Genesis 20:5

20:5 Did Abraham ¹  not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ²  ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience ³  and with innocent hands!”

Psalms 24:4

24:4 The one whose deeds are blameless

and whose motives are pure, ⁴ 

who does not lie, ⁵ 

or make promises with no intention of keeping them. ⁶ 

Psalms 26:6

26:6 I maintain a pure lifestyle, ⁷ 

so I can appear before your altar, ⁸  O Lord,

Psalms 73:13

73:13 I concluded, ⁹  “Surely in vain I have kept my motives ¹⁰  pure

and maintained a pure lifestyle. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 1:15-16

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ¹² 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ¹³ 

1:16 ¹⁴ Wash! Cleanse yourselves!

Remove your sinful deeds ¹⁵ 

from my sight.

Stop sinning!

Mark 7:2

7:2 And they saw that some of Jesus’ disciples ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed.

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “and she, even she.”

³ tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”

⁴ tn Heb “the innocent of hands and the pure of heart.” The “hands” allude to one’s actions, the “heart” to one’s thought life and motives.

⁵ tn Heb “who does not lift up for emptiness my life.” The first person pronoun on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy, “my life”) makes little sense here; many medieval Hebrew mss support the ancient versions in reading a third person pronoun “his.” The idiom “lift the life” here means to “long for” or “desire strongly.” In this context (note the reference to an oath in the following line) “emptiness” probably refers to speech (see Ps 12:2).

⁶ tn Heb “and does not swear an oath deceitfully.”

⁷ tn Heb “I wash my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The imperfect verbal emphasizes that this is his habit.

⁸ tn Heb “so I can go around your altar” (probably in ritual procession). Following the imperfect of the preceding line, the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.

⁹ tn The words “I concluded” are supplied in the translation. It is apparent that vv. 13-14 reflect the psalmist’s thoughts at an earlier time (see vv. 2-3), prior to the spiritual awakening he describes in vv. 17-28.

¹⁰ tn Heb “heart,” viewed here as the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

¹¹ tn Heb “and washed my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The reference to “hands” suggests actions.

¹² tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

¹³ sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

¹⁴ sn Having demonstrated the people’s guilt, the Lord calls them to repentance, which will involve concrete action in the socio-economic realm, not mere emotion.

¹⁵ sn This phrase refers to Israel’s covenant treachery (cf. Deut 28:10; Jer 4:4; 21:12; 23:2, 22; 25:5; 26:3; 44:22; Hos 9:15; Ps 28:4). In general, the noun ַמעַלְלֵיכֶם (ma’alleykhem) can simply be a reference to deeds, whether good or bad. However, Isaiah always uses it with a negative connotation (cf. 3:8, 10).