the child that the wife of Ourias bore to Dauid, and it became ill. And Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord smote the child, which the wife of Urias the Chettite bore to David, and it was ill.

2 Samuel 12:18 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:18 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:18 (NET)
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died.  And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said: ‘Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke unto him, and he hearkened not unto our voice; how then shall we tell him that the child is dead, so that he do himself some harm?’ And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died.  And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he hearkened not unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead! On the seventh day the child died.  But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us when we spoke to him.  How can we tell him that the child is dead?  He will do himself harm!”
2 Samuel 12:18 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ καὶ ἀπέθανε τὸ παιδάριον καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ δοῦλοι Δαυιδ ἀναγγεῗλαι αὐτῷ ὅτι τέθνηκεν τὸ παιδάριον ὅτι εἶπαν ἰδοὺ ἐν τῷ ἔτι τὸ παιδάριον ζῆν ἐλαλήσαμεν πρὸς αὐτόν καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσεν τῆς φωνῆς ἡμῶν καὶ πῶς εἴπωμεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι τέθνηκεν τὸ παιδάριον καὶ ποιήσει κακά καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ καὶ ἀπέθανε τὸ παιδάριον· καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ δοῦλοι Δαυὶδ ἀναγγεῖλαι αὐτῷ ὅτι τέθνηκε τὸ παιδάριον, ὅτι εἶπαν· ἰδοὺ ἐν τῷ τὸ παιδάριον ἔτι ζῆν ἐλαλήσαμεν πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσε τῆς φωνῆς ἡμῶν· καὶ πῶς εἴπωμεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι τέθνηκε τὸ παιδάριον; καὶ ποιήσει κακά

2 Reigns 12:18 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:18 (English Elpenor)
And it happened in the seventh day that the child died.  And the slaves of Dauid were afraid to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to our voice, and how can we tell him that the child is dead?  Indeed, he shall do harm.” And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died: and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive we spoke to him, and he hearkened not to our voice; and thou should we tell him that the child is dead?– so would he do [himself] harm.

2 Samuel 12:19 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:19 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:19 (NET)
But when David saw that his servants whispered together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said unto his servants: ‘Is the child dead?’  And they said: ‘He is dead.’ But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead?  And they said, He is dead. When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead.  So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?”  They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.”

2 Samuel 12:19 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:19 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ συνῆκεν Δαυιδ ὅτι οἱ παῗδες αὐτοῦ ψιθυρίζουσιν καὶ ἐνόησεν Δαυιδ ὅτι τέθνηκεν τὸ παιδάριον καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ πρὸς τοὺς παῗδας αὐτοῦ εἰ τέθνηκεν τὸ παιδάριον καὶ εἶπαν τέθνηκεν καὶ συνῆκε Δαυὶδ ὅτι οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ψιθυρίζουσι, καὶ ἐνόησε Δαυὶδ ὅτι τέθνηκε τὸ παιδάριον· καὶ εἶπε Δαυὶδ πρὸς τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ· εἰ τέθνηκε τὸ παιδάριον; καὶ εἶπαν· τέθνηκε

2 Reigns 12:19 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:19 (English Elpenor)
And Dauid noticed that his servants were whispering, and Dauid perceived that the child was dead, and Dauid said to his servants, “Is the child dead?”  And they said, “He is dead.” And David understood that his servants were whispering, and David perceived that the child was dead: and David said to his servants, Is the child dead? and they said, He is dead.

2 Samuel 12:20 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:20 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:20 (NET)
Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel; and he came into the house of HaShem, and worshipped; then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes.  He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped.  Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate.

2 Samuel 12:20 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:20 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἀνέστη Δαυιδ ἐκ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐλούσατο καὶ ἠλείψατο καὶ ἤλλαξεν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ καὶ ᾔτησεν ἄρτον φαγεῗν καὶ παρέθηκαν αὐτῷ ἄρτον καὶ ἔφαγεν καὶ ἀνέστη Δαυὶδ ἐκ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐλούσατο καὶ ἠλείψατο καὶ ἤλλαξε τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ· καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ᾔτησεν ἄρτον φαγεῖν καὶ παρέθηκαν αὐτῷ ἄρτον, καὶ ἔφαγε

2 Reigns 12:20 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:20 (English Elpenor)
And Dauid rose from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes.  And he entered into the house of God and did obeisance to him, and he entered into his house, and he asked for bread to eat, and they set bread before him, and he ate. Then David rose up from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his raiment, and went into the house of God, and worshipped him; and went into his own house, and called for bread to eat, and they set bread before him and he ate.

2 Samuel 12:21 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:21 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:21 (NET)
Then said his servants unto him: ‘What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.’ Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done?  While the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!”

2 Samuel 12:21 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπαν οἱ παῗδες αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν τί τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο ὃ ἐποίησας ἕνεκα τοῦ παιδαρίου ἔτι ζῶντος ἐνήστευες καὶ ἔκλαιες καὶ ἠγρύπνεις καὶ ἡνίκα ἀπέθανεν τὸ παιδάριον ἀνέστης καὶ ἔφαγες ἄρτον καὶ πέπωκας καὶ εἶπαν οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν· τί τὸ ρῆμα τοῦτο, ὃ ἐποίησας ἕνεκα τοῦ παιδαρίου; ἔτι ζῶντος ἐνήστευες καὶ ἔκλαιες καὶ ἠγρύπνεις, καὶ ἡνίκα ἀπέθανε τὸ παιδάριον, ἀνέστης καὶ ἔφαγες ἄρτον καὶ πέπωκας

2 Reigns 12:21 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:21 (English Elpenor)
And his servants said to him, “What is this thing you did?  For the sake of the child, while it was still alive, you were fasting and weeping and keeping watch, and when the child died, you rose and ate bread, and you have taken a drink.” And his servants said to him, What [is] this thing that thou hast done concerning the child? while it was yet living thou didst fast, and weep, and watch: and when the child was dead thou didst rise up, and didst eat bread, and drink.

2 Samuel 12:22 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:22 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:22 (NET)
And he said: ‘While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said: Who knoweth whether HaShem will not be gracious to me, that the child may live? And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Perhaps the Lord will show pity and the child will live.’

2 Samuel 12:22 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:22 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ ἐν τῷ τὸ παιδάριον ἔτι ζῆν ἐνήστευσα καὶ ἔκλαυσα ὅτι εἶπα τίς οἶδεν εἰ ἐλεήσει με κύριος καὶ ζήσεται τὸ παιδάριον καὶ εἶπε Δαυίδ· ἐν τῷ τὸ παιδάριον ἔτι ζῆν ἐνήστευσα καὶ ἔκλαυσα, ὅτι εἶπα· τίς οἶδεν εἰ ἐλεήσει με Κύριος καὶ ζήσεται τὸ παιδάριον

2 Reigns 12:22 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:22 (English Elpenor)
And Dauid said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will have pity on me and the child will live?” And David said, While the child yet lived, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who knows if the Lord will pity me, and the child live?

