Leviticus 26:40

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 

Ezra 10:1

The People Confess Their Sins

10:1 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites – men, women, and children alike – gathered around him. The people wept loudly. ⁵ 

Nehemiah 1:6-7

1:6 may your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying to you today throughout both day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I am confessing the sins of the Israelites that we have committed ⁶  against you – both I myself and my family ⁷  have sinned. 1:7 We have behaved corruptly against you, not obeying the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments that you commanded your servant Moses.

Nehemiah 9:3-5

9:3 For one-fourth of the day they stood in their place and read from the book of the law of the LORD their God, and for another fourth they were confessing their sins ⁸  and worshiping the LORD their God. 9:4 Then the Levites – Jeshua, Binnui, ⁹  Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani – stood on the steps and called out loudly ¹⁰  to the LORD their God. 9:5 The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!”

“May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ¹¹  May your glorious name ¹²  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

Psalms 32:5

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ¹³  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ¹⁴  (Selah)

Psalms 51:3

51:3 For I am aware of ¹⁵  my rebellious acts;

I am forever conscious of my sin. ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 28:13

28:13 The one who covers ¹⁷  his transgressions will not prosper, ¹⁸ 

but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy. ¹⁹ 

Daniel 9:3-20

9:3 So I turned my attention ²⁰  to the Lord God ²¹  to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ²²  9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing in this way:

“O Lord, ²³  great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant ²⁴  with those who love him and keep his commandments, 9:5 we have sinned! We have done what is wrong and wicked; we have rebelled by turning away from your commandments and standards. 9:6 We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority ²⁵  to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, ²⁶  and to all the inhabitants ²⁷  of the land as well.

9:7 “You are righteous, ²⁸  O Lord, but we are humiliated this day ²⁹  – the people ³⁰  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 ³¹  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you. 9:9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, ³²  even though we have rebelled against him. 9:10 We have not obeyed ³³  the LORD our God by living according to ³⁴  his laws ³⁵  that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

9:11 “All Israel has broken ³⁶  your law and turned away by not obeying you. ³⁷  Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened ³⁸  in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. ³⁹  9:12 He has carried out his threats ⁴⁰  against us and our rulers ⁴¹  who were over ⁴²  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 ⁴³  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ⁴⁴  from your reliable moral standards. ⁴⁵  9:14 The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just ⁴⁶  in all he has done, ⁴⁷  and we have not obeyed him. ⁴⁸ 

9:15 “Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with great power ⁴⁹  and made a name for yourself that is remembered to this day – we have sinned and behaved wickedly. 9:16 O Lord, according to all your justice, ⁵⁰  please turn your raging anger ⁵¹  away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For due to our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by all our neighbors.

9:17 “So now, our God, accept ⁵²  the prayer and requests of your servant, and show favor to ⁵³  your devastated sanctuary for your own sake. ⁵⁴  9:18 Listen attentively, ⁵⁵  my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins ⁵⁶  and the city called by your name. ⁵⁷  For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, ⁵⁸  but because your compassion is abundant. 9:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention, and act! Don’t delay, for your own sake, O my God! For your city and your people are called by your name.” ⁵⁹ 

Gabriel Gives to Daniel a Prophecy of Seventy Weeks

9:20 While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my request before the LORD my God concerning his holy mountain ⁶⁰  –

Romans 10:10

10:10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness ⁶¹  and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. ⁶² 

[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.”

[10:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “with much weeping.”

[1:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “have sinned.” For stylistic reasons – to avoid redundancy in English – this was translated as “committed.”

[1:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “the house of my father.”

[9:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “confessing.” The words “their sins” are not present in the Hebrew text of v. 3, but are clearly implied here because they are explicitly stated in v. 2.

[9:4]  ⁹ tc Heb “Bani.” The translation reads “Binnui” (so also NAB) rather than the MT reading “Bani.” Otherwise there are two individuals with the same name in this verse. The name “Binnui” appears, for example, in Neh 10:10.

[9:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in a great voice.”

[9:5]  ¹¹ tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O LORD our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Ps 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the LORD.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.

[9:5]  ¹² tn Heb “the name of your glory.”

[32:5]  ¹³ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.

[51:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “know.”

[51:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”

[28:13]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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.

[9:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “face.”

[9:3]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew phrase translated “Lord God” here is אֲדֹנָי הָאֱלֹהִים (’adonay ha’elohim).

[9:3]  ²² sn When lamenting, ancient Israelites would fast, wear sackcloth, and put ashes on their heads to show their sorrow and contrition.

[9:4]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 7, 9, 15, 16, and 19 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[9:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in your name.” Another option is to translate, “as your representatives.”

[9:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “our fathers” (also in vv. 8, 16). The Hebrew term translated “father” can refer to more distant relationships such as grandfathers or ancestors.

[9:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “people.”

[9:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to you (belongs) righteousness.”

[9:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and to us (belongs) shame of face like this day.”

[9:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “men.”

[9:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[9:9]  ³² tn Heb “to the Lord our God (belong) compassion and forgiveness.”

[9:10]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[9:10]  ³⁵ tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.

[9:11]  ³⁶ tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.

[9:11]  ³⁷ tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”

[9:11]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ tn Heb “him.”

[9:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”

[9:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “our judges.”

[9:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “who judged.”

[9:13]  ⁴³ tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”

[9:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “by gaining insight.”

[9:13]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “righteous.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “in all his deeds which he has done.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “we have not listened to his voice.”

[9:15]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “with a powerful hand.”

[9:16]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “righteousness.”

[9:16]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “your anger and your rage.” The synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of God’s anger. This is best expressed in English by making one of the terms adjectival (cf. NLT “your furious anger”; CEV “terribly angry”).

[9:17]  ⁵² tn Heb “hear.” Here the verb refers to hearing favorably, accepting the prayer and responding positively.

[9:17]  ⁵³ tn Heb “let your face shine.” This idiom pictures God smiling in favor. See Pss 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19.

[9:17]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “for the sake of my Lord.” Theodotion has “for your sake.” Cf. v. 19.

[9:18]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “turn your ear.”

[9:18]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “desolations.” The term refers here to the ruined condition of Judah’s towns.

[9:18]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “over which your name is called.” Cf. v. 19. This expression implies that God is the owner of his city, Jerusalem. Note the use of the idiom in 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1; Amos 9:12.

[9:18]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “praying our supplications before you.”

[9:19]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “for your name is called over your city and your people.” See the note on this expression in v 18.

[9:20]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “the holy mountain of my God.”

[10:10]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “believes to righteousness.”

[10:10]  ⁶² tn Grk “confesses to salvation.”