Psalms 32:1-5

Psalm 32 ¹ 

By David; a well-written song. ² 

32:1 How blessed ³  is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven, ⁴ 

whose sin is pardoned! ⁵ 

32:2 How blessed is the one ⁶  whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish, ⁷ 

in whose spirit there is no deceit. ⁸ 

32:3 When I refused to confess my sin, ⁹ 

my whole body wasted away, ¹⁰ 

while I groaned in pain all day long.

32:4 For day and night you tormented me; ¹¹ 

you tried to destroy me ¹²  in the intense heat ¹³  of summer. ¹⁴  (Selah)

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ¹⁵  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ¹⁶  (Selah)

Psalms 51:1-3

Psalm 51 ¹⁷ 

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ¹⁸ 

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of ¹⁹  your loyal love!

Because of ²⁰  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ²¹ 

51:2 Wash away my wrongdoing! ²² 

Cleanse me of my sin! ²³ 

51:3 For I am aware of ²⁴  my rebellious acts;

I am forever conscious of my sin. ²⁵ 

Psalms 103:3

103:3 He is the one who forgives all your sins,

who heals all your diseases, ²⁶ 

Isaiah 43:25

43:25 I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake;

your sins I do not remember.

Isaiah 44:22

44:22 I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud,

the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. ²⁷ 

Come back to me, for I protect ²⁸  you.”

Jeremiah 31:33-34

31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ²⁹  after I plant them back in the land,” ³⁰  says the Lord. ³¹  “I will ³²  put my law within them ³³  and write it on their hearts and minds. ³⁴  I will be their God and they will be my people. ³⁵ 

31:34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. ³⁶  For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” ³⁷  says the Lord. “For ³⁸  I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

Daniel 9:18-19

9:18 Listen attentively, ³⁹  my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins ⁴⁰  and the city called by your name. ⁴¹  For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, ⁴²  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.” ⁴³ 

Micah 7:18-20

7:18 There is no other God like you! ⁴⁴ 

You ⁴⁵  forgive sin

and pardon ⁴⁶  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ⁴⁷ 

You do not remain angry forever, ⁴⁸ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

7:19 You will once again ⁴⁹  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ⁵⁰  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ⁵¹  sins into the depths of the sea. ⁵² 

7:20 You will be loyal to Jacob

and extend your loyal love to Abraham, ⁵³ 

which you promised on oath to our ancestors ⁵⁴ 

in ancient times. ⁵⁵ 

Matthew 6:12

6:12 and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves ⁵⁶  have forgiven our debtors.

Acts 13:38-39

13:38 Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through this one ⁵⁷  forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 13:39 and by this one ⁵⁸  everyone who believes is justified ⁵⁹  from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify ⁶⁰  you. ⁶¹ 

Romans 3:24

3:24 But they are justified ⁶²  freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 4:5-8

4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, ⁶³  his faith is credited as righteousness.

4:6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

4:7 “Blessed ⁶⁴  are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

4:8 blessed is the one ⁶⁵  against whom the Lord will never count ⁶⁶  sin.” ⁶⁷ 

Ephesians 1:7

1:7 In him ⁶⁸  we have redemption through his blood, ⁶⁹  the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

Ephesians 4:32

4:32 Instead, ⁷⁰  be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you. ⁷¹ 

Colossians 3:13

3:13 bearing with one another and forgiving ⁷²  one another, if someone happens to have ⁷³  a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. ⁷⁴ 

[32:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 32. The psalmist recalls the agony he experienced prior to confessing his sins and affirms that true happiness comes when one’s sins are forgiven. He then urges others not to be stubborn, but to turn to God while forgiveness is available, for God extends his mercy to the repentant, while the wicked experience nothing but sorrow.

[32:1]  ² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[32:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15). Here it refers to the relief that one experiences when one’s sins are forgiven.

[32:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[32:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “covered over.”

[32:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “man.” The word choice reflects the perspective of the psalmist, who is male. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, the gender and age specific “man” has been translated with the more neutral “one.”

[32:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord does not impute wrongdoing.”

[32:2]  ⁸ sn In whose spirit there is no deceit. The point is not that the individual is sinless and pure. In this context, which focuses on confession and forgiveness of sin, the psalmist refers to one who refuses to deny or hide his sin, but instead honestly confesses it to God.

[32:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “when I was silent.”