2 Samuel 12:23 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:23 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:23 (NET)
But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again?  I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.’ But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again?  I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. But now he is dead.  Why should I fast?  Am I able to bring him back at this point?  I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!”

2 Samuel 12:23 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:23 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ νῦν τέθνηκεν ἵνα τί τοῦτο ἐγὼ νηστεύω μὴ δυνήσομαι ἐπιστρέψαι αὐτὸ ἔτι ἐγὼ πορεύσομαι πρὸς αὐτόν καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἀναστρέψει πρός με καὶ νῦν τέθνηκεν· ἱνατί τοῦτο ἐγὼ νηστεύω; μὴ δυνήσομαι ἐπιστρέψαι αὐτὸν ἔτι; ἐγὼ πορεύσομαι πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἀναστρέψει πρός με

2 Reigns 12:23 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:23 (English Elpenor)
But now he is dead.  Why is this, that I fast?  I will not be able to bring it back again, will I?  I will go to him, but he shall not return to me.” But now it is dead, why should I fast thus? shall I be able to bring him back again?  I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

2 Peter 3:16 (NET)

2 Peter 3:16 (KJV)
speaking of these things in all his letters.  Some things in these letters are hard to understand, things the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὡς καὶ ἐν πάσαις ἐπιστολαῖς λαλῶν ἐν αὐταῖς περὶ τούτων, ἐν αἷς ἐστιν δυσνόητα τινα, ἃ οἱ ἀμαθεῖς καὶ ἀστήρικτοι στρεβλοῦσιν ὡς καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς γραφὰς πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν αὐτῶν ἀπώλειαν ως και εν πασαις ταις επιστολαις λαλων εν αυταις περι τουτων εν οις εστιν δυσνοητα τινα α οι αμαθεις και αστηρικτοι στρεβλουσιν ως και τας λοιπας γραφας προς την ιδιαν αυτων απωλειαν ως και εν πασαις ταις επιστολαις λαλων εν αυταις περι τουτων εν οις εστιν δυσνοητα τινα α οι αμαθεις και αστηρικτοι στρεβλουσιν ως και τας λοιπας γραφας προς την ιδιαν αυτων απωλειαν

Matthew 22:37, 38 (NET)

Matthew 22:37, 38 (KJV)
Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ὁ δὲ ἔφη αὐτῷ· ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐν ὅλῃ |τῇ| καρδίᾳ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ σου ο δε ιησους ειπεν αυτω αγαπησεις κυριον τον θεον σου εν ολη τη καρδια σου και εν ολη τη ψυχη σου και εν ολη τη διανοια σου ο δε ιησους εφη αυτω αγαπησεις κυριον τον θεον σου εν ολη καρδια σου και εν ολη ψυχη σου και εν ολη τη διανοια σου
This is the first and greatest commandment. This is the first and great commandment.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μεγάλη καὶ πρώτη ἐντολή αυτη εστιν πρωτη και μεγαλη εντολη αυτη εστιν πρωτη και μεγαλη εντολη

Matthew 22:40 (NET)

Matthew 22:40 (KJV)
All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

NET Parallel Greek

 Stephanus Textus Receptus

Byzantine Majority Text
ἐν ταύταις ταῖς δυσὶν ἐντολαῖς ὅλος ὁ νόμος κρέμαται καὶ οἱ προφῆται εν ταυταις ταις δυσιν εντολαις ολος ο νομος και οι προφηται κρεμανται εν ταυταις ταις δυσιν εντολαις ολος ο νομος και οι προφηται κρεμανται

1 John 17:3 (NET)

2 Psalm 51:1, 2a (NET)

3 The Stephanus Textus Receptus, Byzantine Majority Text and NA28 had the article ταις preceding letters.  The NET parallel Greek text did not.

4 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had αἷς here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had οις (KJV: which).

5 The NET parallel Greek text, Stephanus Textus Receptus and NA28 had the article τῇ preceding heart.  The Byzantine Majority Text did not.

6 The NET parallel Greek text, Stephanus Textus Receptus and NA28 had the article τῇ preceding soul.  The Byzantine Majority Text did not.

7 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the article ἡ preceding greatest.  The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text did not.

8 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had the singular κρέμαται here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had the plural κρεμανται (KJV: hangs), reflecting the difference in word order between them.

10 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NET)

11 2 Samuel 12:15 (NET)

12 2 Samuel 12:18 (NET)

13 2 Samuel 12:19 (NET)

14 2 Samuel 12:20 (NET)

15 2 Samuel 12:21-23 (NET)

16 2 Samuel 12:13 (NET) Table

Jedidiah, Part 1

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I want to turn my attention to the circumstances when God named Solomon Jedidiah.  It all started one spring when King David didn’t go to war with his army.  He couldn’t sleep.  He got up and walked on the roof of his palace.  He saw a woman bathing.  Now David wasn’t a young prince catching his first glimpse of a naked woman.  He had several wives and concubines by this time.  He had the means, as it were, to entertain this traveler, as the prophet Nathan would later describe David’s lust.  David sent a messenger to find out about the woman.  So he knew she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, a soldier serving in his army, before he summoned her and before he had sex with her (2 Samuel 11:1-4).

The cover-up began after Bathsheba sent word to David that she was pregnant (2 Samuel 11:5).  So David summoned Uriah home from the war.  He asked him how the campaign was going and sent him home to his wife.  But Uriah refused to go home.  He would not enjoy the comforts and pleasures of home and wife while his comrades-in-arms camped in the open.  The next day David wined and dined Uriah, and got him drunk.  Still Uriah would not go home to Bathsheba.  So David sent Uriah back to the front with a sealed letter for Joab the commander of David’s army.

Apparently Uriah delivered the message unopened to Joab, because he faithfully delivered his own death sentence to his executioner.  Joab faithfully carried out David’s instructions to put Uriah in the front lines and then withdraw from him in the thick of battle.  Uriah died.  After an appropriate time of grieving for appearance’s sake, David took Bathsheba as another wife, and she gave birth to a son.

Later the Lord Jesus sent Nathan, a prophet, with an adroit hypothetical to David:  There were two men in a certain city, Nathan explained, one rich and the other poor.  The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.  But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children.  It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms.  It was just like a daughter to him.  When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler who had come to visit him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to visit him.

As surely as the Lord lives, David said angrily, the man who did this deserves to die!  Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!

You are that man!1 Nathan said to David.

