^34:18I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces.³⁵ I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence.³⁶

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Footnotes

35 See the study note on v. for explanation and parallels.
36 There is a little confusion in the syntax of this section because the noun “the calf” does not have any formal conjunction or preposition with it showing how it relates to the rest of the sentence. treats it and the following words as though they were a temporal clause modifying “covenant which they made.” The majority of modern English versions and commentaries, however, understand it as a second accusative after the verb + object “I will make the men.” This fits under the category of what §118.r calls an accusative of comparison (compare usage in Isa 21:8; Zech 2:8). Stated baldly, “I will make the people … the calf,” it is, however, more forceful than the formal use of the noun + preposition ךְּ just as metaphors are generally more forceful than similes. The whole verse is one long, complex sentence in Hebrew: “I will make the men who broke my covenant [referring to the Mosaic covenant containing the stipulation to free slaves after six years] [and] who did not keep the terms of the covenant which they made before me [referring to their agreement to free their slaves] [like] the calf which they cut in two and passed between its pieces.” The sentence has been broken down into shorter sentences in conformity with contemporary English style.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts—

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

As for those who disobeyed my covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

NLTNew Living Translation

Because you have broken the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And I will make the men who transgressed my covenant, who have not kept the words of the covenant that they made before me, like the calf which they cut in two and they passed between its parts—

KJV 1900King James Version

And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,

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