Genesis 42:18

42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say ¹  and you will live, ²  for I fear God. ³ 

Leviticus 6:2

6:2 “When a person sins and commits a trespass ⁴  against the Lord by deceiving his fellow citizen ⁵  in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen, ⁶ 

Numbers 32:23

32:23 “But if you do not do this, then look, you will have sinned ⁷  against the Lord. And know that your sin will find you out.

Numbers 32:2

32:2 the Gadites and the Reubenites came and addressed Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community. They said,

Numbers 12:13

12:13 Then Moses cried to the Lord, “Heal her now, O God.” ⁸ 

Nehemiah 5:15

5:15 But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to ⁹  forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.

Psalms 51:4

51:4 Against you – you above all ¹⁰  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ¹¹  you are just when you confront me; ¹² 

you are right when you condemn me. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 28:16

28:16 So the Lord says, ‘I will most assuredly remove ¹⁴  you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counseled rebellion against the Lord.’” ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 50:7

50:7 All who encountered them devoured them.

Their enemies who did this said, ‘We are not liable for punishment!

For those people have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture. ¹⁶ 

They have sinned against the Lord in whom their ancestors ¹⁷  trusted.’ ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 50:1

Judgment Against Babylon

50:1 The Lord spoke concerning Babylon and the land of Babylonia ¹⁹  through the prophet Jeremiah. ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 3:9

3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land ²¹  through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. ²² 

[42:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Do this.”

[42:18]  ² tn After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.

[42:18]  ³ sn For I fear God. Joseph brings God into the picture to awaken his brothers’ consciences. The godly person cares about the welfare of people, whether they live or die. So he will send grain back, but keep one of them in Egypt. This action contrasts with their crime of selling their brother into slavery.

[6:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “trespasses a trespass” (verb and direct object from the same Hebrew root מַעַל, ma’al). See the note on 5:15.

[6:2]  ⁵ tn Or “neighbor” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NASB “companion”; TEV “a fellow-Israelite.”

[6:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “has extorted his neighbor”; ASV “oppressed”; NRSV “defrauded.”

[32:23]  ⁷ tn The nuance of the perfect tense here has to be the future perfect.

[12:13]  ⁸ tc Some scholars emend אֵל (’el, “God”) to עַל(’al, “no”). The effect of this change may be seen in the NAB: “‘Please, not this! Pray, heal her!’”

[5:15]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew term אַחַר (’akhar) is difficult here. It normally means “after,” but that makes no sense here. Some scholars emend it to אַחַד (’akhad) and supply the word “day,” which yields the sense “daily.” Cf. TEV “40 silver coins a day for food and wine.”

[51:4]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[28:16]  ¹⁴ sn There is a play on words here in Hebrew between “did not send you” and “will…remove you.” The two verbs are from the same root word in Hebrew. The first is the simple active and the second is the intensive.

[28:16]  ¹⁵ sn In giving people false assurances of restoration when the Lord had already told them to submit to Babylon, Hananiah was really counseling rebellion against the Lord. What Hananiah had done was contrary to the law of Deut 13:6 and was punishable by death.

[50:7]  ¹⁶ tn This same Hebrew phrase “the habitation of righteousness” is found in Jer 31:23 in relation to Jerusalem in the future as “the place where righteousness dwells.” Here, however, it refers to the same entity as “their resting place” in v. 6 and means “true pasture.” For the meaning of “pasture” for the word נָוֶה (naveh) see 2 Sam 7:8 and especially Isa 65:10 where it is parallel with “resting place” for the flocks. For the meaning of “true” for צֶדֶק (tsedeq) see BDB 841 s.v. צֶדֶק 1. For the interpretation adopted here see G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 (WBC), 365. The same basic interpretation is reflected in NRSV, NJPS, and God’s Word.

[50:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fathers.”

[50:7]  ¹⁸ sn These two verses appear to be a poetical summary of the argument of Jer 2 where the nation is accused of abandoning its loyalty to God and worshiping idols. Whereas those who tried to devour Israel were liable for punishment when Israel was loyal to God (2:3), the enemies of Israel who destroyed them (i.e., the Babylonians [but also the Assyrians], 50:17) argue that they are not liable for punishment because the Israelites have sinned against the Lord and thus deserve their fate.

[50:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.

[50:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “The word which the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.”

[3:9]  ²¹ tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.

[3:9]  ²² tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”