Exodus 34:6-7

34:6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: ¹  “The Lord, the Lord, ²  the compassionate and gracious ³  God, slow to anger, ⁴  and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, ⁵  34:7 keeping loyal love for thousands, ⁶  forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression ⁷  of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

Psalms 78:38

78:38 Yet he is compassionate.

He forgives sin and does not destroy.

He often holds back his anger,

and does not stir up his fury. ⁸ 

Psalms 103:8-18

103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;

he is patient ⁹  and demonstrates great loyal love. ¹⁰ 

103:9 He does not always accuse,

and does not stay angry. ¹¹ 

103:10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve; ¹² 

he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve. ¹³ 

103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,

so his loyal love towers ¹⁴  over his faithful followers. ¹⁵ 

103:12 As far as the eastern horizon ¹⁶  is from the west, ¹⁷ 

so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions ¹⁸  from us.

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, ¹⁹ 

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. ²⁰ 

103:14 For he knows what we are made of; ²¹ 

he realizes ²²  we are made of clay. ²³ 

103:15 A person’s life is like grass. ²⁴ 

Like a flower in the field it flourishes,

103:16 but when the hot wind ²⁵  blows by, it disappears,

and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

103:17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers, ²⁶ 

and is faithful to their descendants, ²⁷ 

103:18 to those who keep his covenant,

who are careful to obey his commands. ²⁸ 

Psalms 145:8-9

145:8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate;

he is patient ²⁹  and demonstrates great loyal love. ³⁰ 

145:9 The Lord is good to all,

and has compassion on all he has made. ³¹ 

Isaiah 55:7-9

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ³² 

and sinful people their plans. ³³ 

They should return ³⁴  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ³⁵ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ³⁶ 

55:8 “Indeed, ³⁷  my plans ³⁸  are not like ³⁹  your plans,

and my deeds ⁴⁰  are not like ⁴¹  your deeds,

55:9 for just as the sky ⁴²  is higher than the earth,

so my deeds ⁴³  are superior to ⁴⁴  your deeds

and my plans ⁴⁵  superior to your plans.

Joel 2:13

2:13 Return to the Lord your God,

for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ⁴⁶  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ⁴⁷ 

Romans 9:15

9:15 For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ⁴⁸ 

Ephesians 1:6-7

1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace ⁴⁹  that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. ⁵⁰  1:7 In him ⁵¹  we have redemption through his blood, ⁵²  the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

[34:6]  ¹ tn Here is one of the clearest examples of what it means “to call on the name of the Lord,” as that clause has been translated traditionally (וַיִּקְרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָה, vayyiqra’ vÿshem yÿhvah). It seems more likely that it means “to make proclamation of Yahweh by name.” Yahweh came down and made a proclamation – and the next verses give the content of what he said. This cannot be prayer or praise; it is a proclamation of the nature or attributes of God (which is what his “name” means throughout the Bible). Attempts to make Moses the subject of the verb are awkward, for the verb is repeated in v. 6 with Yahweh clearly doing the proclaiming.

[34:6]  ² sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 439) suggests that these two names be written as a sentence: “Yahweh, He is Yahweh.” In this manner it reflects “I am that I am.” It is impossible to define his name in any other way than to make this affirmation and then show what it means.

[34:6]  ³ tn See Exod 33:19.

[34:6]  ⁴ sn This is literally “long of anger.” His anger prolongs itself, allowing for people to repent before punishment is inflicted.

[34:6]  ⁵ sn These two words (“loyal love” and “truth”) are often found together, occasionally in a hendiadys construction. If that is the interpretation here, then it means “faithful covenant love.” Even if they are left separate, they are dual elements of a single quality. The first word is God’s faithful covenant love; the second word is God’s reliability and faithfulness.

[34:7]  ⁶ tn That is, “for thousands of generations.”

[34:7]  ⁷ sn As in the ten commandments (20:5-6), this expression shows that the iniquity and its punishment will continue in the family if left unchecked. This does not go on as long as the outcomes for good (thousands versus third or fourth generations), and it is limited to those who hate God.

[78:38]  ⁸ tn One could translate v. 38 in the past tense (“he was compassionate…forgave sin and did not destroy…held back his anger, and did not stir up his fury”), but the imperfect verbal forms are probably best understood as generalizing. Verse 38 steps back briefly from the narrational summary of Israel’s history and lays the theological basis for v. 39, which focuses on God’s mercy toward sinful Israel.

[103:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:9]  ¹¹ 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).

[103:10]  ¹² tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”

[103:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”

[103:11]  ¹⁴ tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[103:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “sunrise.”

[103:12]  ¹⁷ tn Or “sunset.”

[103:12]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.

[103:13]  ¹⁹ tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.

[103:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “our form.”

[103:14]  ²² tn Heb “remembers.”

[103:14]  ²³ tn Heb “we [are] clay.”

[103:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.

[103:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[103:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “but the loyal love of the Lord [is] from everlasting to everlasting over those who fear him.”

[103:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and his righteousness to sons of sons.”

[103:18]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to those who remember his precepts to do them.”

[145:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).

[145:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”

[55:7]  ³² tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³³ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³⁴ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ³⁵ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ³⁶ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[55:8]  ³⁷ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV).

[55:8]  ³⁸ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).

[55:8]  ³⁹ tn Heb “are not.” “Like” is interpretive, but v. 9 indicates that a comparison is in view.

[55:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “are not.” “Like” is interpretive, but v. 9 indicates that a comparison is in view.

[55:9]  ⁴² tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[55:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “are higher than.”

[55:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).

[2:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and great of loyal love.”

[2:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and he relents from calamity.”

[9:15]  ⁴⁸ sn A quotation from Exod 33:19.

[1:6]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “to the praise of his glorious grace.” Many translations translate δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ (doxh" th" carito" autou, literally “of the glory of his grace”) with τῆς χάριτος as an attributed genitive (cf., e.g., NIV, NRSV, ESV). The translation above has retained a literal rendering in order to make clear the relationship of this phrase to the other two similar phrases in v. 12 and 14, which affect the way one divides the material in the passage.

[1:6]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “the beloved.” The term ἠγαπημένῳ (hgaphmenw) means “beloved,” but often bears connotations of “only beloved” in an exclusive sense. “His dearly loved Son” picks up this connotation.

[1:7]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “in whom” (the relative clause of v. 7 is subordinate to v. 6). The “him” refers to Christ.

[1:7]  ⁵² sn In this context his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.