Psalms 32:5

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ¹  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ²  (Selah)

Psalms 51:3

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

I am forever conscious of my sin. ⁴ 

Job 31:33

31:33 if ⁵  I have covered my transgressions as men do, ⁶ 

by hiding ⁷  iniquity in my heart, ⁸ 

Job 33:27

33:27 That person sings ⁹  to others, ¹⁰  saying:

‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,

but I was not punished according to what I deserved. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 28:13

28:13 The one who covers ¹²  his transgressions will not prosper, ¹³ 

but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy. ¹⁴ 

[32:5]  ¹ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ² 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.

[51:3]  ³ tn Heb “know.”

[51:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”

[31:33]  ⁵ tn Now the protasis continues again.

[31:33]  ⁶ sn Some commentators suggest taking the meaning here to be “as Adam,” referring to the Paradise story of the sin and denial.

[31:33]  ⁷ tn The infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first line.

[31:33]  ⁸ tn The MT has “in my bosom.” This is the only place in the OT where this word is found. But its meaning is well attested from Aramaic.

[33:27]  ⁹ tc The verb יָשֹׁר (yashor) is unusual. The typical view is to change it to יָשִׁיר (yashir, “he sings”), but that may seem out of harmony with a confession. Dhorme suggests a root שׁוּר (shur, “to repeat”), but this is a doubtful root. J. Reider reads it יָשֵׁיר (yasher) and links it to an Arabic word “confesses” (ZAW 24 [1953]: 275).

[33:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to men.”

[33:27]  ¹¹ tn The verb שָׁוָה (shavah) has the impersonal meaning here, “it has not been requited to me.” The meaning is that the sinner has not been treated in accordance with his deeds: “I was not punished according to what I deserved.”

[28:13]  ¹² tn The Hebrew participles provide the subject matter in this contrast. On the one hand is the person who covers over (מְכַסֶּה, mÿkhasseh) his sins. This means refusing to acknowledge them in confession, and perhaps rationalizing them away. On the other hand there is the one who both “confesses” (מוֹדֶה, modeh) and “forsakes” (עֹזֵב, ’ozev) the sin. To “confess” sins means to acknowledge them, to say the same thing about them that God does.

[28:13]  ¹³ sn The verse contrasts the consequences of each. The person who refuses to confess will not prosper. This is an understatement (a figure of speech known as tapeinosis); the opposite is the truth, that eventually such a person will be undone and ruined. On the other hand, the penitent will find mercy. This expression is a metonymy of cause for the effect – although “mercy” is mentioned, what mercy provides is intended, i.e., forgiveness. In other passages the verb “conceal” is used of God’s forgiveness – he covers over the iniquity (Ps 32:1). Whoever acknowledges sin, God will cover it; whoever covers it, God will lay it open.

[28:13]  ¹⁴ sn This verse is unique in the book of Proverbs; it captures the theology of forgiveness (e.g., Pss 32 and 51). Every part of the passage is essential to the point: Confession of sins as opposed to concealing them, coupled with a turning away from them, results in mercy.