Isaiah 50:5

50:5 The sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly; ¹ 

I have not rebelled,

I have not turned back.

Psalms 40:6

40:6 Receiving sacrifices and offerings are not your primary concern. ² 

You make that quite clear to me! ³ 

You do not ask for burnt sacrifices and sin offerings.

Psalms 139:1-4

Psalm 139 ⁴ 

For the music director, a psalm of David.

139:1 O Lord, you examine me ⁵  and know.

139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;

even from far away you understand my motives.

139:3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; ⁶ 

you are aware of everything I do. ⁷ 

139:4 Certainly ⁸  my tongue does not frame a word

without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it. ⁹ 

Jeremiah 6:10

6:10 I answered, ¹⁰ 

“Who would listen

if I spoke to them and warned them? ¹¹ 

Their ears are so closed ¹² 

that they cannot hear!

Indeed, ¹³  what the Lord says is offensive to them.

They do not like it at all. ¹⁴ 

[50:5]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “makes me obedient.” The text reads literally, “has opened for me an ear.”

[40:6]  ² tn Heb “sacrifice and offering you do not desire.” The statement is exaggerated for the sake of emphasis (see Ps 51:16 as well). God is pleased with sacrifices, but his first priority is obedience and loyalty (see 1 Sam 15:22). Sacrifices and offerings apart from genuine allegiance are meaningless (see Isa 1:11-20).

[40:6]  ³ tn Heb “ears you hollowed out for me.” The meaning of this odd expression is debated (this is the only collocation of “hollowed out” and “ears” in the OT). It may have been an idiomatic expression referring to making a point clear to a listener. The LXX has “but a body you have prepared for me,” a reading which is followed in Heb 10:5.

[139:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 139. The psalmist acknowledges that God, who created him, is aware of his every action and thought. He invites God to examine his motives, for he is confident they are pure.

[139:1]  ⁵ tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.

[139:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “my traveling and my lying down you measure.” The verb זָרָה (zarah, “to measure”) is probably here a denominative from זָרָת (zarat, “a span; a measure”), though some derive it from זָרָה (zarat, “to winnow; to sift”; see BDB 279-80 s.v. זָרָה).

[139:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “all my ways.”

[139:4]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

[139:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “look, O Lord, you know all of it.”

[6:10]  ¹⁰ tn These words are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[6:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “To whom shall I speak? To whom shall I give warning? Who will listen?” Heb “Unto whom shall I speak and give warning that they may listen?”

[6:10]  ¹² tn Heb “are uncircumcised.”

[6:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “Behold!”

[6:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “They do not take pleasure in it.”