34:22 There is no darkness, and no deep darkness,
where evildoers can hide themselves. 1
90:8 You are aware of our sins; 2
you even know about our hidden sins. 3
17:1 4 The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel
on their stone-hard 5 hearts.
It is inscribed with a diamond 6 point
on the horns of their altars. 7
17:10 I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds.
I examine people’s hearts. 8
I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.
I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.
1:12 At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps.
I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, 9
those who think to themselves, 10
‘The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.’ 11
1 tn The construction of this colon uses the Niphal infinitive construct from סָתַר (satar, “to be hidden; to hide”). The resumptive adverb makes this a relative clause in its usage: “where the evildoers can hide themselves.”
2 tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”
3 tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.
4 tn The chapter division which was not a part of the original text but was added in the middle ages obscures the fact that there is no new speech here. The division may have resulted from the faulty identification of the “them” in the preceding verse. See the translator’s note on that verse.
5 tn The adjective “stone-hard” is not in the Hebrew text. It is implicit in the metaphor and is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. Ezek 11:19; 36:26; and Job 19:24 for the figure.
6 tn Heb “adamant.” The word “diamond” is an accommodation to modern times. There is no evidence that diamond was known in ancient times. This hard stone (perhaps emery) became metaphorical for hardness; see Ezek 3:9 and Zech 7:12. For discussion see W. E. Staples, “Adamant,” IDB 1:45.
7 tn This verse has been restructured for the sake of the English poetry: Heb “The sin of Judah is engraved [or written] with an iron pen, inscribed with a point of a diamond [or adamant] upon the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.”
8 tn The term rendered “mind” here and in the previous verse is actually the Hebrew word for “heart.” However, in combination with the word rendered “heart” in the next line, which is the Hebrew for “kidneys,” it is best rendered “mind” because the “heart” was considered the center of intellect, conscience, and will and the “kidneys” the center of emotions.
9 tn Heb “who thicken on their sediment.” The imagery comes from wine making, where the wine, if allowed to remain on the sediment too long, will thicken into syrup. The image suggests that the people described here were complacent in their sinful behavior and interpreted the delay in judgment as divine apathy.
10 tn Heb “who say in their hearts.”
11 tn Heb “The
12 tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.