Psalms 44:21

44:21 would not God discover it,

for he knows ¹  one’s thoughts? ² 

Proverbs 12:19

12:19 The one who tells the truth ³  will endure forever,

but the one who lies ⁴  will last only for a moment. ⁵ 

Mark 2:8

2:8 Now ⁶  immediately, when Jesus realized in his spirit that they were contemplating such thoughts, ⁷  he said to them, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? ⁸ 

John 2:25

2:25 He did not need anyone to testify about man, ⁹  for he knew what was in man. ¹⁰ 

Romans 3:19

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹¹  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

[44:21]  ¹ tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.

[44:21]  ² tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.

[12:19]  ³ tn Heb “a lip of truth.” The genitive אֱמֶת (’emet, “truth”) functions as an attributive adjective: “truthful lip.” The term שְׂפַת (sÿfat, “lip”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= lip) for the whole (= person): “truthful person.” The contrast is between “the lip of truth” and the “tongue of lying.”

[12:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “a tongue of deceit.” The genitive שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “deceit”) functions as an attributive genitive. The noun לָשׁוֹן (lashon, “tongue”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= tongue) for the whole (= person): “lying person.”

[12:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “while I would twinkle.” This expression is an idiom meaning “only for a moment.” The twinkling of the eye, the slightest movement, signals the brevity of the life of a lie (hyperbole). But truth will be established (תִּכּוֹן, tikon), that is, be made firm and endure.

[2:8]  ⁶ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the shift from the thoughts of the experts in the law to Jesus’ response.

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Grk “they were thus reasoning within themselves.”

[2:8]  ⁸ tn Grk “Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts?”

[2:25]  ⁹ tn The masculine form has been retained here in the translation to maintain the connection with “a man of the Pharisees” in 3:1, with the understanding that the reference is to people of both genders.

[2:25]  ¹⁰ tn See previous note on “man” in this verse.

[3:19]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”