2 Kings 5:10

5:10 Elisha sent out a messenger who told him, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan; your skin will be restored ¹  and you will be healed.”

Psalms 51:2

51:2 Wash away my wrongdoing! ² 

Cleanse me of my sin! ³ 

Psalms 51:7

51:7 Sprinkle me ⁴  with water ⁵  and I will be pure; ⁶ 

wash me ⁷  and I will be whiter than snow. ⁸ 

Isaiah 1:16

1:16 ⁹ Wash! Cleanse yourselves!

Remove your sinful deeds ¹⁰ 

from my sight.

Stop sinning!

John 13:8

13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” ¹¹  Jesus replied, ¹²  “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ¹³ 

Acts 22:16

22:16 And now what are you waiting for? ¹⁴  Get up, ¹⁵  be baptized, and have your sins washed away, ¹⁶  calling on his name.’ ¹⁷ 

Ephesians 5:26-27

5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her ¹⁸  with the washing of the water by the word, 5:27 so that he ¹⁹  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁰ 

Titus 3:5

3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Hebrews 10:22

10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ²¹  because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ²²  and our bodies washed in pure water.

Hebrews 10:1

Concluding Exposition: Old and New Sacrifices Contrasted

10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. ²³ 

Hebrews 3:1

Jesus and Moses

3:1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, ²⁴  partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, ²⁵ 

Revelation 7:14

7:14 So ²⁶  I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.” ²⁷  Then ²⁸  he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They ²⁹  have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!

[5:10]  ¹ tn Heb “will return to you.”

[51:2]  ² tn Heb “Thoroughly wash me from my wrongdoing.”

[51:2]  ³ sn In vv. 1b-2 the psalmist uses three different words to emphasize the multifaceted character and degree of his sin. Whatever one wants to call it (“rebellious acts,” “wrongdoing,” “sin”), he has done it and stands morally polluted in God’s sight. The same three words appear in Exod 34:7, which emphasizes that God is willing to forgive sin in all of its many dimensions. In v. 2 the psalmist compares forgiveness and restoration to physical cleansing. Perhaps he likens spiritual cleansing to the purification rites of priestly law.

[51:7]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “cleanse me with hyssop.” “Hyssop” was a small plant (see 1 Kgs 4:33) used to apply water (or blood) in purification rites (see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4-6, 49-52; Num 19:6-18. The psalmist uses the language and imagery of such rites to describe spiritual cleansing through forgiveness.

[51:7]  ⁶ tn After the preceding imperfect, the imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates result.

[51:7]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ⁸ sn I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).

[1:16]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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).

[13:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “You will never wash my feet forever.” The negation is emphatic in Greek but somewhat awkward in English. Emphasis is conveyed in the translation by the use of an exclamation point.

[13:8]  ¹² tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[13:8]  ¹³ tn Or “you have no part in me.”

[22:16]  ¹⁴ tn L&N 67.121 has “to extend time unduly, with the implication of lack of decision – ‘to wait, to delay.’ νῦν τί μέλλεις… ἀναστὰς βάπτισαι ‘what are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized’ Ac 22:16.”

[22:16]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “getting up.” The participle ἀναστάς (anasta") is an adverbial participle of attendant circumstance and has been translated as a finite verb.

[22:16]  ¹⁶ sn The expression have your sins washed away means “have your sins purified” (the washing is figurative).

[22:16]  ¹⁷ sn The expression calling on his name describes the confession of the believer: Acts 2:17-38, esp. v. 38; Rom 10:12-13; 1 Cor 1:2.

[5:26]  ¹⁸ tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.

[5:27]  ¹⁹ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

[5:27]  ²⁰ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”

[10:22]  ²¹ tn Grk “in assurance of faith.”

[10:22]  ²² sn The phrase our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience combines the OT imagery of the sprinkling with blood to give ritual purity with the emphasis on the interior cleansing provided by the new covenant: It is the heart that is cleansed and the conscience made perfect (cf. Heb 8:10; 9:9, 14; 10:2, 16).

[10:1]  ²³ tn Grk “those who approach.”

[3:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.

[3:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “of our confession.”

[7:14]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the previous question.

[7:14]  ²⁷ tn Though the expression “the answer” is not in the Greek text, it is clearly implied. Direct objects in Greek were frequently omitted when clear from the context.

[7:14]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[7:14]  ²⁹ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.