Psalms 38:3

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ¹ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ² 

Psalms 38:18

38:18 Yes, ³  I confess my wrongdoing,

and I am concerned about my sins.

Psalms 39:11

39:11 You severely discipline people for their sins; ⁴ 

like a moth you slowly devour their strength. ⁵ 

Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)

Psalms 90:7-9

90:7 Yes, ⁶  we are consumed by your anger;

we are terrified by your wrath.

90:8 You are aware of our sins; ⁷ 

you even know about our hidden sins. ⁸ 

90:9 Yes, ⁹  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ¹⁰ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ¹¹ 

Lamentations 1:18

Jerusalem Speaks:

צ (Tsade)

1:18 The Lord is right to judge me! ¹² 

Yes, I rebelled against his commands. ¹³ 

Please listen, all you nations, ¹⁴ 

and look at my suffering!

My young women and men

have gone into exile.

Lamentations 3:39-42

3:39 Why should any living person ¹⁵  complain

when punished for his sins? ¹⁶ 

נ (Nun)

3:40 Let us carefully examine our ways, ¹⁷ 

and let us return to the Lord.

3:41 Let us lift up our hearts ¹⁸  and our hands

to God in heaven:

3:42 “We ¹⁹  have blatantly rebelled; ²⁰ 

you ²¹  have not forgiven.”

Lamentations 5:16

5:16 The crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

Daniel 9:8-14

9:8 O LORD, we have been humiliated ²²  – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you. 9:9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, ²³  even though we have rebelled against him. 9:10 We have not obeyed ²⁴  the LORD our God by living according to ²⁵  his laws ²⁶  that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

9:11 “All Israel has broken ²⁷  your law and turned away by not obeying you. ²⁸  Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened ²⁹  in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. ³⁰  9:12 He has carried out his threats ³¹  against us and our rulers ³²  who were over ³³  us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven! 9:13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, so all this calamity has come on us. Still we have not tried to pacify ³⁴  the LORD our God by turning back from our sin and by seeking wisdom ³⁵  from your reliable moral standards. ³⁶  9:14 The LORD was mindful of the calamity, and he brought it on us. For the LORD our God is just ³⁷  in all he has done, ³⁸  and we have not obeyed him. ³⁹ 

Romans 3:19

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ⁴⁰  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

[38:3]  ¹ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ² tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:18]  ³ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[39:11]  ⁴ tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”

[39:11]  ⁵ tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew mss.

[90:7]  ⁶ tn Or “for.”

[90:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”

[90:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.

[90:9]  ⁹ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “we finish our years like a sigh.” In Ezek 2:10 the word הֶגֶה (hegeh) elsewhere refers to a grumbling or moaning sound. Here a brief sigh or moan is probably in view. If so, the simile pictures one’s lifetime as transient. Another option is that the simile alludes to the weakness that characteristically overtakes a person at the end of one’s lifetime. In this case the phrase could be translated, “we end our lives with a painful moan.”

[1:18]  ¹² tn Heb “The Lord himself is right.” The phrase “to judge me” is not in the Hebrew, but is added in the translation to clarify the expression.

[1:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “His mouth.” The term “mouth” (פֶּה, peh) is a metonymy of instrument (= mouth) for the product (= words). The term פֶּה (peh) often stands for spoken words (Ps 49:14; Eccl 10:3; Isa 29:13), declaration (Gen 41:40; Exod 38:21; Num 35:30; Deut 17:6; Ezra 1:1) and commands of God (Exod 17:1; Num 14:41; 22:18; Josh 15:13; 1 Sam 15:24; 1 Chr 12:24; Prov 8:29; Isa 34:16; 62:2). When the verb מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”) is used with the accusative direct object פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) to connote disobedience to God’s commandments (Num 20:24; 1 Sam 12:14, 15; 1 Kgs 13:21) (BDB 805 s.v. פֶּה 2.c).

