Numbers 14:18-19

14:18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, ¹  forgiving iniquity and transgression, ²  but by no means clearing ³  the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’ ⁴  14:19 Please forgive ⁵  the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love, ⁶  just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.”

Psalms 86:5

86:5 Certainly ⁷  O Lord, you are kind ⁸  and forgiving,

and show great faithfulness to all who cry out to you.

Psalms 86:15

86:15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God.

You are patient ⁹  and demonstrate great loyal love and faithfulness. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 130:4

130:4 But ¹¹  you are willing to forgive, ¹² 

so that you might ¹³  be honored. ¹⁴ 

Micah 7:18-19

7:18 There is no other God like you! ¹⁵ 

You ¹⁶  forgive sin

and pardon ¹⁷  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ¹⁸ 

You do not remain angry forever, ¹⁹ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

7:19 You will once again ²⁰  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ²¹  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ²²  sins into the depths of the sea. ²³ 

[14:18]  ¹ tn The expression is רַב־חֶסֶד (rav khesed) means “much of loyal love,” or “faithful love.” Some have it “totally faithful,” but that omits the aspect of his love.

[14:18]  ² tn Or “rebellion.”

[14:18]  ³ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the verbal activity of the imperfect tense, which here serves as a habitual imperfect. Negated it states what God does not do; and the infinitive makes that certain.

[14:18]  ⁴ sn The Decalogue adds “to those who hate me.” The point of the line is that the effects of sin, if not the sinful traits themselves, are passed on to the next generation.

[14:19]  ⁵ tn The verb סְלַח־נָא (selakh-na’), the imperative form, means “forgive” (see Ps 130:4), “pardon,” “excuse.” The imperative is of course a prayer, a desire, and not a command.

[14:19]  ⁶ tn The construct unit is “the greatness of your loyal love.” This is the genitive of specification, the first word being the modifier.

[86:5]  ⁷ tn Or “for.”

[86:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “good.”

[86:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “slow to anger.”

[86:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and great of loyal love and faithfulness.”

[130:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “surely.”

[130:4]  ¹² tn Heb “for with you [there is] forgiveness.”

[130:4]  ¹³ tn Or “consequently you are.”

[130:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “feared.”

[7:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[7:19]  ²⁰ tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the Lord will again show mercy.

[7:19]  ²¹ tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the Lord subdues.

[7:19]  ²² tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.

[7:19]  ²³ sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).