Psalms 30:5

30:5 For his anger lasts only a brief moment,

and his good favor restores one’s life. ¹ 

One may experience sorrow during the night,

but joy arrives in the morning. ² 

Isaiah 57:16

57:16 For I will not be hostile ³  forever

or perpetually angry,

for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, ⁴ 

the life-giving breath I created.

Jeremiah 3:5

3:5 You will not always be angry with me, will you?

You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ ⁵ 

That is what you say,

but you continually do all the evil that you can.” ⁶ 

Micah 7:18-19

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

You ⁸  forgive sin

and pardon ⁹  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ¹⁰ 

You do not remain angry forever, ¹¹ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

7:19 You will once again ¹²  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ¹³  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ¹⁴  sins into the depths of the sea. ¹⁵ 

[30:5]  ¹ tn Heb “for [there is] a moment in his anger, [but] life in his favor.” Because of the parallelism with “moment,” some understand חַיִּים (khayyim) in a quantitative sense: “lifetime” (cf. NIV, NRSV). However, the immediate context, which emphasizes deliverance from death (see v. 3), suggests that חַיִּים has a qualitative sense: “physical life” or even “prosperous life” (cf. NEB “in his favour there is life”).

[30:5]  ² tn Heb “in the evening weeping comes to lodge, but at morning a shout of joy.” “Weeping” is personified here as a traveler who lodges with one temporarily.

[57:16]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “argue,” or “accuse” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[57:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “for a spirit from before me would be faint.”

[3:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “Will he keep angry forever? Will he maintain [it] to the end?” The questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer. The change to direct address in the English translation is intended to ease the problem of the rapid transition, common in Hebrew style (but not in English), from second person direct address in the preceding lines to third person indirect address in these two lines. See GKC 462 §144.p.

[3:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “You do the evil and you are able.” This is an example of hendiadys, meaning “You do all the evil that you are able to do.”

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

[7:18]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[7:19]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).