I want to pause here a moment to fully appreciate David’s position vis-à-vis the law.  The law the Lord Jesus gave to Moses at Sinai was quite specific.  If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.2  So David had not only condemned himself but Bathsheba, for whom he presumably had some affection, to death.  Also, Whoever strikes someone so that he dies must surely be put to death.3  Now if one were to argue the technicality that David didn’t exactly strike Uriah himself, the law the Lord Jesus delivered to Moses continued, But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, you will take him even from my altar that he may die.4

The altar was a place where Israelite sinners could find mercy and forgiveness.  Whenever a leader, by straying unintentionally, sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be violated, the Lord Jesus told Moses, and he pleads guilty, or his sin that he committed is made known to him, he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering.5  I have to admit that I don’t know if David’s actions would qualify as unintentional.  I’m not even sure if this remedy was meant to apply to adultery or murder.  I do know that you will take him even from my altar that he may die sounds ominous.

This is what the Lord God of Israel says, Nathan continued, “I chose you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.  I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms.  I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah.  And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well!  Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my sight?  You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own!  You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.  So now the sword will never depart from your house.  For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!”  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!  Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.”6

I have sinned against the Lord!7 David exclaimed.

A lot is made of confession of sin in the religious circles I frequent.  So I want to quote another, even better confession, as confessions go (Joshua 7:20, 21 NET).

It is true.  I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel in this way:  I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels.  I wanted them, so I took them.  They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath.

This is Achan’s confession for stealing some of the things that had been devoted to the Lord Jesus.  Jesus had warned them that they would not stand before their enemies if they betrayed him in this way.  And sure enough, Achan’s sin was discovered after the Israelites suffered a defeat in battle.

Joshua, the Israelite leader who succeeded Moses, was crying and praying face down on the ground when the Lord Jesus spoke to him: Get up!  Why are you lying there face down?  Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenantal commandment!  They have taken some of the riches; they have stolen them and deceitfully put them among their own possessions.  The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation.  I will no longer be with you, unless you destroy what has contaminated you.8

Achan was discovered by lot.  His confession was intended to justify the Lord not himself.  Joshua sent messengers who discovered the stolen articles exactly where Achan claimed they were hidden.

The one caught with the riches must be burned up along with all who belong to him, because he violated the Lord’s covenant and did such a disgraceful thing in Israel,9 the Lord Jesus declared.

Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan…along with the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, ox, donkey, sheep, tent, and all that belonged to him and brought them up to the Valley of Disaster [or, Achor].10  Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster on us?  The Lord will bring disaster on you today!”  All Israel stoned him to death.  (They also stoned and burned the others.)  Then they erected over him a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day) and the Lord’s anger subsided.  So that place is called the Valley of Disaster11 to this very day.12

This turn of events is admittedly shocking to our ears and abhorrent to our beliefs about confession of sin.  But it was the prophet Hosea, long after the time of David, speaking about another future time when Israel would return to the Lord in repentance, who prophesied that the Lord Jesus would turn the “Valley of Trouble” [or, Achor] into an “Opportunity [or, doorway] for Hope” (Hosea 2:15-17 NET).

From there I will give back her vineyards to her, and turn the “Valley of Trouble”13 into an “Opportunity for Hope.”  There she will sing as she did when she was young,14 when she came up from the land of Egypt.  “At that time,” declares the Lord, “you will call, ‘My husband’; you will never again call me, ‘My master.’  For I will remove the names of the Baal idols from your lips, so that you will never again utter their names!”

But even before these promises came to pass, the prophet Nathan, sent by the Lord Jesus, replied to David’s confession, Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin.  You are not going to die.  Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.15

 

Addendum: July 6, 2019
Tables comparing 2 Samuel 12:1; 12:2; 12:3; 12:4; 12:5; 12:6; 12:7; Leviticus 20:10; Exodus 21:12; 21:14; Leviticus 4:22; 4:23; 2 Samuel 12:8; 12:9; 12:10; 12:11; 12:12; 12:13; Joshua 7:20; 7:21; 7:10; 7:11; 7:12; 7:15; 7:24; 7:25; 7:26; Hosea 2:15; 2:16; 2:17 and 2 Samuel 12:14 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing 2 Samuel (Kings, Reigns) 12:1; 12:2; 12:3; 12:4; 12:5; 12:6; 12:7; Leviticus 20:10; Exodus 21:12; 21:14; Leviticus 4:22; 4:23; 2 Samuel (Kings, Reigns) 12:8; 12:9; 12:10; 12:11; 12:12; 12:13; Joshua 7:20; 7:21; 7:10; 7:11; 7:12; 7:15; 7:24; 7:25; 7:26; Hosea 2:15 (2:17); 2:16 (2:18); 2:17 (2:19) and 2 Samuel (Kings, Reigns) 12:14 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

2 Samuel 12:1 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:1 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:1 (NET)
And HaShem sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him: ‘There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor. And the LORD sent Nathan unto David.  And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. So the Lord sent Nathan to David.  When he came to David, Nathan said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

2 Samuel 12:1 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἀπέστειλεν κύριος τὸν Ναθαν τὸν προφήτην πρὸς Δαυιδ καὶ εἰσῆλθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ δύο ἦσαν ἄνδρες ἐν πόλει μιᾷ εἷς πλούσιος καὶ εἷς πένης ΚΑΙ ἀπέστειλε Κύριος τὸν Νάθαν τὸν προφήτην πρὸς Δαυίδ, καὶ εἰσῆλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· δύο ἦσαν ἄνδρες ἐν πόλει μιᾷ, εἷς πλούσιος, καὶ εἷς πένης

2 Reigns 12:1 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:1 (English Elpenor)
And the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to Dauid.  And he went in to him and said to him, “There were two men in one city, one rich and one poor. And the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David; and he went in to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.
2 Samuel 12:2 (Tanakh) 2 Samuel 12:2 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:2 (NET)
The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.

2 Samuel 12:2 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ τῷ πλουσίῳ ἦν ποίμνια καὶ βουκόλια πολλὰ σφόδρα καὶ τῷ πλουσίῳ ἦν ποίμνια καὶ βουκόλια πολλὰ σφόδρα

2 Reigns 12:2 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:2 (English Elpenor)
And the rich man had very many flocks and herds, And the rich [man] had very many flocks and herds.

2 Samuel 12:3 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:3 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:3 (NET)
but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and reared; and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired.  He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children.  It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms.  It was just like a daughter to him.

