to return to and thus finally ceased as a sovereign people. With If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all the NIV attempts to catch the assonance of the Hebrew (ta’amı̂nû … tē’āmēnû). Faith is the central reality of the Lord’s people, not just their distinctiveness but their ground of existence. No faith, no people. The MT includes an affirmative particle overlooked in the NIV: ‘indeed (kı̂) you will not stand at all’. In the light of 6:9–13, this is the point of no
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