Genesis 37:32

37:32 Then they brought the special tunic to their father ¹  and said, “We found this. Determine now whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”

Job 22:13-14

22:13 But you have said, ‘What does God know?

Does he judge through such deep darkness? ² 

22:14 Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, ³ 

as he goes back and forth

in the vault ⁴  of heaven.’ ⁵ 

Psalms 10:13-14

10:13 Why does the wicked man reject God? ⁶ 

He says to himself, ⁷  “You ⁸  will not hold me accountable.” ⁹ 

10:14 You have taken notice, ¹⁰ 

for ¹¹  you always see ¹²  one who inflicts pain and suffering. ¹³ 

The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; ¹⁴ 

you deliver ¹⁵  the fatherless. ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 28:13

28:13 The one who covers ¹⁷  his transgressions will not prosper, ¹⁸ 

but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy. ¹⁹ 

John 8:44

8:44 You people ²⁰  are from ²¹  your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. ²²  He ²³  was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, ²⁴  because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, ²⁵  he speaks according to his own nature, ²⁶  because he is a liar and the father of lies. ²⁷ 

Acts 5:4-9

5:4 Before it was sold, ²⁸  did it not ²⁹  belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money ³⁰  not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? ³¹  You have not lied to people ³²  but to God!”

5:5 When Ananias heard these words he collapsed and died, and great fear gripped ³³  all who heard about it. 5:6 So the young men came, ³⁴  wrapped him up, ³⁵  carried him out, and buried ³⁶  him. 5:7 After an interval of about three hours, ³⁷  his wife came in, but she did not know ³⁸  what had happened. 5:8 Peter said to her, “Tell me, were the two of you ³⁹  paid this amount ⁴⁰  for the land?” Sapphira ⁴¹  said, “Yes, that much.” 5:9 Peter then told her, “Why have you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!”

[37:32]  ¹ tn Heb “and they sent the special tunic and they brought [it] to their father.” The text as it stands is problematic. It sounds as if they sent the tunic on ahead and then came and brought it to their father. Some emend the second verb to a Qal form and read “and they came.” In this case, they sent the tunic on ahead.

[22:13]  ² sn Eliphaz is giving to Job the thoughts and words of the pagans, for they say, “How does God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?” (see Ps 73:11; 94:11).

[22:14]  ³ tn Heb “and he does not see.” The implied object is “us.”

[22:14]  ⁴ sn The word is “circle; dome”; here it is the dome that covers the earth, beyond which God sits enthroned. A. B. Davidson (Job, 165) suggests “on the arch of heaven” that covers the earth.

[22:14]  ⁵ sn The idea suggested here is that God is not only far off, but he is unconcerned as he strolls around heaven – this is what Eliphaz says Job means.

[10:13]  ⁶ tn The rhetorical question expresses the psalmist’s outrage that the wicked would have the audacity to disdain God.

[10:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “he says in his heart” (see vv. 6, 11). Another option is to understand an ellipsis of the interrogative particle here (cf. the preceding line), “Why does he say in his heart?”

[10:13]  ⁸ tn Here the wicked man addresses God directly.

[10:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “you will not seek.” The verb דָרַשׁ (darash, “seek”) is used here in the sense of “seek an accounting.” One could understand the imperfect as generalizing about what is typical and translate, “you do not hold [people] accountable.”

[10:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you see.” One could translate the perfect as generalizing, “you do take notice.”

[10:14]  ¹¹ tn If the preceding perfect is taken as generalizing, then one might understand כִּי (ki) as asseverative: “indeed, certainly.”

[10:14]  ¹² tn Here the imperfect emphasizes God’s typical behavior.

[10:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “destruction and suffering,” which here refers metonymically to the wicked, who dish out pain and suffering to their victims.

[10:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to give into your hand, upon you, he abandons, [the] unfortunate [one].” The syntax is awkward and the meaning unclear. It is uncertain who or what is being given into God’s hand. Elsewhere the idiom “give into the hand” means to deliver into one’s possession. If “to give” goes with what precedes (as the accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests), then this may refer to the wicked man being delivered over to God for judgment. The present translation assumes that “to give” goes with what follows (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). The verb יַעֲזֹב (ya’azov) here has the nuance “entrust” (see Gen 39:6; Job 39:11); the direct object (“[his] cause”) is implied.