2 Samuel 12:3 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ τῷ πένητι οὐδὲν ἀλλ᾽ ἢ ἀμνὰς μία μικρά ἣν ἐκτήσατο καὶ περιεποιήσατο καὶ ἐξέθρεψεν αὐτήν καὶ ἡδρύνθη μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό ἐκ τοῦ ἄρτου αὐτοῦ ἤσθιεν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ποτηρίου αὐτοῦ ἔπινεν καὶ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ αὐτοῦ ἐκάθευδεν καὶ ἦν αὐτῷ ὡς θυγάτηρ καὶ τῷ πένητι οὐδὲν ἀλλ’ ἢ ἀμνὰς μία μικρά, ἣν ἐκτήσατο καὶ περιεποίησατο καὶ ἐξέθρεψεν αὐτὴν καὶ ἡδρύνθη μετ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, ἐκ τοῦ ἄρτου αὐτοῦ ἤσθιε καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ποτηρίου αὐτοῦ ἔπινε καὶ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ αὐτοῦ ἐκάθευδε καὶ ἦν αὐτῷ ὡς θυγάτηρ

2 Reigns 12:3 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:3 (English Elpenor)
And the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought.  And he preserved and reared it, and it grew up with him and with his sons together; it used to eat from his bread and drink from his cup and sleep in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. But the poor [man had] only one little ewe lamb, which he had purchased, and preserved, and reared; and it grew up with himself and his children in common; it ate of his bread and drank of his cup, and slept in his bosom, and was to him as a daughter.

2 Samuel 12:4 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:4 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:4 (NET)
And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.’ And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. “When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler who had come to visit him.  Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to visit him.”

2 Samuel 12:4 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἦλθεν πάροδος τῷ ἀνδρὶ τῷ πλουσίῳ καὶ ἐφείσατο λαβεῗν ἐκ τῶν ποιμνίων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν βουκολίων αὐτοῦ τοῦ ποιῆσαι τῷ ξένῳ ὁδοιπόρῳ ἐλθόντι πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ἔλαβεν τὴν ἀμνάδα τοῦ πένητος καὶ ἐποίησεν αὐτὴν τῷ ἀνδρὶ τῷ ἐλθόντι πρὸς αὐτόν καὶ ἦλθε πάροδος τῷ ἀνδρὶ τῷ πλουσίῳ, καὶ ἐφείσατο λαβεῖν ἐκ τῶν ποιμνίων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν βουκολίων αὐτοῦ τοῦ ποιῆσαι τῷ ξένῳ ὁδοιπόρῳ τῷ ἐλθόντι πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ἔλαβε τὴν ἀμνάδα τοῦ πένητος καὶ ἐποίησεν αὐτὴν τῷ ἀνδρὶ τῷ ἐλθόντι πρὸς αὐτόν

2 Reigns 12:4 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:4 (English Elpenor)
And there came a traveler to the rich man, and he refrained from taking anything from his flocks and from his herds to prepare for the stranger, since he had come to him as a wayfarer, and he took the ewe lamb of the poor man and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” And a traveller came to the rich man, and he spared to take of his flocks and of his herds, to dress for the traveller that came to him; and he took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that came to him.

2 Samuel 12:5 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:5 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:5 (NET)
And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan: ‘As HaShem liveth, the man that hath done this deserveth to die; And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: Then David became very angry at this man.  He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die!

2 Samuel 12:5 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐθυμώθη ὀργῇ Δαυιδ σφόδρα τῷ ἀνδρί καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ πρὸς Ναθαν ζῇ κύριος ὅτι υἱὸς θανάτου ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ποιήσας τοῦτο καὶ ἐθυμώθη ὀργῇ Δαυὶδ σφόδρα τῷ ἀνδρί, καὶ εἶπε Δαυὶδ πρὸς Νάθαν· ζῇ Κύριος, ὅτι υἱὸς θανάτου ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ποιήσας τοῦτο

2 Reigns 12:5 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:5 (English Elpenor)
And Dauid was greatly inflamed with anger at the man.  And Dauid said to Nathan, “The Lord lives, for the man who did this is a son of death, And David was greatly moved with anger against the man; and David said to Nathan, [As] the Lord lives, the man that did this thing shall surely die.

2 Samuel 12:6 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:6 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:6 (NET)
and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’ And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!”

2 Samuel 12:6 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ τὴν ἀμνάδα ἀποτείσει ἑπταπλασίονα ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ὅτι ἐποίησεν τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο καὶ περὶ οὗ οὐκ ἐφείσατο καὶ τὴν ἀμνάδα ἀποτίσει ἑπταπλασίονα, ἀνθ’ ὧν ὅτι ἐποίησε τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο καὶ περὶ οὗ οὐκ ἐφείσατο.

2 Reigns 12:6 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:6 (English Elpenor)
and he shall restore the ewe lamb sevenfold, because he did this thing, and because he did not refrain.” And he shall restore the lamb seven-fold, because he has not spared.

2 Samuel 12:7 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:7 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:7 (NET)
And Nathan said to David: ‘Thou art the man.  Thus saith HaShem, the G-d of Israel: I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.  Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; Nathan said to David, “You are that man!  This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘I chose you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul.

2 Samuel 12:7 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν Ναθαν πρὸς Δαυιδ σὺ εἶ ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ποιήσας τοῦτο τάδε λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς Ισραηλ ἐγώ εἰμι ἔχρισά σε εἰς βασιλέα ἐπὶ Ισραηλ καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι ἐρρυσάμην σε ἐκ χειρὸς Σαουλ καὶ εἶπε Νάθαν πρὸς Δαυίδ· σὺ εἶ ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ποιήσας τοῦτο· τάδε λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ᾿Ισραήλ· ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ χρίσας σε εἰς βασιλέα ἐπὶ ᾿Ισραήλ, καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι ἐρρυσάμην σε ἐκ χειρὸς Σαοὺλ

2 Reigns 12:7 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:7 (English Elpenor)
And Nathan said to Dauid, “You are the man who did this!  This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: I am—I anointed you to be king over Israel, and I am—I rescued you from the hand of Saoul, And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man that has done this.  Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee to be king over Israel, and I rescued thee out the hand of Saul;

Leviticus 20:10 (Tanakh)

 Leviticus 20:10 (KJV)

Leviticus 20:10 (NET)
And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

Leviticus 20:10 (Septuagint BLB)

Leviticus 20:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἄνθρωπος ὃς ἂν μοιχεύσηται γυναῗκα ἀνδρὸς ἢ ὃς ἂν μοιχεύσηται γυναῗκα τοῦ πλησίον θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν ὁ μοιχεύων καὶ ἡ μοιχευομένη ἄνθρωπος ὃς ἂν μοιχεύσηται γυναῖκα ἀνδρός, ἢ ὃς ἂν μοιχεύσηται γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον, θανάτῳ θανατούσθωσαν, ὁ μοιχεύων καὶ ἡ μοιχευομένη

Leviticus 20:10 (NETS)

Leviticus 20:10 (English Elpenor)
A person who commits adultery with the wife of a man or who commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor—let both the adulterer and the adulteress by death be put to death. Whatever man shall commit adultery with the wife of a man, or whoever shall commit adultery with the wife of his neighbour, let them die the death, the adulterer and the adulteress.

