9:7 “You are righteous, 4 O Lord, but we are humiliated this day 5 – the people 6 of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you. 9:8 O LORD, we have been humiliated 7 – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you. 9:9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, 8 even though we have rebelled against him. 9:10 We have not obeyed 9 the LORD our God by living according to 10 his laws 11 that he set before us through his servants the prophets.
9:11 “All Israel has broken 12 your law and turned away by not obeying you. 13 Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened 14 in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. 15 9:12 He has carried out his threats 16 against us and our rulers 17 who were over 18 us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven! 9:13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify 19 the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom 20 from your reliable moral standards. 21
1 tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”
2 tn Heb “our fathers” (also in vv. 8, 16). The Hebrew term translated “father” can refer to more distant relationships such as grandfathers or ancestors.
3 tn Heb “people.”
4 tn Heb “to you (belongs) righteousness.”
5 tn Heb “and to us (belongs) shame of face like this day.”
6 tn Heb “men.”
7 tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”
8 tn Heb “to the Lord our God (belong) compassion and forgiveness.”
9 tn Heb “paid attention to the voice of,” which is an idiomatic expression for obedience (cf. NASB “nor have we obeyed the voice of”).
10 tn Heb “to walk in.”
11 tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.
12 tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.
13 tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”
14 tn Heb “the curse and the oath which is written.” The term “curse” refers here to the judgments threatened in the Mosaic law (see Deut 28) for rebellion. The expression “the curse and the oath” is probably a hendiadys (cf. Num 5:21; Neh 10:29) referring to the fact that the covenant with its threatened judgments was ratified by solemn oath and made legally binding upon the covenant community.
15 tn Heb “him.”
16 tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”
17 tn Heb “our judges.”
18 tn Heb “who judged.”
19 tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”
20 tn Or “by gaining insight.”
21 tn Heb “by your truth.” The Hebrew term does not refer here to abstract truth, however, but to the reliable moral guidance found in the covenant law. See vv 10-11.