4:12 thus I will do to you. Or, “because this is what I have done to you.” The Hebrew is ambiguous. It either warns about the future, or cites the past as a reason to fear.

prepare . . . God. The phrase comes from Ex. 19:15–17, where, after three days of sanctification, the people met the Lord at Sinai. Then they met a God who was graciously forging a covenant with them. Now they would meet a God who was coming to judge their covenant disobedience.