Psalms 14:3

14:3 Everyone rejects God; ¹ 

they are all morally corrupt. ² 

None of them does what is right, ³ 

not even one!

Psalms 14:2

14:2 The Lord looks down from heaven ⁴  at the human race, ⁵ 

to see if there is anyone who is wise ⁶  and seeks God. ⁷ 

Psalms 20:2

20:2 May he send you help from his temple; ⁸ 

from Zion may he give you support!

Isaiah 53:6

53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep;

each of us had strayed off on his own path,

but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ⁹ 

Isaiah 64:6

64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ¹⁰ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

Jeremiah 8:5-6

8:5 Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem ¹¹ 

continually turn away from me in apostasy?

They hold fast to their deception. ¹² 

They refuse to turn back to me. ¹³ 

8:6 I have listened to them very carefully, ¹⁴ 

but they do not speak honestly.

None of them regrets the evil he has done.

None of them says, “I have done wrong!” ¹⁵ 

All of them persist in their own wayward course ¹⁶ 

like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

Zephaniah 1:6

1:6 and those who turn their backs on ¹⁷  the Lord

and do not want the Lord’s help or guidance.” ¹⁸ 

[14:3]  ¹ tn Heb “everyone turns aside.”

[14:3]  ² tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[14:3]  ³ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[14:2]  ⁴ sn The picture of the Lord looking down from heaven draws attention to his sovereignty over the world.

[14:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”

[14:2]  ⁶ tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.

[14:2]  ⁷ sn Anyone who is wise and seeks God refers to the person who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.

[20:2]  ⁸ tc Heb “from [the] temple.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix (ן, nun) has probably been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word begins with a prefixed vav (ו). See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 184.

[53:6]  ⁹ tn Elsewhere the Hiphil of פָגַע (paga’) means “to intercede verbally” (Jer 15:11; 36:25) or “to intervene militarily” (Isa 59:16), but neither nuance fits here. Apparently here the Hiphil is the causative of the normal Qal meaning, “encounter, meet, touch.” The Qal sometimes refers to a hostile encounter or attack; when used in this way the object is normally introduced by the preposition -בְּ (bet, see Josh 2:16; Judg 8:21; 15:12, etc.). Here the causative Hiphil has a double object – the Lord makes “sin” attack “him” (note that the object attacked is introduced by the preposition -בְּ. In their sin the group was like sheep who had wandered from God’s path. They were vulnerable to attack; the guilt of their sin was ready to attack and destroy them. But then the servant stepped in and took the full force of the attack.

[64:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[8:5]  ¹¹ tc The text is quite commonly emended, changing שׁוֹבְבָה הָעָם (shovÿvah ha’am) to שׁוֹבָב הָעָם (shovav ha’am) and omitting יְרוּשָׁלַםִ (yÿrushalaim); this is due to the anomaly of a feminine singular verb with a masculine singular subject and the fact that the word “Jerusalem” is absent from one Hebrew ms and the LXX. However, it is possible that this is a case where the noun “Jerusalem” is a defining apposition to the word “these people,” an apposition which GKC 425 §131.k calls “permutation.” In this case the verb could be attracted to the appositional noun and there would be no reason to emend the text. The MT is undoubtedly the harder reading and is for that reason to be preferred.

[8:5]  ¹² tn Or “to their allegiance to false gods,” or “to their false professions of loyalty”; Heb “to deceit.” Either “to their mistaken beliefs” or “to their allegiance to false gods” would fit the preceding context. The former is more comprehensive than the latter and was chosen for that reason.

[8:5]  ¹³ sn There is a continuing play on the same root word used in the preceding verse. Here the words “turn away from me,” “apostasy,” and “turn back to me” are all forms from the root that was translated “go the wrong way” and “turn around” in v. 4. The intended effect is to contrast Judah’s recalcitrant apostasy with the usual tendency to try and correct one’s mistakes.

[8:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I have paid attention and I have listened.” This is another case of two concepts being joined by “and” where one expresses the main idea and the other acts as an adverbial or adjectival modifier (a figure called hendiadys).

[8:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “What have I done?” The addition of the word “wrong” is implicit in the context and is supplied in the translation for clarity. The rhetorical question does not function as a denial of wrongdoing, but rather as contrite shock at one’s own wrongdoing. It is translated as a declaration for the sake of clarity.

[8:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “each one of them turns aside into their own running course.”

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after.”

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “who do not seek the Lord and do not inquire of him.” The present translation assumes the first verb refers to praying for divine help and the second to seeking his revealed will through an oracle. Note the usage of the two verbs in 2 Chr 20:3-4.