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.

Ezra 10:11

10:11 Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents ⁴  and from these foreign wives.”

Psalms 32:5

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ⁵  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ⁶  (Selah)

Isaiah 64:6-7

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

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ⁷ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

64:7 No one invokes ⁸  your name,

or makes an effort ⁹  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ¹⁰ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ¹¹ 

Lamentations 3:39-42

3:39 Why should any living person ¹²  complain

when punished for his sins? ¹³ 

נ (Nun)

3:40 Let us carefully examine our ways, ¹⁴ 

and let us return to the Lord.

3:41 Let us lift up our hearts ¹⁵  and our hands

to God in heaven:

3:42 “We ¹⁶  have blatantly rebelled; ¹⁷ 

you ¹⁸  have not forgiven.”

Daniel 9:4

9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing in this way:

“O Lord, ¹⁹  great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant ²⁰  with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Daniel 9:20

Gabriel Gives to Daniel a Prophecy of Seventy Weeks

9:20 While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my request before the LORD my God concerning his holy mountain ²¹  –

Daniel 9:1

Daniel Prays for His People

9:1 In the first year of Darius ²²  son of Ahasuerus, ²³  who was of Median descent and who had been ²⁴  appointed king over the Babylonian ²⁵  empire –

Daniel 1:9

1:9 Then God made the overseer of the court officials sympathetic to Daniel. ²⁶ 

[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.”

[10:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “the peoples of the land.”

[32:5]  ⁵ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.

[64:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[64:7]  ⁸ tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ⁹ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ¹¹ 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.

[3:39]  ¹² tn The Hebrew word here is אָדָם (’adam) which can mean “man” or “person.” The second half of the line is more personalized to the speaking voice of the defeated soldier using גֶּבֶר (gever, “man”). See the note at 3:1.

[3:39]  ¹³ tc Kethib reads the singular חֶטְאוֹ (khet’o, “his sin”), which is reflected in the LXX. Qere reads the plural חֲטָאָיו (khata’ayv, “his sins”) which is preserved in many medieval Hebrew mss and reflected in the other early versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate). The external and internal evidence are not decisive in favor of either reading.

[3:40]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Let us test our ways and examine.” The two verbs וְנַחְקֹרָה…נַחְפְּשָׂה (nakhpÿsah…vÿnakhqorah, “Let us test and let us examine”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal force: “Let us carefully examine our ways.”

[3:41]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads the singular noun לְבָבֵנוּ (lÿvavenu, “our heart”) but the ancient versions (LXX, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate) and many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural noun לְבָבֵינוּ (lÿvavenu, “our hearts”). Hebrew regularly places plural pronouns on singular nouns used as a collective (135 times on the singular “heart” and only twice on the plural “hearts”). The plural “hearts” in any Hebrew construction is actually rather rare. The LXX renders similar Hebrew constructions (singular “heart” plus a plural pronoun) with the plural “hearts” about 1/3 of the time, therefore it cannot be considered evidence for the reading. The Vulgate may have been influenced by the LXX. Although a distributive sense is appropriate for a much higher percentage of passages using the plural “hearts” in the LXX, no clear reason for the differentiation in the LXX has emerged. Likely the singular Hebrew form is original but the meaning is best represented in English with the plural.

[3:42]  ¹⁶ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “We – we have sinned….” Given the contrast with the following, it means “For our part, we have sinned….” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “we” followed by a short pause.

[3:42]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “We have revolted and we have rebelled.” The two verbs פָשַׁעְנוּ וּמָרִינוּ (pasha’nu umarinu, “we have revolted and we have rebelled”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the synonyms emphasize the single idea.

[3:42]  ¹⁸ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “You – you have not forgiven.” Given the contrast with the preceding, it means “For your part, you have not forgiven.” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “you” followed by a short pause.

[9:4]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 7, 9, 15, 16, and 19 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[9:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “the holy mountain of my God.”

[9:1]  ²² sn The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.). Others have maintained instead that this name is a reference to the Persian governor Gubaru. Still others understand the reference to be to the Persian king Cyrus (cf. 6:28, where the vav (ו) may be understood as vav explicativum, meaning “even”). Under either of these latter two interpretations, the first year of Darius would have been ca. 538 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old at this time.

[9:1]  ²³ tc The LXX reads “Xerxes.” This is the reading used by some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV). Most other English versions retain the Hebrew name “Ahasuerus.”

[9:1]  ²⁴ tc The present translation follows the MT in reading a Hophal (i.e., passive). Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate all presuppose the Hiphil (i.e., active). Even though this is the only occurrence of the Hophal of this verb in the Bible, there is no need to emend the vocalization to the Hiphil.

[9:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”

[1:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Then God granted Daniel loyal love and compassion before the overseer of the court officials.” The expression “loyal love and compassion” is a hendiadys; the two words combine to express one idea.