[32:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my bones became brittle.” The psalmist pictures himself as aging and growing physically weak. Trying to cover up his sin brought severe physical consequences.

[32:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your hand was heavy upon me.”

[32:4]  ¹² tc Heb “my [?] was turned.” The meaning of the Hebrew term לְשַׁד (lÿshad) is uncertain. A noun לָשָׁד (lashad, “cake”) is attested in Num 11:8, but it would make no sense to understand that word in this context. It is better to emend the form to לְשֻׁדִּי (lÿshuddiy, “to my destruction”) and understand “your hand” as the subject of the verb “was turned.” In this case the text reads, “[your hand] was turned to my destruction.” In Lam 3:3 the author laments that God’s “hand” was “turned” (הָפַךְ, hafakh) against him in a hostile sense.

[32:4]  ¹³ tn The translation assumes that the plural form indicates degree. If one understands the form as a true plural, then one might translate, “in the times of drought.”

[32:4]  ¹⁴ sn Summer. Perhaps the psalmist suffered during the hot season and perceived the very weather as being an instrument of divine judgment. Another option is that he compares his time of suffering to the uncomfortable and oppressive heat of summer.

[32:5]  ¹⁵ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ¹⁶ 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.

[51:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The exiles could relate to David’s experience, for they, like him, and had been forced to confront their sin. They appropriated David’s ancient prayer and applied it to their own circumstances.

[51:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”

[51:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ²¹ tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”

[51:2]  ²² tn Heb “Thoroughly wash me from my wrongdoing.”

[51:2]  ²³ sn In vv. 1b-2 the psalmist uses three different words to emphasize the multifaceted character and degree of his sin. Whatever one wants to call it (“rebellious acts,” “wrongdoing,” “sin”), he has done it and stands morally polluted in God’s sight. The same three words appear in Exod 34:7, which emphasizes that God is willing to forgive sin in all of its many dimensions. In v. 2 the psalmist compares forgiveness and restoration to physical cleansing. Perhaps he likens spiritual cleansing to the purification rites of priestly law.

[51:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “know.”

[51:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”

[103:3]  ²⁶ tn This relatively rare noun refers to deadly diseases (see Deut 29:22; Jer 14:18; 16:4; 2 Chr 21:19).

[44:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I blot out like a cloud your rebellious deeds, and like a cloud your sins.” “Rebellious deeds” and “sins” stand by metonymy for the guilt they produce. Both עָב (’av) and עָנָן (’anan) refer to the clouds in the sky. It is tempting for stylistic purposes to translate the second with “fog” or “mist” (cf. NAB, NRSV “cloud…mist”; NIV “cloud…morning mist”; NLT “morning mists…clouds”), but this distinction between the synonyms is unwarranted here. The point of the simile seems to be this: The Lord forgives their sins, causing them to vanish just as clouds disappear from the sky (see Job 7:9; 30:15).

[44:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “redeem.” See the note at 41:14.

[31:33]  ²⁹ tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.

[31:33]  ³⁰ tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.

[31:33]  ³¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ³² tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the Lord, ‘I will….’” The sentence has been reworded and restructured to avoid the awkwardness of the original style.

[31:33]  ³³ tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.

[31:33]  ³⁴ tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.

[31:33]  ³⁵ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.

[31:34]  ³⁶ tn Heb “teach…, saying, ‘Know the Lord.’” The indirect quote has been chosen for stylistic reasons, i.e., to better parallel the following line.

[31:34]  ³⁷ sn This statement should be understood against the background of Jer 8:8-9 where class distinctions were drawn and certain people were considered to have more awareness and responsibility for knowing the law and also Jer 5:1-5 and 9:3-9 where the sinfulness of Israel was seen to be universal across these class distinctions and no trust was to be placed in friends, neighbors, or relatives because all without distinction had cast off God’s yoke (i.e., refused to submit themselves to his authority).

[31:34]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) that introduces this clause refers to more than just the preceding clause (i.e., that all will know the Lord) but to all of vv. 31-34a (See BDB 474 s.v. כִּי 3.c).

[9:18]  ³⁹ tn Heb “turn your ear.”

[9:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “desolations.” The term refers here to the ruined condition of Judah’s towns.

[9:18]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² tn Heb “praying our supplications before you.”

[9:19]  ⁴³ tn Heb “for your name is called over your city and your people.” See the note on this expression in v 18.

