85:5 Will you stay mad at us forever?
Will you remain angry throughout future generations? 1
103:9 He does not always accuse,
and does not stay angry. 2
64:9 Lord, do not be too angry!
Do not hold our sins against us continually! 3
Take a good look at your people, at all of us! 4
7:18 There is no other God like you! 5
You 6 forgive sin
and pardon 7 the rebellion
of those who remain among your people. 8
You do not remain angry forever, 9
but delight in showing loyal love.
1 tn Heb “Will your anger stretch to a generation and a generation?”
2 tn The Hebrew verb נָטַר (natar) is usually taken to mean “to keep; to guard,” with “anger” being understood by ellipsis. The idiom “to guard anger” is then understood to mean “to remain angry” (see Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5, 12; Nah 1:2). However, it is possible that this is a homonymic root meaning “to be angry” (see HALOT 695 s.v. נטר).
3 tn Heb “do not remember sin continually.”
4 tn Heb “Look, gaze at your people, all of us.” Another option is to translate, “Take a good look! We are all your people.”
5 tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”
6 tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.
7 tn Heb “pass over.”
8 tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”
9 tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”