Job 33:27

33:27 That person sings ¹  to others, ²  saying:

‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,

but I was not punished according to what I deserved. ³ 

Job 40:3-5

40:3 Then Job answered the Lord:

40:4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy ⁴  – how could I reply to you?

I put ⁵  my hand over my mouth to silence myself. ⁶ 

40:5 I have spoken once, but I cannot answer;

twice, but I will say no more.” ⁷ 

Job 42:6

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ⁸ 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

Leviticus 26:41

26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and ⁹  then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for ¹⁰  their iniquity,

Ezra 9:13-14

9:13 “Everything that has happened to us has come about because of our wicked actions and our great guilt. Even so, our God, you have exercised restraint ¹¹  toward our iniquities and have given us a remnant such as this. 9:14 Shall we once again break your commandments and intermarry with these abominable peoples? Would you not be so angered by us that you would wipe us out, with no survivor or remnant?

Nehemiah 9:33-38

9:33 You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. ¹²  It is we who have been in the wrong! 9:34 Our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept your law. They have not paid attention to your commandments or your testimonies by which you have solemnly admonished them. 9:35 Even when they were in their kingdom and benefiting from your incredible ¹³  goodness that you had lavished ¹⁴  on them in the spacious and fertile land you had set ¹⁵  before them, they did not serve you, nor did they turn from their evil practices.

9:36 “So today we are slaves! In the very land you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and to enjoy ¹⁶  its good things – we are slaves! 9:37 Its abundant produce goes to the kings you have placed over us due to our sins. They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they see fit, ¹⁷  and we are in great distress!

The People Pledge to be Faithful

9:38 (10:1) ¹⁸  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ¹⁹  in written form; ²⁰  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ²¹  on the sealed document.”

Jeremiah 31:18-19

31:18 I have indeed ²²  heard the people of Israel ²³  say mournfully,

‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. ²⁴ 

You disciplined us and we learned from it. ²⁵ 

Let us come back to you and we will do so, ²⁶ 

for you are the Lord our God.

31:19 For after we turned away from you we repented.

After we came to our senses ²⁷  we beat our breasts in sorrow. ²⁸ 

We are ashamed and humiliated

because of the disgraceful things we did previously.’ ²⁹ 

Daniel 9:7-14

9:7 “You are righteous, ³⁰  O Lord, but we are humiliated this day ³¹  – the people ³²  of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you. 9:8 O LORD, we have been humiliated ³³  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you. 9:9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, ³⁴  even though we have rebelled against him. 9:10 We have not obeyed ³⁵  the LORD our God by living according to ³⁶  his laws ³⁷  that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

9:11 “All Israel has broken ³⁸  your law and turned away by not obeying you. ³⁹  Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened ⁴⁰  in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. ⁴¹  9:12 He has carried out his threats ⁴²  against us and our rulers ⁴³  who were over ⁴⁴  us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven! 9:13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify ⁴⁵  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ⁴⁶  from your reliable moral standards. ⁴⁷  9:14 The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just ⁴⁸  in all he has done, ⁴⁹  and we have not obeyed him. ⁵⁰ 

Micah 7:9

7:9 I must endure ⁵¹  the Lord’s anger,

for I have sinned against him.

But then ⁵²  he will defend my cause, ⁵³ 

and accomplish justice on my behalf.

He will lead me out into the light;

I will experience firsthand ⁵⁴  his deliverance. ⁵⁵ 

[33:27]  ¹ tc The verb יָשֹׁר (yashor) is unusual. The typical view is to change it to יָשִׁיר (yashir, “he sings”), but that may seem out of harmony with a confession. Dhorme suggests a root שׁוּר (shur, “to repeat”), but this is a doubtful root. J. Reider reads it יָשֵׁיר (yasher) and links it to an Arabic word “confesses” (ZAW 24 [1953]: 275).

[33:27]  ² tn Heb “to men.”

[33:27]  ³ tn The verb שָׁוָה (shavah) has the impersonal meaning here, “it has not been requited to me.” The meaning is that the sinner has not been treated in accordance with his deeds: “I was not punished according to what I deserved.”

[40:4]  ⁴ tn The word קַלֹּתִי (qalloti) means “to be light; to be of small account; to be unimportant.” From this comes the meaning “contemptible,” which in the causative stem would mean “to treat with contempt; to curse.” Dhorme tries to make the sentence a conditional clause and suggests this meaning: “If I have been thoughtless.” There is really no “if” in Job’s mind.

[40:4]  ⁵ tn The perfect verb here should be classified as an instantaneous perfect; the action is simultaneous with the words.

