Ezra 9:6-7

9:6 I prayed, ¹ 

“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens. 9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ²  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ³  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

Nehemiah 1:6-11

1:6 may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed ⁴  against you – both I myself and my family ⁵  have sinned. 1:7 We have behaved corruptly against you, not obeying the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments that you commanded your servant Moses. 1:8 Please recall the word you commanded your servant Moses: ‘If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations. ⁶  1:9 But if you repent ⁷  and obey ⁸  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ⁹  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’ 1:10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your mighty strength and by your powerful hand. 1:11 Please, ¹⁰  O Lord, listen attentively ¹¹  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ¹²  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ¹³  in the presence of this man.”

Now ¹⁴  I was cupbearer for the king.

Nehemiah 9:26-30

9:26 “Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. ¹⁵  They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies. 9:27 Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who oppressed them. But in the time of their distress they called to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion you provided them with deliverers to rescue them from ¹⁶  their adversaries.

9:28 “Then, when they were at rest again, they went back to doing evil before you. Then you abandoned them to ¹⁷  their enemies, and they gained dominion over them. When they again cried out to you, in your compassion you heard from heaven and rescued them time and again. 9:29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹⁸  will live. They boldly turned from you; ¹⁹  they rebelled ²⁰  and did not obey. 9:30 You prolonged your kindness ²¹  with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, ²²  so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ²³ 

Psalms 106:6

106:6 We have sinned like ²⁴  our ancestors; ²⁵ 

we have done wrong, we have done evil.

Isaiah 64:6-12

64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ²⁶ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

64:7 No one invokes ²⁷  your name,

or makes an effort ²⁸  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ²⁹ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ³⁰ 

64:8 Yet, ³¹  Lord, you are our father.

We are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the product of your labor. ³² 

64:9 Lord, do not be too angry!

Do not hold our sins against us continually! ³³ 

Take a good look at your people, at all of us! ³⁴ 

64:10 Your chosen ³⁵  cities have become a desert;

Zion has become a desert,

Jerusalem ³⁶  is a desolate ruin.

64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, ³⁷ 

the place where our ancestors praised you,

has been burned with fire;

all our prized possessions have been destroyed. ³⁸ 

64:12 In light of all this, ³⁹  how can you still hold back, Lord?

How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?

Daniel 9:5-11

9:5 we have sinned! We have done what is wrong and wicked; we have rebelled by turning away from your commandments and standards. 9:6 We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority ⁴⁰  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ⁴¹  and to all the inhabitants ⁴²  of the land as well.

9:7 “You are righteous, ⁴³  O Lord, but we are humiliated this day ⁴⁴  – the people ⁴⁵  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 ⁴⁶  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you. 9:9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, ⁴⁷  even though we have rebelled against him. 9:10 We have not obeyed ⁴⁸  the LORD our God by living according to ⁴⁹  his laws ⁵⁰  that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

9:11 “All Israel has broken ⁵¹  your law and turned away by not obeying you. ⁵²  Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened ⁵³  in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. ⁵⁴ 

Zechariah 12:10

12:10 “I will pour out on the kingship ⁵⁵  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ⁵⁶  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ⁵⁷ 

[9:6]  ¹ tn Heb “I said.”

[9:7]  ² tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

[9:7]  ³ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “have sinned.” For stylistic reasons – to avoid redundancy in English – this was translated as “committed.”

[1:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “the house of my father.”

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “peoples.”

[1:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “turn to me.”

[1:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[1:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “at the end of the heavens.”

[1:11]  ¹⁰ tn The interjection אָנָּא (’anna’) is an emphatic term of entreaty: “please!” (BDB 58 s.v.; HALOT 69-70 s.v.). This term is normally reserved for pleas for mercy from God in life-and-death situations (2 Kgs 20:3 = Isa 38:3; Pss 116:4; 118:25; Jonah 1:14; 4:2) and for forgiveness of heinous sins that would result or have resulted in severe judgment from God (Exod 32:31; Dan 9:4; Neh 1:5, 11).

[1:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”

[1:11]  ¹² tn Heb “fear.”

[1:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “grant compassion.” The words “to me” are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style in English.

[1:11]  ¹⁴ tn The vav (ו) on וַאֲנִי (va’ani, “Now, I”) introduces a disjunctive parenthetical clause that provides background information to the reader.

[9:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they cast your law behind their backs.”

[9:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from the hand of” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “from the power of.”

[9:28]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the hand of” (so KJV, ASV); NAB “to the power of.”

[9:29]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[9:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

[9:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

[9:30]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew expression here is elliptical. The words “your kindness” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:30]  ²² tn Heb “did not give ear to.”

[9:30]  ²³ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[106:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “with.”

[106:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 7).

[64:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[64:7]  ²⁷ tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ²⁸ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ³⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.

[64:8]  ³¹ tn On the force of וְעַתָּה (vÿ’attah) here, see HALOT 902 s.v. עַתָּה.

[64:8]  ³² tn Heb “the work of your hand.”

[64:9]  ³³ tn Heb “do not remember sin continually.”

[64:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Look, gaze at your people, all of us.” Another option is to translate, “Take a good look! We are all your people.”

[64:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “holy” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT); NIV “sacred.”

[64:10]  ³⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[64:11]  ³⁷ tn Heb “our source of pride.”

[64:11]  ³⁸ tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”

[64:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “because of these”; KJV, ASV “for these things.”

[9:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”

[9:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “our fathers” (also in vv. 8, 16). The Hebrew term translated “father” can refer to more distant relationships such as grandfathers or ancestors.

[9:6]  ⁴² tn Heb “people.”

[9:7]  ⁴³ tn Heb “to you (belongs) righteousness.”

[9:7]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and to us (belongs) shame of face like this day.”

[9:7]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “men.”

[9:8]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[9:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “to the Lord our God (belong) compassion and forgiveness.”

[9:10]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[9:10]  ⁵⁰ tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.

[9:11]  ⁵¹ tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.

[9:11]  ⁵² tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”

[9:11]  ⁵³ 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]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “him.”

[12:10]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “dynasty”; Heb “house.”

[12:10]  ⁵⁶ tc Because of the difficulty of the concept of the mortal piercing of God, the subject of this clause, and the shift of pronoun from “me” to “him” in the next, many mss read אַלֵי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ale ’et ’asher, “to the one whom,” a reading followed by NAB, NRSV) rather than the MT’s אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ela ’et ’asher, “to me whom”). The reasons for such alternatives, however, are clear – they are motivated by scribes who found such statements theologically objectionable – and they should be rejected in favor of the more difficult reading (lectio difficilior) of the MT.

[12:10]  ⁵⁷ tn The Hebrew term בְּכוֹר (bÿkhor, “firstborn”), translated usually in the LXX by πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos), has unmistakable messianic overtones as the use of the Greek term in the NT to describe Jesus makes clear (cf. Col 1:15, 18). Thus, the idea of God being pierced sets the stage for the fatal wounding of Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of God (cf. John 19:37; Rev 1:7). Note that some English translations supply “son” from the context (e.g., NIV, TEV, NLT).