Genesis 18:25

18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge ¹  of the whole earth do what is right?” ² 

Job 34:23

34:23 For he does not still consider a person, ³ 

that he should come before God in judgment.

Psalms 119:137

צ (Tsade)

119:137 You are just, O Lord,

and your judgments are fair.

Psalms 145:17

145:17 The Lord is just in all his actions, ⁴ 

and exhibits love in all he does. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 12:1

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ⁶ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ⁷ 

Why are wicked people successful? ⁸ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

Lamentations 1:18

Jerusalem Speaks:

צ (Tsade)

1:18 The Lord is right to judge me! ⁹ 

Yes, I rebelled against his commands. ¹⁰ 

Please listen, all you nations, ¹¹ 

and look at my suffering!

My young women and men

have gone into exile.

Daniel 9:5-14

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 ¹²  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ¹³  and to all the inhabitants ¹⁴  of the land as well.

9:7 “You are righteous, ¹⁵  O Lord, but we are humiliated this day ¹⁶  – the people ¹⁷  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 ¹⁸  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you. 9:9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, ¹⁹  even though we have rebelled against him. 9:10 We have not obeyed ²⁰  the LORD our God by living according to ²¹  his laws ²²  that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

9:11 “All Israel has broken ²³  your law and turned away by not obeying you. ²⁴  Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened ²⁵  in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. ²⁶  9:12 He has carried out his threats ²⁷  against us and our rulers ²⁸  who were over ²⁹  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 ³⁰  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ³¹  from your reliable moral standards. ³²  9:14 The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just ³³  in all he has done, ³⁴  and we have not obeyed him. ³⁵ 

[18:25]  ¹ tn Or “ruler.”

[18:25]  ² sn Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right? For discussion of this text see J. L. Crenshaw, “Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel,” ZAW 82 (1970): 380-95, and C. S. Rodd, “Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Just?” ExpTim 83 (1972): 137-39.

[34:23]  ³ tn Heb “for he does not put upon man yet.” This has been given a wide variety of interpretations, all of which involve a lot of additional thoughts. The word עוֹד (’od, “yet, still”) has been replaced with מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “an appointed time,” Reiske and Wright), with the ם (mem) having dropped out by haplography. This makes good sense. If the MT is retained, the best interpretation would be that God does not any more consider (from “place upon the heart”) man, that he might appear in judgment.

[145:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “in all his ways.”

[145:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “and [is] loving in all his deeds.”

[12:1]  ⁶ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[1:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “The Lord himself is right.” The phrase “to judge me” is not in the Hebrew, but is added in the translation to clarify the expression.

[1:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “His mouth.” The term “mouth” (פֶּה, peh) is a metonymy of instrument (= mouth) for the product (= words). The term פֶּה (peh) often stands for spoken words (Ps 49:14; Eccl 10:3; Isa 29:13), declaration (Gen 41:40; Exod 38:21; Num 35:30; Deut 17:6; Ezra 1:1) and commands of God (Exod 17:1; Num 14:41; 22:18; Josh 15:13; 1 Sam 15:24; 1 Chr 12:24; Prov 8:29; Isa 34:16; 62:2). When the verb מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”) is used with the accusative direct object פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) to connote disobedience to God’s commandments (Num 20:24; 1 Sam 12:14, 15; 1 Kgs 13:21) (BDB 805 s.v. פֶּה 2.c).

[1:18]  ¹¹ tc The Kethib is written עַמִּים (’ammim, “peoples”), but the Qere, followed by many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (LXX and Aramaic Targum), read הָעַמִּים (ha’ammim, “O peoples”). The Qere is probably the original reading.

[9:6]  ¹² tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”

[9:6]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “people.”

[9:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to you (belongs) righteousness.”

[9:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and to us (belongs) shame of face like this day.”

[9:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “men.”

[9:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[9:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to the Lord our God (belong) compassion and forgiveness.”

[9:10]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[9:10]  ²² tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.

[9:11]  ²³ tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.

[9:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”

[9:11]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “him.”

[9:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”

[9:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “our judges.”

[9:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “who judged.”

[9:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”

[9:13]  ³¹ tn Or “by gaining insight.”

[9:13]  ³² 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]  ³³ tn Or “righteous.”

[9:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “in all his deeds which he has done.”

[9:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “we have not listened to his voice.”