Psalms 38:5

38:5 My wounds ¹  are infected and starting to smell, ² 

because of my foolish sins. ³ 

Job 15:16

15:16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, ⁴ 

who drinks in evil like water! ⁵ 

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. ⁶ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

Ezekiel 36:25

36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water ⁷  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols.

Ezekiel 36:2

36:2 This is what the sovereign Lord says: The enemy has spoken against you, saying “Aha!” and, “The ancient heights ⁸  have become our property!”’

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

[38:5]  ¹ sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.

[38:5]  ² tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).

[38:5]  ³ tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”

[15:16]  ⁴ tn The two descriptions here used are “abominable,” meaning “disgusting” (a Niphal participle with the value of a Latin participle [see GKC 356-57 §116.e]), and “corrupt” (a Niphal participle which occurs only in Pss 14:3 and 53:4), always in a moral sense. On the significance of the first description, see P. Humbert, “Le substantif toáe„ba„ et le verbe táb dans l’Ancien Testament,” ZAW 72 [1960]: 217ff.). On the second word, G. R. Driver suggests from Arabic, “debauched with luxury, corrupt” (“Some Hebrew Words,” JTS 29 [1927/28]: 390-96).

[15:16]  ⁵ sn Man commits evil with the same ease and facility as he drinks in water – freely and in large quantities.

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

[36:25]  ⁷ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

[36:2]  ⁸ tn Or “high places.”

[1:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.