Exodus 21:12 (Tanakh)

 Exodus 21:12 (KJV)

Exodus 21:12 (NET)
He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall surely be put to death. He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. “Whoever strikes someone so that he dies must surely be put to death.

Exodus 21:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Exodus 21:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐὰν δὲ πατάξῃ τίς τινα καὶ ἀποθάνῃ θανάτῳ θανατούσθω Εὰν δὲ πατάξῃ τίς τινα, καὶ ἀποθάνῃ, θανάτῳ θανατούσθω

Exodus 21:12 (NETS)

Exodus 21:12 (English Elpenor)
Now if someone strikes someone and he dies, let him be put to death with death. And if any man smite another and he die, let him be certainly put to death.

Exodus 21:14 (Tanakh)

 Exodus 21:14 (KJV)

Exodus 21:14 (NET)
And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die. But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die. But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, you will take him even from my altar that he may die.

Exodus 21:14 (Septuagint BLB)

Exodus 21:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐὰν δέ τις ἐπιθῆται τῷ πλησίον ἀποκτεῗναι αὐτὸν δόλῳ καὶ καταφύγῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου μου λήμψῃ αὐτὸν θανατῶσαι ἐὰν δέ τις ἐπιθῆται τῷ πλησίον ἀποκτεῖναι αὐτὸν δόλῳ καὶ καταφύγῃ, ἀπὸ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου μου λήψῃ αὐτὸν θανατῶσαι

Exodus 21:14 (NETS)

Exodus 21:14 (English Elpenor)
Now if someone attacks his neighbor to kill him treacherously and he flees, from my altar you shall take him to put him todeath. And if any one lie in wait for his neighbour to slay him by craft, and he go for refuge, thou shalt take him from my altar to put him to death.

Leviticus 4:22 (Tanakh)

 Leviticus 4:22 (KJV)

Leviticus 4:22 (NET)
When a ruler sinneth, and doeth through error any one of all the things which HaShem his G-d hath commanded not to be done, and is guilty: When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; “‘Whenever a leader, by straying unintentionally, sins and violates one of the commandments of the Lord his God which must not be violated, and he pleads guilty,

Leviticus 4:22 (Septuagint BLB)

Leviticus 4:22 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ἄρχων ἁμάρτῃ καὶ ποιήσῃ μίαν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτῶν ἣ οὐ ποιηθήσεται ἀκουσίως καὶ ἁμάρτῃ καὶ πλημμελήσῃ ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ἄρχων ἁμάρτῃ, καὶ ποιήσῃ μίαν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἐντολῶν Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἣ οὐ ποιηθήσεται, ἀκουσίως, καὶ ἁμάρτῃ καὶ πλημμελήσῃ

Leviticus 4:22 (NETS)

Leviticus 4:22 (English Elpenor)
But if the ruler sins and does unintentionally one of any of the commandments of the Lord their God, which shall not be done, and sins and is in error And if a ruler sin, and break one of all the commands of the Lord his God, [doing the thing] which ought not to be done, unwillingly, and shall sin and trespass,

Leviticus 4:23 (Tanakh)

 Leviticus 4:23 (KJV)

Leviticus 4:23 (NET)
if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, be known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a male without blemish. Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish: or his sin that he committed is made known to him, he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering.

Leviticus 4:23 (Septuagint BLB)

Leviticus 4:23 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ γνωσθῇ αὐτῷ ἡ ἁμαρτία ἣν ἥμαρτεν ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ προσοίσει τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ χίμαρον ἐξ αἰγῶν ἄρσεν ἄμωμον καὶ γνωσθῇ αὐτῷ ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἣν ἥμαρτεν ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ προσοίσει τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ χίμαρον ἐξ αἰγῶν, ἄρσεν ἄμωμον

Leviticus 4:23 (NETS)

Leviticus 4:23 (English Elpenor)
and the sin wherein he has sinned becomes known to him, then he shall bring his gift: a young billy goat, a male without blemish. and his trespass wherein he has sinned, be known to him,– then shall he offer for his gift a kid of the goats, a male without blemish.

2 Samuel 12:8 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:8 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:8 (NET)
and I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that were too little, then would I add unto thee so much more. And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well!

2 Samuel 12:8 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔδωκά σοι τὸν οἶκον τοῦ κυρίου σου καὶ τὰς γυναῗκας τοῦ κυρίου σου ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ σου καὶ ἔδωκά σοι τὸν οἶκον Ισραηλ καὶ Ιουδα καὶ εἰ μικρόν ἐστιν προσθήσω σοι κατὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἔδωκά σοι τὸν οἶκον τοῦ κυρίου σου καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας τοῦ κυρίου σου ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ σου καὶ ἔδωκά σοι τὸν οἶκον ᾿Ισραὴλ καὶ ᾿Ιούδα· καὶ εἰ μικρόν ἐστι, προσθήσω σοι κατὰ ταῦτα

2 Reigns 12:8 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:8 (English Elpenor)
and I gave you the house of your master and the wives of your master into your bosom, and I gave you the house of Israel and of Iouda, and if it is too little, I will add to you in accordance with these. and I gave thee the house of the lord, and the wives of thy lord into thy bosom, and I gave to thee the house of Israel and Juda; and if that had been little, I would have given thee yet more.

2 Samuel 12:9 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:9 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:9 (NET)
Wherefore hast thou despised the word of HaShem, to do that which is evil in My sight?  Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten with the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to be thy wife, and him thou hast slain with the sword of the children of Ammon. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Why have you shown contempt for the Lord’s decrees 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.

2 Samuel 12:9 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)
τί ὅτι ἐφαύλισας τὸν λόγον κυρίου τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὸ πονηρὸν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῗς αὐτοῦ τὸν Ουριαν τὸν Χετταῗον ἐπάταξας ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ καὶ τὴν γυναῗκα αὐτοῦ ἔλαβες σεαυτῷ εἰς γυναῗκα καὶ αὐτὸν ἀπέκτεινας ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ υἱῶν Αμμων τί ὅτι ἐφαύλισας τὸν λόγον Κυρίου τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὸ πονηρὸν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ; τὸν Οὐρίαν τὸν Χετταῖον ἐπάταξας ἐν ρομφαίᾳ καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ ἔλαβες σεαυτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα καὶ αὐτὸν ἀπέκτεινας ἐν ρομφαίᾳ υἱῶν ᾿Αμμών

2 Reigns 12:9 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:9 (English Elpenor)
Why is it that you trivialized the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?  You struck Ourias the Chetite with a sword and took his wife for yourself for a wife and killed him with a sword of the sons of Ammon. Why hast thou set at nought the word of the Lord, to do that which is evil in his eyes? thou hast slain Urias the Chettite with the sword, and thou hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and thou hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

