Jeremiah 11:20

11:20 So I said to the Lord, ¹ 

“O Lord who rules over all, ²  you are a just judge!

You examine people’s hearts and minds. ³ 

I want to see you pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 20:12

20:12 O Lord who rules over all, ⁵  you test and prove the righteous.

You see into people’s hearts and minds. ⁶ 

Pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Jeremiah 20:1

Jeremiah is Flogged and Put in A Cell

20:1 Now Pashhur son of Immer heard Jeremiah prophesy these things. He was the priest who was chief of security ⁷  in the Lord’s temple.

Jeremiah 16:7

16:7 No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.

Jeremiah 16:1

Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry, to Mourn, or to Feast

16:1 The Lord said to me,

Jeremiah 28:9

28:9 So if a prophet prophesied ⁸  peace and prosperity, it was only known that the Lord truly sent him when what he prophesied came true.”

Jeremiah 29:17

29:17 The Lord who rules over all ⁹  says, ‘I will bring war, ¹⁰  starvation, and disease on them. I will treat them like figs that are so rotten ¹¹  they cannot be eaten.

Jeremiah 29:2

29:2 He sent it after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the palace officials, ¹²  the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had been exiled from Jerusalem. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 6:30

6:30 They are regarded as ‘rejected silver’ ¹⁴ 

because the Lord rejects them.”

Psalms 7:9

7:9 May the evil deeds of the wicked ¹⁵  come to an end! ¹⁶ 

But make the innocent ¹⁷  secure, ¹⁸ 

O righteous God,

you who examine ¹⁹  inner thoughts and motives! ²⁰ 

Psalms 139:1-2

Psalm 139 ²¹ 

For the music director, a psalm of David.

139:1 O Lord, you examine me ²²  and know.

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

even from far away you understand my motives.

Psalms 139:23-24

139:23 Examine me, and probe my thoughts! ²³ 

Test me, and know my concerns! ²⁴ 

139:24 See if there is any idolatrous tendency ²⁵  in me,

and lead me in the reliable ancient path! ²⁶ 

Proverbs 17:3

17:3 The crucible ²⁷  is for refining ²⁸  silver and the furnace ²⁹  is for gold,

likewise ³⁰  the Lord tests ³¹  hearts.

John 2:25

2:25 He did not need anyone to testify about man, ³²  for he knew what was in man. ³³ 

Romans 8:27

8:27 And he ³⁴  who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit ³⁵  intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.

Hebrews 4:12-13

4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 4:13 And no creature is hidden from God, ³⁶  but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

Revelation 2:23

2:23 Furthermore, I will strike her followers ³⁷  with a deadly disease, ³⁸  and then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will repay ³⁹  each one of you ⁴⁰  what your deeds deserve. ⁴¹ 

[11:20]  ¹ tn The words “So I said to the Lord” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show the shift in address.

[11:20]  ² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[11:20]  ³ tn Heb “Lord of armies, just judge, tester of kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style. In Hebrew thought the “kidneys” were thought of as the seat of the emotions and passions and the “heart” was viewed as the seat of intellect, conscience, and will. The “heart” and the “kidneys” are often used figuratively for the thoughts, emotions, motives, and drives that are thought to be seated in them.

[11:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “Let me see your retribution [i.e., see you exact retribution] from them because I reveal my cause [i.e., plea for justice] to you.”

[20:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[20:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “Lord of armies, the one who tests the righteous, who sees kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

[20:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “chief overseer/officer.” The translation follows the suggestion of P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, J. F. Drinkard, Jeremiah 1-25 (WBC), 267, based on the parallel passage in 29:26-27 where this official appears to have been in charge of maintaining order in the temple.

[28:9]  ⁸ tn The verbs in this verse are to be interpreted as iterative imperfects in past time rather than as futures because of the explicit contrast that is drawn in the two verses by the emphatic syntactical construction of the two verses. Both verses begin with a casus pendens construction to throw the two verses into contrast: Heb “The prophets who were before me and you from ancient times, they prophesied…The prophet who prophesied peace, when the word of that prophet came true, that prophet was known that the Lord truly sent him.”

[29:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title.

[29:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the sword.”

[29:17]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of this word is somewhat uncertain. It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. BDB 1045 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the noun “horrible thing” (translated “something shocking”) in Jer 5:30; 23:14 and defines it as “horrid, disgusting.” HALOT 1495 s.v. שֹׁעָר relates it to the same noun and define it as “rotten; corrupt.” That nuance is accepted here.

