1 Kings 8:33

8:33 “The time will come when ¹  your people Israel are defeated by an enemy ²  because they sinned against you. If they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, ³  and pray for your help ⁴  in this temple,

Isaiah 1:15-16

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ⁵ 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ⁶ 

1:16 ⁷ Wash! Cleanse yourselves!

Remove your sinful deeds ⁸ 

from my sight.

Stop sinning!

Isaiah 9:13

9:13 The people did not return to the one who struck them,

they did not seek reconciliation ⁹  with the Lord who commands armies.

Ezekiel 18:30-32

18:30 “Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, ¹⁰  O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent ¹¹  and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity. ¹²  18:31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! ¹³  Why should you die, O house of Israel? 18:32 For I take no delight in the death of anyone, ¹⁴  declares the sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

Hosea 14:1

Prophetic Call to Genuine Repentance

14:1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for your sin has been your downfall! ¹⁵ 

[8:33]  ¹ tn Heb “when.” In the Hebrew text vv. 33-34 actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[8:33]  ² tn Or “are struck down before an enemy.”

[8:33]  ³ tn Heb “confess [or perhaps, “praise”] your name.”

[8:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they pray and ask for help.”

[1:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ⁶ sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[1:16]  ⁷ sn Having demonstrated the people’s guilt, the Lord calls them to repentance, which will involve concrete action in the socio-economic realm, not mere emotion.

[1:16]  ⁸ sn This phrase refers to Israel’s covenant treachery (cf. Deut 28:10; Jer 4:4; 21:12; 23:2, 22; 25:5; 26:3; 44:22; Hos 9:15; Ps 28:4). In general, the noun ַמעַלְלֵיכֶם (ma’alleykhem) can simply be a reference to deeds, whether good or bad. However, Isaiah always uses it with a negative connotation (cf. 3:8, 10).

[9:13]  ⁹ tn This verse describes the people’s response to the judgment described in vv. 11-12. The perfects are understood as indicating simple past.

[18:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “ways.”

[18:30]  ¹¹ tn The verbs and persons in this verse are plural whereas the individual has been the subject of the chapter.

[18:30]  ¹² tn Or “leading to punishment.”

[18:31]  ¹³ sn In Ezek 11:19, 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.

[18:32]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the death of the one dying.”

[14:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “For you have stumbled in your iniquity”; NASB, NRSV “because of your iniquity.”