Nehemiah 1:9

1:9 But if you repent ¹  and obey ²  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ³  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

Lamentations 3:40-41

נ (Nun)

3:40 Let us carefully examine our ways, ⁴ 

and let us return to the Lord.

3:41 Let us lift up our hearts ⁵  and our hands

to God in heaven:

Ezekiel 18:21

18:21 “But if the wicked person turns from all the sin he has committed and observes all my statutes and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.

Ezekiel 33:11

33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior ⁶  and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! ⁷  Why should you die, O house of Israel?’

Ezekiel 33:14

33:14 Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right.

Ezekiel 33:19

33:19 When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it.

Acts 3:19

3:19 Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out,

Acts 26:20

26:20 but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, ⁸  and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, ⁹  performing deeds consistent with ¹⁰  repentance.

¹ tn Heb “turn to me.”

² tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

³ tn Heb “at the end of the heavens.”

⁴ tn Heb “Let us test our ways and examine.” The two verbs וְנַחְקֹרָה…נַחְפְּשָׂה (nakhpÿsah…vÿnakhqorah, “Let us test and let us examine”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal force: “Let us carefully examine our ways.”

⁵ tc The MT reads the singular noun לְבָבֵנוּ (lÿvavenu, “our heart”) but the ancient versions (LXX, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate) and many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural noun לְבָבֵינוּ (lÿvavenu, “our hearts”). Hebrew regularly places plural pronouns on singular nouns used as a collective (135 times on the singular “heart” and only twice on the plural “hearts”). The plural “hearts” in any Hebrew construction is actually rather rare. The LXX renders similar Hebrew constructions (singular “heart” plus a plural pronoun) with the plural “hearts” about 1/3 of the time, therefore it cannot be considered evidence for the reading. The Vulgate may have been influenced by the LXX. Although a distributive sense is appropriate for a much higher percentage of passages using the plural “hearts” in the LXX, no clear reason for the differentiation in the LXX has emerged. Likely the singular Hebrew form is original but the meaning is best represented in English with the plural.

⁶ tn Heb “turn from his way.”

⁷ tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.

⁸ tn BDAG 1093-94 s.v. χώρα 2.b states, “of the provincial name (1 Macc 8:3) ἡ χώρα τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας Ac 26:20.”

⁹ sn That they should repent and turn to God. This is the shortest summary of Paul’s message that he preached.

¹⁰ tn BDAG 93 s.v. ἄξιος 1.b, “καρποὶ ἄ. τῆς μετανοίας fruits in keeping with your repentance…Lk 3:8; Mt 3:8. For this ἄ. τῆς μετανοίας ἔργα Ac 26:20.” Note how Paul preached the gospel offer and the issue of response together, side by side.