Psalms 38:18

38:18 Yes, ¹  I confess my wrongdoing,

and I am concerned about my sins.

Psalms 51:3-5

51:3 For I am aware of ²  my rebellious acts;

I am forever conscious of my sin. ³ 

51:4 Against you – you above all ⁴  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ⁵  you are just when you confront me; ⁶ 

you are right when you condemn me. ⁷ 

51:5 Look, I was guilty of sin from birth,

a sinner the moment my mother conceived me. ⁸ 

Leviticus 26:39-40

Restoration through Confession and Repentance

26:39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of ⁹  their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’ ¹⁰  iniquities which are with them. 26:40 However, when ¹¹  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, ¹²  by which they also walked ¹³  in hostility against me ¹⁴ 

Joshua 7:19

7:19 So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, honor ¹⁵  the Lord God of Israel and give him praise! Tell me what you did; don’t hide anything from me!”

Joshua 7:2

7:2 Joshua sent men from Jericho ¹⁶  to Ai (which is located near Beth Aven, east of Bethel ¹⁷ ) and instructed them, “Go up and spy on the land.” So the men went up and spied on Ai.

Joshua 12:13

12:13 the king of Debir (one),

the king of Geder (one),

Joshua 24:10

24:10 I refused to respond to Balaam; he kept ¹⁸  prophesying good things about ¹⁹  you, and I rescued you from his power. ²⁰ 

Job 33:27

33:27 That person sings ²¹  to others, ²²  saying:

‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,

but I was not punished according to what I deserved. ²³ 

Proverbs 28:13

28:13 The one who covers ²⁴  his transgressions will not prosper, ²⁵ 

but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 3:13

3:13 However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ²⁷ 

and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God.

You must confess ²⁸  that you have given yourself to ²⁹  foreign gods under every green tree,

and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.

Jeremiah 3:1

3:1 “If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,

he may not take her back again. ³⁰ 

Doing that would utterly defile the land. ³¹ 

But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. ³² 

So what makes you think you can return to me?” ³³ 

says the Lord.

Jeremiah 1:8-10

1:8 Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, ³⁴  for I will be with you to protect ³⁵  you,” says the Lord. 1:9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me. ³⁶  1:10 Know for certain that ³⁷  I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be ³⁸  uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” ³⁹ 

[38:18]  ¹ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[51:3]  ² tn Heb “know.”

[51:3]  ³ tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”

[51:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”

[51:4]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.

[51:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).

[51:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[51:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “Look, in wrongdoing I was brought forth, and in sin my mother conceived me.” The prefixed verbal form in the second line is probably a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive), stating a simple historical fact. The psalmist is not suggesting that he was conceived through an inappropriate sexual relationship (although the verse has sometimes been understood to mean that, or even that all sexual relationships are sinful). The psalmist’s point is that he has been a sinner from the very moment his personal existence began. By going back beyond the time of birth to the moment of conception, the psalmist makes his point more emphatically in the second line than in the first.

[26:39]  ⁹ tn Heb “in” (so KJV, ASV; also later in this verse).

[26:39]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “fathers’” (also in the following verse).

[26:40]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

[26:40]  ¹² tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

[26:40]  ¹³ tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

[26:40]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with me.”

[7:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “give glory to.”

[7:2]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[7:2]  ¹⁷ map For the location of Bethel see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[24:10]  ¹⁸ tn The infinitive absolute follows the finite verb in the Hebrew text and indicates continuation or repetition of the action. Balaam pronounced several oracles of blessing over Israel (see Num 23-24).

[24:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “blessing.” Balaam’s “blessings” were actually prophecies of how God would prosper Israel.

[24:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hand.”

[33:27]  ²¹ tc The verb יָשֹׁר (yashor) is unusual. The typical view is to change it to יָשִׁיר (yashir, “he sings”), but that may seem out of harmony with a confession. Dhorme suggests a root שׁוּר (shur, “to repeat”), but this is a doubtful root. J. Reider reads it יָשֵׁיר (yasher) and links it to an Arabic word “confesses” (ZAW 24 [1953]: 275).

[33:27]  ²² tn Heb “to men.”

[33:27]  ²³ tn The verb שָׁוָה (shavah) has the impersonal meaning here, “it has not been requited to me.” The meaning is that the sinner has not been treated in accordance with his deeds: “I was not punished according to what I deserved.”

[28:13]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew participles provide the subject matter in this contrast. On the one hand is the person who covers over (מְכַסֶּה, mÿkhasseh) his sins. This means refusing to acknowledge them in confession, and perhaps rationalizing them away. On the other hand there is the one who both “confesses” (מוֹדֶה, modeh) and “forsakes” (עֹזֵב, ’ozev) the sin. To “confess” sins means to acknowledge them, to say the same thing about them that God does.

[28:13]  ²⁵ sn The verse contrasts the consequences of each. The person who refuses to confess will not prosper. This is an understatement (a figure of speech known as tapeinosis); the opposite is the truth, that eventually such a person will be undone and ruined. On the other hand, the penitent will find mercy. This expression is a metonymy of cause for the effect – although “mercy” is mentioned, what mercy provides is intended, i.e., forgiveness. In other passages the verb “conceal” is used of God’s forgiveness – he covers over the iniquity (Ps 32:1). Whoever acknowledges sin, God will cover it; whoever covers it, God will lay it open.

[28:13]  ²⁶ sn This verse is unique in the book of Proverbs; it captures the theology of forgiveness (e.g., Pss 32 and 51). Every part of the passage is essential to the point: Confession of sins as opposed to concealing them, coupled with a turning away from them, results in mercy.

[3:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Only acknowledge your iniquity.”

[3:13]  ²⁸ tn The words “You must confess” are repeated to convey the connection. The Hebrew text has an introductory “that” in front of the second line and a coordinative “and” in front of the next two lines.

[3:13]  ²⁹ tc MT reads דְּרָכַיִךְ (dÿrakhayikh, “your ways”), but the BHS editors suggest דּוֹדַיִךְ (dodayikh, “your breasts”) as an example of orthographic confusion. While the proposal makes sense, it remains a conjectural emendation since it is not supported by any actual manuscripts or ancient versions.

[3:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.

[3:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

[3:1]  ³² tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”

[3:1]  ³³ tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.

[1:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “be afraid of them.” The antecedent is the “whomever” in v. 7.

[1:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “rescue.”

[1:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.” This is an example of the Hebrew “scheduling” perfect or the “prophetic” perfect where a future event is viewed as so certain it is spoken of as past. The Hebrew particle rendered here “assuredly” (Heb הִנֵּה, hinneh) underlines the certitude of the promise for the future. See the translator’s note on v. 6.

[1:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “See!” The Hebrew imperative of the verb used here (רָאָה, ra’ah) functions the same as the particle in v. 9. See the translator’s note there.

[1:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “I appoint you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot….” The phrase refers to the Lord giving Jeremiah authority as a prophet to declare what he, the Lord, will do; it does not mean that Jeremiah himself will do these things. The expression involves a figure of speech where the subject of a declaration is stated instead of the declaration about it. Compare a similar use of the same figure in Gen 41:13.

[1:10]  ³⁹ sn These three pairs represent the twofold nature of Jeremiah’s prophecies, prophecies of judgment and restoration. For the further programmatic use of these pairs for Jeremiah’s ministry see 18:7-10 and 31:27-28.