[7:18]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[7:19]  ⁴⁹ 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]  ⁵⁰ 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]  ⁵¹ 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]  ⁵² sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).

[7:20]  ⁵³ tn More literally, “You will extend loyalty to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham.

[7:20]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “our fathers.” The Hebrew term refers here to more distant ancestors, not immediate parents.

[7:20]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “which you swore [or, “pledged”] to our fathers from days of old.”

[6:12]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “as even we.” The phrase ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς (Jw" kai Jhmei") makes ἡμεῖς emphatic. The translation above adds an appropriate emphasis to the passage.

[13:38]  ⁵⁷ tn That is, Jesus. This pronoun is in emphatic position in the Greek text. Following this phrase in the Greek text is the pronoun ὑμῖν (Jumin, “to you”), so that the emphasis for the audience is that “through Jesus to you” these promises have come.

[13:39]  ⁵⁸ sn This one refers here to Jesus.

[13:39]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “is freed.” The translation of δικαιωθῆναι (dikaiwqhnai) and δικαιοῦται (dikaioutai) in Acts 13:38-39 is difficult. BDAG 249 s.v. δικαιόω 3 categorizes δικαιωθῆναι in 13:38 (Greek text) under the meaning “make free/pure” but categorizes δικαιοῦται in Acts 13:39 as “be found in the right, be free of charges” (BDAG 249 s.v. δικαιόω 2.b.β). In the interest of consistency both verbs are rendered as “justified” in this translation.

[13:39]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “could not free.”

[13:39]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” The passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation, with “by the law of Moses” becoming the subject of the final clause. The words “from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you” are part of v. 38 in the Greek text, but due to English style and word order must be placed in v. 39 in the translation.

[3:24]  ⁶² tn Or “declared righteous.” Grk “being justified,” as a continuation of the preceding clause. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:5]  ⁶³ tn Or “who justifies the ungodly.”

[4:7]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “Happy.”

[4:8]  ⁶⁵ tn The word for “man” or “individual” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” However, as BDAG 79 s.v. 2 says, here it is “equivalent to τὶς someone, a person.”

[4:8]  ⁶⁶ tn The verb translated “count” here is λογίζομαι (logizomai). It occurs eight times in Rom 4:1-12, including here, each time with the sense of “place on someone’s account.” By itself the word is neutral, but in particular contexts it can take on a positive or negative connotation. The other occurrences of the verb have been translated using a form of the English verb “credit” because they refer to a positive event: the application of righteousness to the individual believer. The use here in v. 8 is negative: the application of sin. A form of the verb “credit” was not used here because of the positive connotations associated with that English word, but it is important to recognize that the same concept is used here as in the other occurrences.

[4:8]  ⁶⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 32:1-2.

[1:7]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “in whom” (the relative clause of v. 7 is subordinate to v. 6). The “him” refers to Christ.

[1:7]  ⁶⁹ sn In this context his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.

[4:32]  ⁷⁰ tc ‡ Although most witnesses have either δέ (de; Ì⁴⁹ א A D² Ψ 33 1739^mg Ï lat) or οὖν (oun; D* F G 1175) here, a few important mss lack a conjunction (Ì⁴⁶ B 0278 6 1739* 1881). If either conjunction were originally in the text, it is difficult to explain how the asyndetic construction could have arisen (although the dropping of δέ could have occurred via homoioteleuton). Further, although Hellenistic Greek rarely joined sentences without a conjunction, such does occur in the corpus Paulinum on occasion, especially to underscore a somber point. “Instead” has been supplied in the translation because of stylistic requirements, not textual basis. NA²⁷ places δέ in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[4:32]  ⁷¹ tn Or “forgiving.”

[3:13]  ⁷² tn For the translation of χαριζόμενοι (carizomenoi) as “forgiving,” see BDAG 1078 s.v. χαρίζομαι 3. The two participles “bearing” (ἀνεχόμενοι, anecomenoi) and “forgiving” (χαριζόμενοι) express the means by which the action of the finite verb “clothe yourselves” is to be carried out.

[3:13]  ⁷³ tn Grk “if someone has”; the term “happens,” though not in the Greek text, is inserted to bring out the force of the third class condition.

[3:13]  ⁷⁴ tn The expression “forgive others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. It is included in the translation to make the sentence complete and more comprehensible to the English reader.