Leviticus 26:40-42

26:40 However, when ¹  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, ²  by which they also walked ³  in hostility against me ⁴  26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and ⁵  then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for ⁶  their iniquity, 26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, ⁷  and I will remember the land.

Deuteronomy 4:29-31

4:29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. ⁸  4:30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in the latter days, ⁹  if you return to the Lord your God and obey him ¹⁰  4:31 (for he ¹¹  is a merciful God), he will not let you down ¹²  or destroy you, for he cannot ¹³  forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.

Deuteronomy 30:1-6

The Results of Covenant Reaffirmation

30:1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses ¹⁴  I have set before you, you will reflect upon them ¹⁵  in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 30:2 Then if you and your descendants ¹⁶  turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being ¹⁷  just as ¹⁸  I am commanding you today, 30:3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he ¹⁹  has scattered you. 30:4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, ²⁰  from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 30:5 Then he ²¹  will bring you to the land your ancestors ²²  possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors. 30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse ²³  your heart and the hearts of your descendants ²⁴  so that you may love him ²⁵  with all your mind and being and so that you may live.

Nehemiah 1:8-9

1:8 Please recall the word you commanded your servant Moses: ‘If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations. ²⁶  1:9 But if you repent ²⁷  and obey ²⁸  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ²⁹  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

Proverbs 28:13

28:13 The one who covers ³⁰  his transgressions will not prosper, ³¹ 

but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy. ³² 

Jeremiah 3:12-13

The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent

3:12 “Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. ³³  Tell them,

‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. ³⁴ 

For I am merciful,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not be angry with you forever.

3:13 However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ³⁵ 

and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God.

You must confess ³⁶  that you have given yourself to ³⁷  foreign gods under every green tree,

and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.

[26:40]  ¹ tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

[26:40]  ² tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

[26:40]  ³ tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

[26:40]  ⁴ tn Heb “with me.”

[26:41]  ⁵ tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”

[26:41]  ⁶ tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.

[26:42]  ⁷ tn Heb “my covenant with Abraham I will remember.” The phrase “I will remember” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[4:29]  ⁸ tn Or “mind and being.” See Deut 6:5.

[4:30]  ⁹ sn The phrase is not used here in a technical sense for the eschaton, but rather refers to a future time when Israel will be punished for its sin and experience exile. See Deut 31:29.

[4:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hear his voice.” The expression is an idiom meaning “obey,” occurring in Deut 8:20; 9:23; 13:18; 21:18, 20; 26:14, 17; 27:10; 28:1-2, 15, 45, 62; 30:2, 8, 10, 20.

[4:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 4:3.

[4:31]  ¹² tn Heb “he will not drop you,” i.e., “will not abandon you” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:31]  ¹³ tn Or “will not.” The translation understands the imperfect verbal form to have an added nuance of capability here.

[30:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the blessing and the curse.”

[30:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and you bring (them) back to your heart.”

[30:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “children.”

[30:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “heart and soul” (also in vv. 6, 10).

[30:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “according to all.”

[30:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[30:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “are at the farthest edge of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[30:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[30:5]  ²² tn Heb “fathers” (also later in this verse and in vv. 9, 20).

[30:6]  ²³ tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

[30:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[30:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[1:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “peoples.”

[1:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “turn to me.”

[1:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “keep.” See the note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[1:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “at the end of the heavens.”

[28:13]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew participles provide the subject matter in this contrast. On the one hand is the person who covers over (מְכַסֶּה, mÿkhasseh) his sins. This means refusing to acknowledge them in confession, and perhaps rationalizing them away. On the other hand there is the one who both “confesses” (מוֹדֶה, modeh) and “forsakes” (עֹזֵב, ’ozev) the sin. To “confess” sins means to acknowledge them, to say the same thing about them that God does.

[28:13]  ³¹ sn The verse contrasts the consequences of each. The person who refuses to confess will not prosper. This is an understatement (a figure of speech known as tapeinosis); the opposite is the truth, that eventually such a person will be undone and ruined. On the other hand, the penitent will find mercy. This expression is a metonymy of cause for the effect – although “mercy” is mentioned, what mercy provides is intended, i.e., forgiveness. In other passages the verb “conceal” is used of God’s forgiveness – he covers over the iniquity (Ps 32:1). Whoever acknowledges sin, God will cover it; whoever covers it, God will lay it open.

[28:13]  ³² sn This verse is unique in the book of Proverbs; it captures the theology of forgiveness (e.g., Pss 32 and 51). Every part of the passage is essential to the point: Confession of sins as opposed to concealing them, coupled with a turning away from them, results in mercy.

[3:12]  ³³ tn Heb “Go and proclaim these words to the north.” The translation assumes that the message is directed toward the exiles of northern Israel who have been scattered in the provinces of Assyria to the north.

[3:12]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I will not cause my face to fall on you.”

[3:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Only acknowledge your iniquity.”

[3:13]  ³⁶ tn The words “You must confess” are repeated to convey the connection. The Hebrew text has an introductory “that” in front of the second line and a coordinative “and” in front of the next two lines.

[3:13]  ³⁷ tc MT reads דְּרָכַיִךְ (dÿrakhayikh, “your ways”), but the BHS editors suggest דּוֹדַיִךְ (dodayikh, “your breasts”) as an example of orthographic confusion. While the proposal makes sense, it remains a conjectural emendation since it is not supported by any actual manuscripts or ancient versions.