32:4 As for the Rock, 3 his work is perfect,
for all his ways are just.
He is a reliable God who is never unjust,
he is fair 4 and upright.
50:6 The heavens declare his fairness, 5
for God is judge. 6 (Selah)
145:17 The Lord is just in all his actions, 7
and exhibits love in all he does. 8
12:1 Lord, you have always been fair
whenever I have complained to you. 9
However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. 10
Why are wicked people successful? 11
Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?
3:5 The just Lord resides 12 within her;
he commits no unjust acts. 13
Every morning he reveals 14 his justice.
At dawn he appears without fail. 15
Yet the unjust know no shame.
1 tn Or “ruler.”
2 sn Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right? For discussion of this text see J. L. Crenshaw, “Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel,” ZAW 82 (1970): 380-95, and C. S. Rodd, “Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Just?” ExpTim 83 (1972): 137-39.
3 tc The LXX reads Θεός (qeos, “God”) for the MT’s “Rock.”
4 tn Or “just” (KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT) or “righteous” (NASB).
5 tn Or “justice.”
6 tn Or “for God, he is about to judge.” The participle may be taken as substantival (as in the translation above) or as a predicate (indicating imminent future action in this context).
7 tn Heb “in all his ways.”
8 tn Heb “and [is] loving in all his deeds.”
9 tn Or “
10 tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).
11 tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”
12 tn The word “resides” is supplied for clarification.
13 tn Or “he does no injustice.”
14 tn Heb “gives”; or “dispenses.”
15 tn Heb “at the light he is not missing.” Note that NASB (which capitalizes pronouns referring to Deity) has divided the lines differently: “Every morning He brings His justice to light; // He does not fail.”
16 tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.
17 tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
18 tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
19 tn Or “will render,” “will recompense.” In this context Paul is setting up a hypothetical situation, not stating that salvation is by works.
20 sn A quotation from Ps 62:12; Prov 24:12; a close approximation to Matt 16:27.