34:23 For he does not still consider a person, 3
that he should come before God in judgment.
צ (Tsade)
119:137 You are just, O Lord,
and your judgments are fair.
145:17 The Lord is just in all his actions, 4
and exhibits love in all he does. 5
12:1 Lord, you have always been fair
whenever I have complained to you. 6
However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. 7
Why are wicked people successful? 8
Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?
צ (Tsade)
1:18 The Lord is right to judge me! 9
Yes, I rebelled against his commands. 10
Please listen, all you nations, 11
and look at my suffering!
My young women and men
have gone into exile.
9:7 “You are righteous, 15 O Lord, but we are humiliated this day 16 – the people 17 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 18 – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you. 9:9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, 19 even though we have rebelled against him. 9:10 We have not obeyed 20 the LORD our God by living according to 21 his laws 22 that he set before us through his servants the prophets.
9:11 “All Israel has broken 23 your law and turned away by not obeying you. 24 Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened 25 in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. 26 9:12 He has carried out his threats 27 against us and our rulers 28 who were over 29 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 30 the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom 31 from your reliable moral standards. 32 9:14 The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just 33 in all he has done, 34 and we have not obeyed him. 35
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 tn Heb “for he does not put upon man yet.” This has been given a wide variety of interpretations, all of which involve a lot of additional thoughts. The word עוֹד (’od, “yet, still”) has been replaced with מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “an appointed time,” Reiske and Wright), with the ם (mem) having dropped out by haplography. This makes good sense. If the MT is retained, the best interpretation would be that God does not any more consider (from “place upon the heart”) man, that he might appear in judgment.
4 tn Heb “in all his ways.”
5 tn Heb “and [is] loving in all his deeds.”
6 tn Or “
7 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).
8 tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”
9 tn Heb “The
10 tn Heb “His mouth.” The term “mouth” (פֶּה, peh) is a metonymy of instrument (= mouth) for the product (= words). The term פֶּה (peh) often stands for spoken words (Ps 49:14; Eccl 10:3; Isa 29:13), declaration (Gen 41:40; Exod 38:21; Num 35:30; Deut 17:6; Ezra 1:1) and commands of God (Exod 17:1; Num 14:41; 22:18; Josh 15:13; 1 Sam 15:24; 1 Chr 12:24; Prov 8:29; Isa 34:16; 62:2). When the verb מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”) is used with the accusative direct object פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) to connote disobedience to God’s commandments (Num 20:24; 1 Sam 12:14, 15; 1 Kgs 13:21) (BDB 805 s.v. פֶּה 2.c).
11 tc The Kethib is written עַמִּים (’ammim, “peoples”), but the Qere, followed by many medieval Hebrew
12 tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”
13 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.
14 tn Heb “people.”
15 tn Heb “to you (belongs) righteousness.”
16 tn Heb “and to us (belongs) shame of face like this day.”
17 tn Heb “men.”
18 tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”
19 tn Heb “to the Lord our God (belong) compassion and forgiveness.”
20 tn Heb “paid attention to the voice of,” which is an idiomatic expression for obedience (cf. NASB “nor have we obeyed the voice of”).
21 tn Heb “to walk in.”
22 tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.
23 tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.
24 tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”
25 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.
26 tn Heb “him.”
27 tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”
28 tn Heb “our judges.”
29 tn Heb “who judged.”
30 tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”
31 tn Or “by gaining insight.”
32 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.
33 tn Or “righteous.”
34 tn Heb “in all his deeds which he has done.”
35 tn Heb “we have not listened to his voice.”