Jeremiah 16:17

16:17 For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it. ¹ 

Jeremiah 17:1

17:1 ² The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel

on their stone-hard ³  hearts.

It is inscribed with a diamond ⁴  point

on the horns of their altars. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 32:34

32:34 “Is this not stored up with me?” says the Lord, ⁶ 

“Is it not sealed up in my storehouses?

Job 14:17

14:17 My offenses would be sealed up ⁷  in a bag; ⁸ 

you would cover over ⁹  my sin.

Psalms 90:8

90:8 You are aware of our sins; ¹⁰ 

you even know about our hidden sins. ¹¹ 

Psalms 130:3

130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of ¹²  sins,

O Lord, who could stand before you? ¹³ 

Hosea 13:12

Israel’s Punishment Will Not Be Withheld Much Longer

13:12 The punishment ¹⁴  of Ephraim has been decreed; ¹⁵ 

his punishment is being stored up for the future.

Amos 8:7

8:7 The Lord confirms this oath ¹⁶  by the arrogance of Jacob: ¹⁷ 

“I swear ¹⁸  I will never forget all you have done! ¹⁹ 

[16:17]  ¹ tn Heb “For my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hidden from before me. And their sin is not hidden away from before my eyes.”

[17:1]  ² tn The chapter division which was not a part of the original text but was added in the middle ages obscures the fact that there is no new speech here. The division may have resulted from the faulty identification of the “them” in the preceding verse. See the translator’s note on that verse.

[17:1]  ³ tn The adjective “stone-hard” is not in the Hebrew text. It is implicit in the metaphor and is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. Ezek 11:19; 36:26; and Job 19:24 for the figure.

[17:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “adamant.” The word “diamond” is an accommodation to modern times. There is no evidence that diamond was known in ancient times. This hard stone (perhaps emery) became metaphorical for hardness; see Ezek 3:9 and Zech 7:12. For discussion see W. E. Staples, “Adamant,” IDB 1:45.

[17:1]  ⁵ tn This verse has been restructured for the sake of the English poetry: Heb “The sin of Judah is engraved [or written] with an iron pen, inscribed with a point of a diamond [or adamant] upon the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.”

[32:34]  ⁶ tn Verses 34-35 appear to be a quotation of the Lord and so the introductory phrase “says the Lord” is supplied in the translation.

[14:17]  ⁷ tn The passive participle חָתֻם (khatum), from חָתַם (khatam, “seal”), which is used frequently in the Bible, means “sealed up.” The image of sealing sins in a bag is another of the many poetic ways of expressing the removal of sin from the individual (see 1 Sam 25:29). Since the term most frequently describes sealed documents, the idea here may be more that of sealing in a bag the record of Job’s sins (see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 334).

[14:17]  ⁸ tn The idea has been presented that the background of putting tally stones in a bag is intended (see A. L. Oppenheim, “On an Operational Device in Mesopotamian Bureaucracy,” JNES 18 [1959]: 121-28).

[14:17]  ⁹ tn This verb was used in Job 13:4 for “plasterers of lies.” The idea is probably that God coats or paints over the sins so that they are forgotten (see Isa 1:18). A. B. Davidson (Job, 105) suggests that the sins are preserved until full punishment is exacted. But the verse still seems to be continuing the thought of how the sins would be forgotten in the next life.

[90:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”

[90:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.

[130:3]  ¹² tn Heb “observe.”

[130:3]  ¹³ tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”

[13:12]  ¹⁴ tn The noun עָוֹן (’avon) has a three-fold range of meanings: (1) “iniquity,” so KJV, NASB, NRSV; (2) “guilt,” so NAB, NIV; and (3) “punishment” (BDB 730 s.v. עָוֹן). The oracle of 13:12-13 announces that Israel’s punishment, though momentarily withheld, will suddenly come upon her like labor pains that will kill her.

[13:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “has been bound.” צָרַר (tsarar, “to bind”) refers elsewhere to the action of scribes binding a document into a sealed scroll of safekeeping (Isa 8:16; HALOT 1058 s.v. I צרר 1; BDB 864 s.v. צָרַר 1). Here it figuratively depicts the record of Israel’s sins being written down and permanently bound in a sealed scroll for safekeeping (cf. NCV, TEV “are on record”). The guilt of Israel’s sin will be retained.

[8:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “swears.”

[8:7]  ¹⁷ sn In an oath one appeals to something permanent to emphasize one’s commitment to the promise. Here the Lord sarcastically swears by the arrogance of Jacob, which he earlier had condemned (6:8), something just as enduring as the Lord’s own life (see 6:8) or unchanging character (see 4:2). Other suggestions include that the Lord is swearing by the land, his most valuable possession (cf. Isa 4:2; Ps 47:4 [47:5 HT]); that this is a divine epithet analogous to “the Glory of Israel” (1 Sam 15:29); or that an ellipsis should be understood here, in which case the meaning is the same as that of 6:8 (“The Lord has sworn [by himself] against the arrogance of Jacob”).

[8:7]  ¹⁸ tn The words “I swear” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation because a self-imprecation is assumed in oaths of this type.

[8:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “I will never forget all your deeds.”