Psalms 19:12

19:12 Who can know all his errors? ¹ 

Please do not punish me for sins I am unaware of. ² 

Proverbs 5:21

5:21 For the ways of a person ³  are in front of the Lord’s eyes,

and the Lord ⁴  weighs ⁵  all that person’s ⁶  paths.

Ecclesiastes 12:14

12:14 For God will evaluate every deed, ⁷ 

including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Luke 12:1-2

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ⁸  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ⁹  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ¹⁰  the yeast of the Pharisees, ¹¹  which is hypocrisy. ¹²  12:2 Nothing is hidden ¹³  that will not be revealed, ¹⁴  and nothing is secret that will not be made known.

Romans 2:16

2:16 on the day when God will judge ¹⁵  the secrets of human hearts, ¹⁶  according to my gospel ¹⁷  through Christ Jesus.

Romans 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ¹⁸ Therefore ¹⁹  you are without excuse, ²⁰  whoever you are, ²¹  when you judge someone else. ²²  For on whatever grounds ²³  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Colossians 4:5

4:5 Conduct yourselves ²⁴  with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.

Hebrews 4:12-13

4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 4:13 And no creature is hidden from God, ²⁵  but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

Hebrews 4:1

God’s Promised Rest

4:1 Therefore we must be wary ²⁶  that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it.

Hebrews 3:1

Jesus and Moses

3:1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, ²⁷  partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, ²⁸ 

[19:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Errors who can discern?” This rhetorical question makes the point that perfect moral discernment is impossible to achieve. Consequently it is inevitable that even those with good intentions will sin on occasion.

[19:12]  ² tn Heb “declare me innocent from hidden [things],” i.e., sins. In this context (see the preceding line) “hidden” sins are not sins committed in secret, but sins which are not recognized as such by the psalmist.

[5:21]  ³ tn Heb “man.”

[5:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:21]  ⁵ tn BDB 814 s.v. פָּלַס 2 suggests that the participle מְפַּלֵּס (mÿpalles) means “to make level [or, straight].” As one’s ways are in front of the eyes of the Lord, they become straight or right. It could be translated “weighs” since it is a denominative from the noun for “balance, scale”; the Lord weighs or examines the actions.

[5:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “all his”; the referent (the person mentioned in the first half of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “will bring every deed into judgment.”

[12:1]  ⁸ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ¹⁰ tn According to L&N 27.59, “to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on your guard against.” This is another Lukan present imperative calling for constant vigilance.

[12:1]  ¹¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ¹² sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.

[12:2]  ¹³ tn Or “concealed.”

[12:2]  ¹⁴ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.

[2:16]  ¹⁵ tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.

[2:16]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “of people.”

[2:16]  ¹⁷ sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.

[2:1]  ¹⁸ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ¹⁹ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ²⁰ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ²² tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ²³ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[4:5]  ²⁴ tn Grk “walk.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is a common NT idiom for one’s lifestyle, behavior, or manner of conduct (L&N 41.11).

[4:13]  ²⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “let us fear.”

[3:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.

[3:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “of our confession.”