44:20 If we had rejected our God, 1
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, 2
44:21 would not God discover it,
for he knows 3 one’s thoughts? 4
98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands!
Let the mountains sing in unison
139:3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; 5
you are aware of everything I do. 6
34:21 For his eyes are on the ways of an individual,
he observes all a person’s 7 steps.
5:21 For the ways of a person 8 are in front of the Lord’s eyes,
and the Lord 9 weighs 10 all that person’s 11 paths.
23:24 “Do you really think anyone can hide himself
where I cannot see him?” the Lord asks. 12
“Do you not know that I am everywhere?” 13
the Lord asks. 14
1 tn Heb “If we had forgotten the name of our God.” To “forget the name” here refers to rejecting the
2 tn Heb “and spread out your hands to another god.” Spreading out the hands was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). In its most fundamental sense זר (“another; foreign; strange”) refers to something that is outside one’s circle, often making association with it inappropriate. A “strange” god is an alien deity, an “outside god” (see L. A. Snijders, TDOT 4:54-55).
3 tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.
4 tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.
5 tn Heb “my traveling and my lying down you measure.” The verb זָרָה (zarah, “to measure”) is probably here a denominative from זָרָת (zarat, “a span; a measure”), though some derive it from זָרָה (zarat, “to winnow; to sift”; see BDB 279-80 s.v. זָרָה).
6 tn Heb “all my ways.”
7 tn Heb “his”; the referent (a person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “man.”
9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
10 tn BDB 814 s.v. פָּלַס 2 suggests that the participle מְפַּלֵּס (mÿpalles) means “to make level [or, straight].” As one’s ways are in front of the eyes of the
11 tn Heb “all his”; the referent (the person mentioned in the first half of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Heb “Oracle of the
13 tn The words “Don’t you know” are not in the text. They are a way of conveying the idea that the question which reads literally “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” expects a positive answer. They follow the pattern used at the beginning of the previous two questions and continue that thought. The words are supplied in the translation for clarity.
14 tn Heb “Oracle of the
15 tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Grk “her children,” but in this context a reference to this woman’s followers or disciples is more likely meant.
17 tn Grk “I will kill with death.” θάνατος (qanatos) can in particular contexts refer to a manner of death, specifically a contagious disease (see BDAG 443 s.v. 3; L&N 23.158).
18 tn Grk “I will give.” The sense of δίδωμι (didwmi) in this context is more “repay” than “give.”
19 sn This pronoun and the following one are plural in the Greek text.
20 tn Grk “each one of you according to your works.”