Psalms 73:13-15

73:13 I concluded, ¹  “Surely in vain I have kept my motives ²  pure

and maintained a pure lifestyle. ³ 

73:14 I suffer all day long,

and am punished every morning.”

73:15 If I had publicized these thoughts, ⁴ 

I would have betrayed your loyal followers. ⁵ 

Psalms 92:15

92:15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my protector,

is just and never unfair. ⁶ 

Malachi 3:14

3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ⁷  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ⁸ 

Romans 2:5

2:5 But because of your stubbornness ⁹  and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! ¹⁰ 

¹ 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.

² tn Heb “heart,” viewed here as the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “If I had said, ‘I will speak out like this.’”

⁵ tn Heb “look, the generation of your sons I would have betrayed.” The phrase “generation of your [i.e., God’s] sons” occurs only here in the OT. Some equate the phrase with “generation of the godly” (Ps 14:5), “generation of the ones seeking him” (Ps 24:6), and “generation of the upright” (Ps 112:2). In Deut 14:1 the Israelites are referred to as God’s “sons.” Perhaps the psalmist refers here to those who are “Israelites” in the true sense because of their loyalty to God (note the juxtaposition of “Israel” with “the pure in heart” in v. 1).

⁶ tn Heb “so that [they] proclaim that upright [is] the Lord, my rocky summit, and there is no injustice in him.”

⁷ tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

⁸ sn The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the Lord. The reason, of course, is that it was blatantly hypocritical.

⁹ tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.

¹⁰ tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”