[40:4]  ⁶ tn The words “to silence myself” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[40:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will not add.”

[42:6]  ⁸ tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).

[26:41]  ⁹ tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”

[26:41]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.

[9:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “held back downwards from”; KJV “hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve” (NIV, NRSV, NLT all similar).

[9:33]  ¹² tn Heb “you have done truth.”

[9:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “great.”

[9:35]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “given them.”

[9:35]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “given.”

[9:36]  ¹⁶ tn The expression “to enjoy” is not included in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:37]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “according to their desire.”

[9:38]  ¹⁸ sn Beginning with 9:38, the verse numbers through 10:39 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:38 ET = 10:1 HT, 10:1 ET = 10:2 HT, 10:2 ET = 10:3 HT, etc., through 10:39 ET = 10:40 HT. Beginning with 11:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:38]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “we are cutting.”

[9:38]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and writing.”

[9:38]  ²¹ tn Heb “our leaders, our Levites, and our priests on the sealed document.” The Hebrew text is elliptical here; the words “have affixed their names” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons. Cf. v. 2.

[31:18]  ²² tn The use of “indeed” is intended to reflect the infinitive absolute which precedes the verb for emphasis (see IBHS 585-86 §35.3.1f).

[31:18]  ²³ tn Heb “Ephraim.” See the study note on 31:9. The more familiar term is used, the term “people” added to it, and plural pronouns used throughout the verse to aid in understanding.

[31:18]  ²⁴ tn Heb “like an untrained calf.” The metaphor is that of a calf who has never been broken to bear the yoke (cf. Hos 4:16; 10:11).

[31:18]  ²⁵ tn The verb here is from the same root as the preceding and is probably an example of the “tolerative Niphal,” i.e., “I let myself be disciplined/I responded to it.” See IBHS 389-90 §23.4g and note the translation of some of the examples there, especially Isa 19:22; 65:1.

[31:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Bring me back in order that I may come back.” For the use of the plural pronouns see the marginal note at the beginning of the verse. The verb “bring back” and “come back” are from the same root in two different verbal stems and in the context express the idea of spiritual repentance and restoration of relationship not physical return to the land. (See BDB 999 s.v. שׁוּב Hiph.2.a for the first verb and 997 s.v. Qal.6.c for the second.) For the use of the cohortative to express purpose after the imperative see GKC 320 §108.d or IBHS 575 §34.5.2b.

[31:19]  ²⁷ tn For this meaning of the verb see HAL 374 s.v. יָדַע Nif 5 or W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 129. REB translates “Now that I am submissive” relating the verb to a second root meaning “be submissive.” (See HALOT 375 s.v. II יָדַע and J. Barr, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament, 19-21, for evidence for this verb. Other passages cited with this nuance are Judg 8:16; Prov 10:9; Job 20:20.)

[31:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I struck my thigh.” This was a gesture of grief and anguish (cf. Ezek 21:12 [21:17 HT]). The modern equivalent is “to beat the breast.”

[31:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “because I bear the reproach of my youth.” For the plural referents see the note at the beginning of v. 18.

[9:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “to you (belongs) righteousness.”

[9:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “and to us (belongs) shame of face like this day.”

[9:7]  ³² tn Heb “men.”

[9:8]  ³³ tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[9:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “to the Lord our God (belong) compassion and forgiveness.”

[9:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “paid attention to the voice of,” which is an idiomatic expression for obedience (cf. NASB “nor have we obeyed the voice of”).

[9:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[9:10]  ³⁷ tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.

[9:11]  ³⁸ tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.

[9:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”

[9:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the curse and the oath which is written.” The term “curse” refers here to the judgments threatened in the Mosaic law (see Deut 28) for rebellion. The expression “the curse and the oath” is probably a hendiadys (cf. Num 5:21; Neh 10:29) referring to the fact that the covenant with its threatened judgments was ratified by solemn oath and made legally binding upon the covenant community.

[9:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “him.”

[9:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”

[9:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “our judges.”

[9:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “who judged.”

[9:13]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”

[9:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “by gaining insight.”

[9:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “by your truth.” The Hebrew term does not refer here to abstract truth, however, but to the reliable moral guidance found in the covenant law. See vv 10-11.

[9:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “righteous.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “in all his deeds which he has done.”

[9:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “we have not listened to his voice.”

[7:9]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “lift, bear.”

[7:9]  ⁵² tn Heb “until.”

[7:9]  ⁵³ tn Or “plead my case” (NASB and NIV both similar); NRSV “until he takes my side.”

[7:9]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “see.”

[7:9]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “justice, vindication.”