2 Samuel 12:10 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:10 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:10 (NET)
Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from thy house; because thou hast despised Me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. So now the sword will never depart from your house.  For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

2 Samuel 12:10 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἀποστήσεται ῥομφαία ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου σου ἕως αἰῶνος ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ὅτι ἐξουδένωσάς με καὶ ἔλαβες τὴν γυναῗκα τοῦ Ουριου τοῦ Χετταίου τοῦ εἶναί σοι εἰς γυναῗκα καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἀποστήσεται ρομφαία ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου σου ἕως αἰῶνος ἀνθ’ ὧν ὅτι ἐξουδένωσάς με καὶ ἔλαβες τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ Οὐρίου τοῦ Χετταίου τοῦ εἶναί σοι εἰς γυναῖκα

2 Reigns 12:10 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:10 (English Elpenor)
And now, a sword shall never depart from your house, because you counted me as nothing and took the wife of Ourias the Chettite to be your wife. Now therefore the sword shall not depart from thy house for ever, because thou has set me at nought, and thou hast taken the wife of Urias the Chettite, to be thy wife.

2 Samuel 12:11 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:11 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:11 (NET)
Thus saith HaShem: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. This is what the Lord has said: ‘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 go to bed with your wives in broad daylight!

2 Samuel 12:11 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
τάδε λέγει κύριος ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐξεγείρω ἐπὶ σὲ κακὰ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου σου καὶ λήμψομαι τὰς γυναῗκάς σου κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμούς σου καὶ δώσω τῷ πλησίον σου καὶ κοιμηθήσεται μετὰ τῶν γυναικῶν σου ἐναντίον τοῦ ἡλίου τούτου τάδε λέγει Κύριος· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐξεγείρω ἐπὶ σὲ κακὰ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου σου καὶ λήψομαι τὰς γυναῖκάς σου κατ’ ὀφθαλμούς σου καὶ δώσω τῷ πλησίον σου, καὶ κοιμηθήσεται μετὰ τῶν γυναικῶν σου ἐναντίον τοῦ ἡλίου τούτου

2 Reigns 12:11 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:11 (English Elpenor)
This is what the Lord says: Behold, I am raising up trouble against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives before this sun. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up against thee evil out of thy house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and will give them to thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

2 Samuel 12:12 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:12 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:12 (NET)
For thou didst it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’ For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.’”

2 Samuel 12:12 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι σὺ ἐποίησας κρυβῇ κἀγὼ ποιήσω τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο ἐναντίον παντὸς Ισραηλ καὶ ἀπέναντι τούτου τοῦ ἡλίου ὅτι σὺ ἐποίησας κρυβῇ, κἀγὼ ποιήσω τὸ ρῆμα τοῦτο ἐναντίον παντὸς ᾿Ισραὴλ καὶ ἀπέναντι τοῦ ἡλίου τούτου.

2 Reigns 12:12 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:12 (English Elpenor)
For you did it secretly, and I will do this thing before all Israel and before this sun.” For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and before the sun.

2 Samuel 12:13 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:13 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:13 (NET)
And David said unto Nathan: ‘I have sinned against HaShem.’  And Nathan said unto David: ‘The HaShem also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD.  And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!”  Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin.  You are not going to die.

2 Samuel 12:13 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ τῷ Ναθαν ἡμάρτηκα τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ εἶπεν Ναθαν πρὸς Δαυιδ καὶ κύριος παρεβίβασεν τὸ ἁμάρτημά σου οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνῃς καὶ εἶπε Δαυὶδ τῷ Νάθαν· ἡμάρτηκα τῷ Κυρίῳ. καὶ εἶπε Νάθαν πρὸς Δαυίδ· καὶ Κύριος παρεβίβασε τὸ ἁμάρτημά σου, οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνῃς

2 Reigns 12:13 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:13 (English Elpenor)
And Dauid said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”  And Nathan said to Dauid, “Indeed, the Lord put aside your sin; you shall not die. And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.  And Nathan said to David, And the Lord has put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

Joshua 7:20 (Tanakh)

 Joshua 7:20 (KJV)

Joshua 7:20 (NET)
And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: Achan told Joshua, “It is true. I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel in this way:

Joshua 7:20 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:20 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἀπεκρίθη Αχαρ τῷ Ἰησοῗ καὶ εἶπεν ἀληθῶς ἥμαρτον ἐναντίον κυρίου θεοῦ Ισραηλ οὕτως καὶ οὕτως ἐποίησα καὶ ἀπεκρίθη ῎Αχαρ τῷ ᾿Ιησοῖ καὶ εἶπεν· ἀληθῶς ἥμαρτον ἐναντίον Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ ᾿Ισραήλ· οὕτως καὶ οὕτως ἐποίησα

Joshua 7:20 (NETS)

Joshua 7:20 (English Elpenor)
And Achar answered Iesous and said, “ Truly I have sinned against the Lord, God of Israel.  Thus and so have I done. And Achar answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel: thus and thus have I done:

Joshua 7:21 (Tanakh)

 Joshua 7:21 (KJV)

Joshua 7:21 (NET)
When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath.”

Joshua 7:21 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)
εἶδον ἐν τῇ προνομῇ ψιλὴν ποικίλην καλὴν καὶ διακόσια δίδραχμα ἀργυρίου καὶ γλῶσσαν μίαν χρυσῆν πεντήκοντα διδράχμων καὶ ἐνθυμηθεὶς αὐτῶν ἔλαβον καὶ ἰδοὺ αὐτὰ ἐγκέκρυπται ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ μου καὶ τὸ ἀργύριον κέκρυπται ὑποκάτω αὐτῶν εἶδον ἐν τῇ προνομῇ ψιλὴν ποικίλην καλὴν καὶ διακόσια δίδραχμα ἀργυρίου καὶ γλῶσσαν μίαν χρυσῆν πεντήκοντα διδράχμων καὶ ἐνθυμηθεὶς αὐτῶν ἔλαβον, καὶ ἰδοὺ αὐτὰ ἐγκέκρυπται ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ μου καὶ τὸ ἀργύριον κέκρυπται ὑποκάτω αὐτῶν

Joshua 7:21 (NETS)

Joshua 7:21 (English Elpenor)
I saw in the spoil a beautiful, multi-colored carpet and two hundred didrachmas of silver and one golden tongue-shaped object of fifty didrachmas, and I coveted them and took them.  And look, they are hidden in the ground in my tent, and the silver is hidden underneath them.” I saw in the spoil an embroidered mantle, and two hundred didrachmas of silver, and one golden wedge of fifty didrachmas, and I desired them and took them; and, behold, they are hid in my tent, and the silver is hid under them.
Joshua 7:10 (Tanakh) Joshua 7:10 (KJV)

Joshua 7:10 (NET)
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? The Lord responded to Joshua, “Get up! Why are you lying there face down?

