Ezra 9:13

9:13 “Everything that has happened to us has come about because of our wicked actions and our great guilt. Even so, our God, you have exercised restraint ¹  toward our iniquities and have given us a remnant such as this.

Ezra 9:15

9:15 O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day. Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt. However, because of this guilt ²  no one can really stand before you.”

Nehemiah 9:33

9:33 You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. ³  It is we who have been in the wrong!

Psalms 39:9

39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth

because of what you have done. ⁴ 

Psalms 51:3-4

51:3 For I am aware of ⁵  my rebellious acts;

I am forever conscious of my sin. ⁶ 

51:4 Against you – you above all ⁷  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ⁸  you are just when you confront me; ⁹ 

you are right when you condemn me. ¹⁰ 

Daniel 9:7-14

9:7 “You are righteous, ¹¹  O Lord, but we are humiliated this day ¹²  – the people ¹³  of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you. 9:8 O LORD, we have been humiliated ¹⁴  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you. 9:9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, ¹⁵  even though we have rebelled against him. 9:10 We have not obeyed ¹⁶  the LORD our God by living according to ¹⁷  his laws ¹⁸  that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

9:11 “All Israel has broken ¹⁹  your law and turned away by not obeying you. ²⁰  Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened ²¹  in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. ²²  9:12 He has carried out his threats ²³  against us and our rulers ²⁴  who were over ²⁵  us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven! 9:13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify ²⁶  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ²⁷  from your reliable moral standards. ²⁸  9:14 The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just ²⁹  in all he has done, ³⁰  and we have not obeyed him. ³¹ 

Daniel 9:18-19

9:18 Listen attentively, ³²  my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins ³³  and the city called by your name. ³⁴  For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, ³⁵  but because your compassion is abundant. 9:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention, and act! Don’t delay, for your own sake, O my God! For your city and your people are called by your name.” ³⁶ 

[9:13]  ¹ tn Heb “held back downwards from”; KJV “hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve” (NIV, NRSV, NLT all similar).

[9:15]  ² tn Heb “this”; the referent (the guilt mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:33]  ³ tn Heb “you have done truth.”

[39:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).

[51:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “know.”

[51:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”

[51:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”

[51:4]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.

[51:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).

[51:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[9:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to you (belongs) righteousness.”

[9:7]  ¹² tn Heb “and to us (belongs) shame of face like this day.”

[9:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “men.”

[9:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[9:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to the Lord our God (belong) compassion and forgiveness.”

[9:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “paid attention to the voice of,” which is an idiomatic expression for obedience (cf. NASB “nor have we obeyed the voice of”).

[9:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[9:10]  ¹⁸ tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.

[9:11]  ¹⁹ tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.

[9:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”

[9:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “the curse and the oath which is written.” The term “curse” refers here to the judgments threatened in the Mosaic law (see Deut 28) for rebellion. The expression “the curse and the oath” is probably a hendiadys (cf. Num 5:21; Neh 10:29) referring to the fact that the covenant with its threatened judgments was ratified by solemn oath and made legally binding upon the covenant community.

[9:11]  ²² tn Heb “him.”

[9:12]  ²³ tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”

[9:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “our judges.”

[9:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “who judged.”

[9:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”

[9:13]  ²⁷ tn Or “by gaining insight.”

[9:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “by your truth.” The Hebrew term does not refer here to abstract truth, however, but to the reliable moral guidance found in the covenant law. See vv 10-11.

[9:14]  ²⁹ tn Or “righteous.”

[9:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in all his deeds which he has done.”

[9:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “we have not listened to his voice.”

[9:18]  ³² tn Heb “turn your ear.”

[9:18]  ³³ tn Heb “desolations.” The term refers here to the ruined condition of Judah’s towns.

[9:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “over which your name is called.” Cf. v. 19. This expression implies that God is the owner of his city, Jerusalem. Note the use of the idiom in 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1; Amos 9:12.

[9:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “praying our supplications before you.”

[9:19]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for your name is called over your city and your people.” See the note on this expression in v 18.