[1:18]  ¹⁴ tc The Kethib is written עַמִּים (’ammim, “peoples”), but the Qere, followed by many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (LXX and Aramaic Targum), read הָעַמִּים (ha’ammim, “O peoples”). The Qere is probably the original reading.

[3:39]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word here is אָדָם (’adam) which can mean “man” or “person.” The second half of the line is more personalized to the speaking voice of the defeated soldier using גֶּבֶר (gever, “man”). See the note at 3:1.

[3:39]  ¹⁶ tc Kethib reads the singular חֶטְאוֹ (khet’o, “his sin”), which is reflected in the LXX. Qere reads the plural חֲטָאָיו (khata’ayv, “his sins”) which is preserved in many medieval Hebrew mss and reflected in the other early versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate). The external and internal evidence are not decisive in favor of either reading.

[3:40]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Let us test our ways and examine.” The two verbs וְנַחְקֹרָה…נַחְפְּשָׂה (nakhpÿsah…vÿnakhqorah, “Let us test and let us examine”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal force: “Let us carefully examine our ways.”

[3:41]  ¹⁸ tc The MT reads the singular noun לְבָבֵנוּ (lÿvavenu, “our heart”) but the ancient versions (LXX, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate) and many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural noun לְבָבֵינוּ (lÿvavenu, “our hearts”). Hebrew regularly places plural pronouns on singular nouns used as a collective (135 times on the singular “heart” and only twice on the plural “hearts”). The plural “hearts” in any Hebrew construction is actually rather rare. The LXX renders similar Hebrew constructions (singular “heart” plus a plural pronoun) with the plural “hearts” about 1/3 of the time, therefore it cannot be considered evidence for the reading. The Vulgate may have been influenced by the LXX. Although a distributive sense is appropriate for a much higher percentage of passages using the plural “hearts” in the LXX, no clear reason for the differentiation in the LXX has emerged. Likely the singular Hebrew form is original but the meaning is best represented in English with the plural.

[3:42]  ¹⁹ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “We – we have sinned….” Given the contrast with the following, it means “For our part, we have sinned….” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “we” followed by a short pause.

[3:42]  ²⁰ tn Heb “We have revolted and we have rebelled.” The two verbs פָשַׁעְנוּ וּמָרִינוּ (pasha’nu umarinu, “we have revolted and we have rebelled”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the synonyms emphasize the single idea.

[3:42]  ²¹ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “You – you have not forgiven.” Given the contrast with the preceding, it means “For your part, you have not forgiven.” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “you” followed by a short pause.

[9:8]  ²² tn Heb “to us (belongs) shame of face.”

[9:9]  ²³ tn Heb “to the Lord our God (belong) compassion and forgiveness.”

[9:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “paid attention to the voice of,” which is an idiomatic expression for obedience (cf. NASB “nor have we obeyed the voice of”).

[9:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to walk in.”

[9:10]  ²⁶ tc The LXX and Vulgate have the singular.

[9:11]  ²⁷ tn Or “transgressed.” The Hebrew verb has the primary sense of crossing a boundary, in this case, God’s law.

[9:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “by not paying attention to your voice.”

[9:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the curse and the oath which is written.” The term “curse” refers here to the judgments threatened in the Mosaic law (see Deut 28) for rebellion. The expression “the curse and the oath” is probably a hendiadys (cf. Num 5:21; Neh 10:29) referring to the fact that the covenant with its threatened judgments was ratified by solemn oath and made legally binding upon the covenant community.

[9:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “him.”

[9:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “he has fulfilled his word(s) which he spoke.”

[9:12]  ³² tn Heb “our judges.”

[9:12]  ³³ tn Heb “who judged.”

[9:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “we have not pacified the face of.”

[9:13]  ³⁵ tn Or “by gaining insight.”

[9:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “by your truth.” The Hebrew term does not refer here to abstract truth, however, but to the reliable moral guidance found in the covenant law. See vv 10-11.

[9:14]  ³⁷ tn Or “righteous.”

[9:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “in all his deeds which he has done.”

[9:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “we have not listened to his voice.”

[3:19]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”