[29:2]  ¹² tn This term is often mistakenly understood to refer to a “eunuch.” It is clear, however, in Gen 39:1 that “eunuchs” could be married. On the other hand it is clear from Isa 59:3-5 that some who bore this title could not have children. In this period, it is possible that the persons who bore this title were high officials like the rab saris who was a high official in the Babylonian court (cf. Jer 39:3, 13; 52:25). For further references see HALOT 727 s.v. סָרִיס 1.c.

[29:2]  ¹³ sn See 2 Kgs 24:14-16 and compare the study note on Jer 24:1.

[6:30]  ¹⁴ tn This translation is intended to reflect the wordplay in the Hebrew text where the same root word is repeated in the two lines.

[7:9]  ¹⁵ tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.

[7:9]  ¹⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation here.

[7:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the godly” (see Ps 5:12). The singular form is collective (see the plural “upright in heart” in v. 10), though it may reflect the personal focus of the psalmist in this context.

[7:9]  ¹⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form expresses the psalmist’s prayer or wish.

[7:9]  ¹⁹ tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 11:4; 26:2; 139:23.

[7:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and [the one who] tests hearts and kidneys, just God.” The translation inverts the word order to improve the English style. The heart and kidneys were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.

[139:1]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.

[139:23]  ²³ tn Heb “and know my heart.”

[139:23]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew noun שַׂרְעַפַּי (sar’apay, “concerns”) is used of “worries” in Ps 94:19.

[139:24]  ²⁵ tn Many understand the Hebrew term עֹצֶב (’otsev) as a noun meaning “pain,” and translate the phrase דֶּרֶךְ עֹצֶב (derekh ’otsev) as “of pain,” but this makes little sense here. (Some interpret it to refer to actions which bring pain to others.) It is preferable to take עֹצֶב as “idol” (see HALOT 865 s.v. I עֹצֶב) and understand “way of an idol” to refer to idolatrous actions or tendency. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[139:24]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in the path of antiquity.” This probably refers to the moral path prescribed by the Lord at the beginning of Israel’s history. See Jer 6:16; 18:15, as well as L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[17:3]  ²⁷ sn The noun מַצְרֵף (matsref) means “a place or instrument for refining” (cf. ASV, NASB “the refining pot”). The related verb, which means “to melt, refine, smelt,” is used in scripture literally for refining and figuratively for the Lord’s purifying and cleansing and testing people.

[17:3]  ²⁸ tn The term “refining” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[17:3]  ²⁹ sn The term כּוּר (cur) describes a “furnace” or “smelting pot.” It can be used figuratively for the beneficial side of affliction (Isa 48:10).

[17:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and.” Most English versions treat this as an adversative (“but”).

[17:3]  ³¹ sn The participle בֹּחֵן (bokhen, “tests”) in this emblematic parallelism takes on the connotations of the crucible and the furnace. When the Lord “tests” human hearts, the test, whatever form it takes, is designed to improve the value of the one being tested. Evil and folly will be removed when such testing takes place.

[2:25]  ³² tn The masculine form has been retained here in the translation to maintain the connection with “a man of the Pharisees” in 3:1, with the understanding that the reference is to people of both genders.

[2:25]  ³³ tn See previous note on “man” in this verse.

[8:27]  ³⁴ sn He refers to God here; Paul has not specifically identified him for the sake of rhetorical power (for by leaving the subject slightly ambiguous, he draws his audience into seeing God’s hand in places where he is not explicitly mentioned).

[8:27]  ³⁵ tn Grk “he,” or “it”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:13]  ³⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ³⁷ tn Grk “her children,” but in this context a reference to this woman’s followers or disciples is more likely meant.

[2:23]  ³⁸ tn Grk “I will kill with death.” θάνατος (qanatos) can in particular contexts refer to a manner of death, specifically a contagious disease (see BDAG 443 s.v. 3; L&N 23.158).

[2:23]  ³⁹ tn Grk “I will give.” The sense of δίδωμι (didwmi) in this context is more “repay” than “give.”

[2:23]  ⁴⁰ sn This pronoun and the following one are plural in the Greek text.

[2:23]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “each one of you according to your works.”