Joshua 7:10 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς Ἰησοῦν ἀνάστηθι ἵνα τί τοῦτο σὺ πέπτωκας ἐπὶ πρόσωπόν σου καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς ᾿Ιησοῦν· ἀνάστηθι, ἱνατί τοῦτο σὺ πέπτωκας ἐπὶ πρόσωπόν σου

Joshua 7:10 (NETS)

Joshua 7:10 (English Elpenor)
And the Lord said to Iesous, “Stand up.  Why is it that you have fallen upon your face? And the Lord said to Joshua, Rise up; why hast thou fallen upon thy face?

Joshua 7:11 (Tanakh)

 Joshua 7:11 (KJV)

Joshua 7:11 (NET)
Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenantal commandment!  They have taken some of the riches; they have stolen them and deceitfully put them among their own possessions.

Joshua 7:11 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἡμάρτηκεν ὁ λαὸς καὶ παρέβη τὴν διαθήκην ἣν διεθέμην πρὸς αὐτούς καὶ κλέψαντες ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναθέματος ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὰ σκεύη αὐτῶν ἡμάρτηκεν ὁ λαὸς καὶ παρέβη τὴν διαθήκην, ἣν διεθέμην πρὸς αὐτούς, καὶ κλέψαντες ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναθέματος ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὰ σκεύη αὐτῶν

Joshua 7:11 (NETS)

Joshua 7:11 (English Elpenor)
The people have sinned and transgressed the covenant that I made with them.  And they have stolen from what is devoted and put it into their own belongings. The people has sinned, and transgressed the covenant which I made with them; they have stolen from the cursed thing, and put it into their store.

Joshua 7:12 (Tanakh)

 Joshua 7:12 (KJV)

Joshua 7:12 (NET)
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation.  I will no longer be with you, unless you destroy what has contaminated you.

Joshua 7:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)
οὐ μὴ δύνωνται οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ ὑποστῆναι κατὰ πρόσωπον τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν αὐχένα ἐπιστρέψουσιν ἔναντι τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν ὅτι ἐγενήθησαν ἀνάθεμα οὐ προσθήσω ἔτι εἶναι μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐὰν μὴ ἐξάρητε τὸ ἀνάθεμα ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν καὶ οὐ μὴ δύνωνται οἱ υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραὴλ ὑποστῆναι κατὰ πρόσωπον τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν· αὐχένα ἐπιστρέψουσιν ἔναντι τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἐγενήθησαν ἀνάθεμα· οὐ προσθήσω ἔτι εἶναι μεθ’ ὑμῶν, ἐὰν μὴ ἐξάρητε τὸ ἀνάθεμα ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν

Joshua 7:12 (NETS)

Joshua 7:12 (English Elpenor)
The sons of Israel shall not be able to stand before their enemies; they shall turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become what is devoted.  I will be with you no longer, unless you remove what is devoted from yourselves. And the children of Israel will not be able to stand before their enemies; they will turn their back before their enemies, for they have become an accursed thing: I will not any longer be with you, unless ye remove the cursed thing from yourselves.

Joshua 7:15 (Tanakh)

 Joshua 7:15 (KJV)

Joshua 7:15 (NET)
And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. The one caught with the riches must be burned up along with all who belong to him, because he violated the Lord’s covenant and did such a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

Joshua 7:15 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ὃς ἂν ἐνδειχθῇ κατακαυθήσεται ἐν πυρὶ καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἐστὶν αὐτῷ ὅτι παρέβη τὴν διαθήκην κυρίου καὶ ἐποίησεν ἀνόμημα ἐν Ισραηλ καὶ ὃς ἂν ἐνδειχθῇ, κατακαυθήσεται ἐν πυρὶ καὶ πάντα, ὅσα ἐστὶν αὐτῷ, ὅτι παρέβη τὴν διαθήκην Κυρίου καὶ ἐποίησεν ἀνόμημα ἐν ᾿Ισραήλ

Joshua 7:15 (NETS)

Joshua 7:15 (English Elpenor)
And the one who is indicated shall be burned with fire, and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord and has committed lawlessness in Israel.” And the man who shall be pointed out, shall be burnt with fire, and all that he has; because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and has wrought wickedness in Israel.

Joshua 7:24 (Tanakh)

 Joshua 7:24 (KJV)

Joshua 7:24 (NET)
And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. Then Joshua and all Israel took Achan, son of Zerah, along with the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, ox, donkey, sheep, tent, and all that belonged to him and brought them up to the Valley of Disaster.

Joshua 7:24 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:24 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔλαβεν Ἰησοῦς τὸν Αχαρ υἱὸν Ζαρα καὶ ἀνήγαγεν αὐτὸν εἰς φάραγγα Αχωρ καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς μόσχους αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ ὑποζύγια αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ πρόβατα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς Εμεκαχωρ καὶ ἔλαβεν ᾿Ιησοῦς τὸν ῎Αχαρ υἱὸν Ζαρὰ καὶ ἀνήγαγεν αὐτὸν εἰς φάραγγα ᾿Αχὼρ καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς μόσχους αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ ὑποζύγια αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ πρόβατα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ, καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς μετ’ αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἀνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς ᾿Εμεκαχώρ

Joshua 7:24 (NETS)

Joshua 7:24 (English Elpenor)
And Iesous took Achar son of Zara and brought him up to the ravine of Achor, and his sons and his daughters and his bull calves and his draft animals and all his sheep and his tent and all his belongings—and all the people with him.  And he brought them up to Emekachor. And Joshua took Achar the son of Zara, and brought him to the valley of Achor, and his sons, and his daughters, and his calves, and his asses, and all his sheep, and his tent, and all his property, and all the people [were] with him; and he brought them to Emec Achor.

Joshua 7:25 (Tanakh)

 Joshua 7:25 (KJV)

Joshua 7:25 (NET)
And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day.  And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day.  And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster on us?  The Lord will bring disaster on you today!”  All Israel stoned him to death.  (They also stoned and burned the others.)

Joshua 7:25 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:25 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ εἶπεν Ἰησοῦς τῷ Αχαρ τί ὠλέθρευσας ἡμᾶς ἐξολεθρεύσαι σε κύριος καθὰ καὶ σήμερον καὶ ἐλιθοβόλησαν αὐτὸν λίθοις πᾶς Ισραηλ καὶ εἶπεν ᾿Ιησοῦς τῷ ῎Αχαρ· τί ὠλόθρευσας ἡμᾶς; ἐξολοθρεύσαι σε Κύριος καθὰ καὶ σήμερον. καὶ ἐλιθοβόλησαν αὐτὸν λίθοις πᾶς ᾿Ισραήλ

Joshua 7:25 (NETS)

Joshua 7:25 (English Elpenor)
And Iesous said to Achar, “Why have you destroyed us?  May the Lord destroy you as also today.”  And all Israel stoned him with stones. And Joshua said to Achar, Why hast thou destroyed us? the Lord destroy thee as at this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones.