[10:14]  ¹⁵ tn Or “help.”

[10:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[for] one who is fatherless, you are a deliverer.” The noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9).

[28:13]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew participles provide the subject matter in this contrast. On the one hand is the person who covers over (מְכַסֶּה, mÿkhasseh) his sins. This means refusing to acknowledge them in confession, and perhaps rationalizing them away. On the other hand there is the one who both “confesses” (מוֹדֶה, modeh) and “forsakes” (עֹזֵב, ’ozev) the sin. To “confess” sins means to acknowledge them, to say the same thing about them that God does.

[28:13]  ¹⁸ sn The verse contrasts the consequences of each. The person who refuses to confess will not prosper. This is an understatement (a figure of speech known as tapeinosis); the opposite is the truth, that eventually such a person will be undone and ruined. On the other hand, the penitent will find mercy. This expression is a metonymy of cause for the effect – although “mercy” is mentioned, what mercy provides is intended, i.e., forgiveness. In other passages the verb “conceal” is used of God’s forgiveness – he covers over the iniquity (Ps 32:1). Whoever acknowledges sin, God will cover it; whoever covers it, God will lay it open.

[28:13]  ¹⁹ sn This verse is unique in the book of Proverbs; it captures the theology of forgiveness (e.g., Pss 32 and 51). Every part of the passage is essential to the point: Confession of sins as opposed to concealing them, coupled with a turning away from them, results in mercy.

[8:44]  ²⁰ tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify that the Greek pronoun and verb are plural.

[8:44]  ²¹ tn Many translations read “You are of your father the devil” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “You belong to your father, the devil” (NIV), but the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) emphasizes the idea of source or origin. Jesus said his opponents were the devil’s very offspring (a statement which would certainly infuriate them).

[8:44]  ²² tn Grk “the desires of your father you want to do.”

[8:44]  ²³ tn Grk “That one” (referring to the devil).

[8:44]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he does not stand in the truth” (in the sense of maintaining, upholding, or accepting the validity of it).

[8:44]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Whenever he speaks the lie.”

[8:44]  ²⁶ tn Grk “he speaks from his own.”

[8:44]  ²⁷ tn Grk “because he is a liar and the father of it.”

[5:4]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Remaining to you.”

[5:4]  ²⁹ tn The negative interrogative particle οὐχί (ouci) expects a positive reply to this question and the following one (“And when it was sold, was it not at your disposal?”).

[5:4]  ³⁰ tn Grk “it”; the referent of the pronoun (the money generated from the sale of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:4]  ³¹ tn Grk “How is it that you have [or Why have you] placed this deed in your heart?” Both of these literal translations differ from the normal way of expressing the thought in English.

[5:4]  ³² tn Grk “to men.” If Peter’s remark refers only to the apostles, the translation “to men” would be appropriate. But if (as is likely) the action was taken to impress the entire congregation (who would presumably have witnessed the donation or been aware of it) then the more general “to people” is more appropriate, since the audience would have included both men and women.

[5:5]  ³³ tn Or “fear came on,” “fear seized”; Grk “fear happened to.”

[5:6]  ³⁴ tn Or “arose.”

[5:6]  ³⁵ tn The translation “wrapped up” for συνέστειλαν (sunesteilan) is suggested by L&N 79.119, but another interpretation is possible. The same verb could also be translated “removed” (see L&N 15.200), although that sense appears somewhat redundant and out of sequence with the following verb and participle (“carried him out and buried him”).

[5:6]  ³⁶ sn Buried. Same day burial was a custom in the Jewish world of the first century (cf. also Deut 21:23).

[5:7]  ³⁷ tn Grk “It happened that after an interval of about three hours.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[5:7]  ³⁸ tn Grk “came in, not knowing.” The participle has been translated with concessive or adversative force: “although she did not know.” In English, the adversative conjunction (“but”) conveys this nuance more smoothly.

[5:8]  ³⁹ tn The words “the two of” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied to indicate that the verb (ἀπέδοσθε, apedosqe) is plural and thus refers to both Ananias and Sapphira.

[5:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “so much,” “as much as this.”

[5:8]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “She”; the referent (Sapphira) has been specified in the translation for clarity.