40:8 I want to do what pleases you, 1 my God.
Your law dominates my thoughts.” 2
8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put 19 my laws in their minds 20 and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. 21
1 tn Or “your will.”
2 tn Heb “your law [is] in the midst of my inner parts.” The “inner parts” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s thought life and moral decision making.
3 tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.
4 tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.
5 tn Heb “Oracle of the
6 tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the
7 tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.
8 tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.
9 sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.
10 tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew
11 tn Heb “their flesh.”
12 tn Heb “heart of flesh.”
13 sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.
14 sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).
15 sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.
16 tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.
17 tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.
18 tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.
19 tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”
20 tn Grk “mind.”
21 tn Grk “I will be to them for a God and they will be to me for a people,” following the Hebrew constructions of Jer 31.
22 tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”
23 sn A quotation from Jer 31:33.