Joshua 7:26 (Tanakh)

 Joshua 7:26 (KJV)

Joshua 7:26 (NET)
And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day.  So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger.  Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day.  So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger.  Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day. Then they erected over him a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day ) and the Lord’s anger subsided.  So that place is called the Valley of Disaster to this very day.

Joshua 7:26 (Septuagint BLB)

Joshua 7:26 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐπέστησαν αὐτῷ σωρὸν λίθων μέγαν καὶ ἐπαύσατο κύριος τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς διὰ τοῦτο ἐπωνόμασεν αὐτὸ Εμεκαχωρ ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης καὶ ἐπέστησαν αὐτῷ σωρὸν λίθων μέγαν. καὶ ἐπαύσατο Κύριος τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς· διὰ τοῦτο ἐπωνόμασεν αὐτὸ ᾿Εμεκαχὼρ ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης

Joshua 7:26 (NETS)

Joshua 7:26 (English Elpenor)
And they set up over him a great heap of stones.  And the Lord ceased from burning anger.  Therefore he named it Emekachor until this day. And they set up over him a great heap of stones; and the Lord ceased from his fierce anger.  Therefore he called the place Emecachor until this day.

Hosea 2:15 (Tanakh)

 Hosea 2:15 (KJV)

Hosea 2:15 (NET)
And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. From there I will give back her vineyards to her, and turn the “Valley of Trouble” into an “Opportunity for Hope.”  There she will sing as she did when she was young, when she came up from the land of Egypt.

Hosea 2:15 (Septuagint BLB)

Hosea 2:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ δώσω αὐτῇ τὰ κτήματα αὐτῆς ἐκεῗθεν καὶ τὴν κοιλάδα Αχωρ διανοῗξαι σύνεσιν αὐτῆς καὶ ταπεινωθήσεται ἐκεῗ κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας νηπιότητος αὐτῆς καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ἀναβάσεως αὐτῆς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ δώσω αὐτῇ τὰ κτήματα αὐτῆς ἐκεῖθεν καὶ τὴν κοιλάδα ᾿Αχὼρ διανοῖξαι σύνεσιν αὐτῆς, καὶ ταπεινωθήσεται ἐκεῖ κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας νηπιότητος αὐτῆς καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ἀναβάσεως αὐτῆς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου.

Hosea 2:15 (NETS)

Hosea 2:17 (English Elpenor)
And from there I will give her her estates and the valley of Achor, to open up her understanding.  And there she will be brought low as in the days of her infancy and as in the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt. And I will give her possessions from thence, and the valley of Achor to open her understanding: and she shall be afflicted there according to the days of her infancy, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.

Hosea 2:16 (Tanakh)

 Hosea 2:16 (KJV)

Hosea 2:16 (NET)
And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali. And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali. “At that time,” declares the Lord, “you will call, ‘My husband’; you will never again call me, ‘My master.’

Hosea 2:16 (Septuagint BLB)

Hosea 2:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσται ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ λέγει κύριος καλέσει με ὁ ἀνήρ μου καὶ οὐ καλέσει με ἔτι Βααλιμ καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, λέγει Κύριος, καλέσει με· ὁ ἀνήρ μου, καὶ οὐ καλέσει με ἔτι Βααλείμ

Hosea 2:16 (NETS)

Hosea 2:18 (English Elpenor)
And it shall be on that day, says the Lord, she will call me “My husband” and no longer call me “Baalim.” And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, [that] she shall call me, My husband, and shall no longer call me Baalim.

Hosea 2:17 (Tanakh)

 Hosea 2:17 (KJV)

Hosea 2:17 (NET)
For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name. For I will remove the names of the Baal idols from your lips, so that you will never again utter their names!”

Hosea 2:17 (Septuagint BLB)

Hosea 2:19 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἐξαρῶ τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν Βααλιμ ἐκ στόματος αὐτῆς καὶ οὐ μὴ μνησθῶσιν οὐκέτι τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν καὶ ἐξαρῶ τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν Βααλεὶμ ἐκ στόματος αὐτῆς καὶ οὐ μὴ μνησθῶσιν οὐκ ἔτι τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν

Hosea 2:17 (NETS)

Hosea 2:19 (English Elpenor)
And I will remove the names of the Baalim from her mouth, and their names will be remembered no more. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and their names shall be remembered no more at all.

2 Samuel 12:14 (Tanakh)

 2 Samuel 12:14 (KJV)

2 Samuel 12:14 (NET)
Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast greatly blasphemed the enemies of HaShem, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.’ Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”

2 Samuel 12:14 (Septuagint BLB)

2 Kings 12:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)
πλὴν ὅτι παροξύνων παρώξυνας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς κυρίου ἐν τῷ ῥήματι τούτῳ καί γε ὁ υἱός σου ὁ τεχθείς σοι θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῗται πλὴν ὅτι παροργίζων παρώργισας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς Κυρίου ἐν τῷ ρήματι τούτῳ, καί γε ὁ υἱός σου ὁ τεχθείς σοι θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖται

2 Reigns 12:14 (NETS)

2 Kings 12:14 (English Elpenor)
Yet because provokingly you provoked the enemies of the Lord by this thing, indeed your son who was born to you will die by death. Only because thou hast given great occasion of provocation to the enemies of the Lord by this thing, thy son also that is born to thee shall surely die.

1 2 Samuel 12:1-7 (NET)

2 Leviticus 20:10 (NET)

3 Exodus 21:12 (NET)

4 Exodus 21:14 (NET)

5 Leviticus 4:22, 23 (NET)

6 2 Samuel 12:7-12 (NET)

7 2 Samuel 12:13a (NET)

8 Joshua 7:10-12 (NET)

9 Joshua 7:15 (NET)

10 This was Εμεκαχωρ (Table50) in the Septuagint, a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew עמק (ʽêmeq; NET: Valley) and עכור (ʽâkôr; NET: of Disaster).

11 See footnote 10 above (Table54).

12 Joshua 7:24-26 (NET)

13 The Hebrew עמק (ʽêmeq; NET: Valley) and עכור (ʽâkôr; NET: of Trouble) was translated κοιλάδα Αχωρ (Table56) in the Septuagint.

14 This phrase was significantly different in the English translations of the Septuagint (Table56), but that must wait for another essay.

15 2 Samuel 12:13, 14 (NET)