Ezekiel 21:23

21:23 But those in Jerusalem ¹  will view it as a false omen. They have sworn solemn oaths, ²  but the king of Babylon ³  will accuse them of violations ⁴  in order to seize them. ⁵ 

Numbers 5:15

5:15 then ⁶  the man must bring his wife to the priest, and he must bring the offering required for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he must not pour olive oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion, ⁷  a grain offering for remembering, ⁸  for bringing ⁹  iniquity to remembrance.

Numbers 5:1

Separation of the Unclean

5:1 ¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 17:1

The Budding of Aaron’s Staff

17:1 ¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses:

Psalms 25:7

25:7 Do not hold against me ¹²  the sins of my youth ¹³  or my rebellious acts!

Because you are faithful to me, extend to me your favor, O Lord! ¹⁴ 

Psalms 79:8

79:8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! ¹⁵ 

Quickly send your compassion our way, ¹⁶ 

for we are in serious trouble! ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 64:9

64:9 Lord, do not be too angry!

Do not hold our sins against us continually! ¹⁸ 

Take a good look at your people, at all of us! ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 14:10

14:10 Then the Lord spoke about these people. ²⁰ 

“They truly ²¹  love to go astray.

They cannot keep from running away from me. ²² 

So I am not pleased with them.

I will now call to mind ²³  the wrongs they have done ²⁴ 

and punish them for their sins.”

Hosea 8:13

8:13 They offer up sacrificial gifts to me,

and eat the meat,

but the Lord does not accept their sacrifices. ²⁵ 

Soon he will remember their wrongdoing,

he will punish their sins,

and they will return to Egypt.

Hosea 9:9

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

9:9 They have sunk deep into corruption ²⁶ 

as in the days of Gibeah.

He will remember their wrongdoing.

He will repay them for their sins.

Hebrews 10:3

10:3 But in those sacrifices ²⁷  there is a reminder of sins year after year.

Hebrews 10:17

10:17 then he says, ²⁸  “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer.” ²⁹ 

Revelation 16:19

16:19 The ³⁰  great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations ³¹  collapsed. ³²  So ³³  Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup ³⁴  filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath. ³⁵ 

[21:23]  ¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people in Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:23]  ² sn When the people of Judah realized the Babylonians’ intentions, they would object on grounds that they had made a treaty with the Babylonian king (see 17:13).

[21:23]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:23]  ⁴ tn Or “iniquity.”

[21:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he will remind of guilt for the purpose of being captured.” The king would counter their objections by pointing out that they had violated their treaty with him (see 17:18).

[5:15]  ⁶ tn All the conditions have been laid down now for the instruction to begin – if all this happened, then this is the procedure to follow.

[5:15]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew word is “jealousy,” which also would be an acceptable translation here. But since the connotation is that suspicion has been raised about the other person, “suspicion” seems to be a better rendering in this context.

[5:15]  ⁸ tn The word “remembering” is זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron); the meaning of the word here is not so much “memorial,” which would not communicate much, but the idea of bearing witness before God concerning the charges. The truth would come to light through this ritual, and so the attestation would stand. This memorial would bring the truth to light. It was a somber occasion, and so no sweet smelling additives were placed on the altar.

[5:15]  ⁹ tn The final verbal form, מַזְכֶּרֶת (mazkeret), explains what the memorial was all about – it was causing iniquity to be remembered.

[5:1]  ¹⁰ sn The fifth chapter falls into four main parts: separation of the unclean (vv. 1-4), restitution for sin (vv. 5-10), the jealousy ordeal (vv. 11-28), and the summary (vv. 29-31). There is a good deal of literature on the biblical theme of holiness (for which see the notes on Leviticus primarily). But with regard to this chapter, see (with caution), Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger; J. Neusner, The Idea of Purity in Ancient Judaism; and K. Milgrom, “Two Kinds of h£at£t£a„át,” VT 26 (1976): 333-37.

[17:1]  ¹¹ sn Num 17:1 in the English Bible is 17:16 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.

[25:7]  ¹² tn Heb “do not remember,” with the intention of punishing.

[25:7]  ¹³ sn That is, the sins characteristic of youths, who lack moral discretion and wisdom.

[25:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “according to your faithfulness, remember me, you, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”

[79:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “do not remember against us sins, former.” Some understand “former” as an attributive adjective modifying sins, “former [i.e., chronologically prior] sins” (see BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן). The present translation assumes that ראשׁנים (“former”) here refers to those who lived formerly, that is, the people’s ancestors (see Lam 5:7). The word is used in this way in Lev 26:45; Deut 19:14 and Eccl 1:11.

[79:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “may your compassion quickly confront us.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating a tone of prayer.

[79:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for we are very low.”

[64:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “do not remember sin continually.”

[64:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Look, gaze at your people, all of us.” Another option is to translate, “Take a good look! We are all your people.”

[14:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Thus said the Lord concerning this people.”

[14:10]  ²¹ tn It is difficult to be certain how the particle כֵּן (ken, usually used for “thus, so”) is to be rendered here. BDB 485 s.v. כֵּן 1.b says that the force sometimes has to be elicited from the general context and points back to the line of v. 9. IHBS 666 §39.3.4e states that when there is no specific comparative clause preceding a general comparison is intended. They point to Judg 5:31 as a parallel. Ps 127:2 may also be an example if כִּי (ki) is not to be read (cf. BHS fn). “Truly” seemed the best way to render this idea in contemporary English.

[14:10]  ²² tn Heb “They do not restrain their feet.” The idea of “away from me” is implicit in the context and is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:10]  ²³ tn Heb “remember.”

[14:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “their iniquities.”

[8:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “does not accept them”; the referent (their sacrifices) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:9]  ²⁶ tn Or more literally, “they are deeply corrupted.” The two verbs הֶעְמִיקוּ־שִׁחֵתוּ (he’miqu-shikhetu; literally, “they have made deep, they act corruptly”) are coordinated without a conjunction vav to form a verbal hendiadys: the second verb represents the main idea, while the first functions adverbially (GKC 386-87 §120.g). Here Gesenius suggests “they are deeply/radically corrupted.” Several translations mirror the syntax of this hendiadys: “They have deeply corrupted themselves” (KJV, ASV, NRSV), “They have been grievously corrupt” (NJPS), and “They are hopelessly evil” (TEV). Others reverse the syntax for the sake of a more graphic English idiom: “They have gone deep in depravity” (NASB) and “They have sunk deep into corruption” (NIV). Some translations fail to represent the hendiadys at all: “You are brutal and corrupt” (CEV). The translation “They are deeply corrupted” mirrors the Hebrew syntax, but “They have sunk deep into corruption” is a more graphic English idiom and is preferred here (cf. NAB “They have sunk to the depths of corruption”).

[10:3]  ²⁷ tn Grk “in them”; the referent (those sacrifices) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:17]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and.”

[10:17]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Jer 31:34.

[16:19]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:19]  ³¹ tn Or “of the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[16:19]  ³² tn Grk “fell.”

[16:19]  ³³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Babylon’s misdeeds (see Rev 14:8).

[16:19]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the cup of the wine of the anger of the wrath of him.” The concatenation of four genitives has been rendered somewhat differently by various translations (see the note on the word “wrath”).

[16:19]  ³⁵ tn Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumo") and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9). Thus in Rev 14:8 (to which the present passage alludes) and 18:3 there is irony: The wine of immoral behavior with which Babylon makes the nations drunk becomes the wine of God’s wrath for her.