Amsal 20:9

20:9 Who can say, ¹  “I have kept my heart clean; ² 

I am pure ³  from my sin”?

Yeremia 2:35

2:35 you say, ‘I have not done anything wrong,

so the Lord cannot really be angry with me any more.’

But, watch out! ⁴  I will bring down judgment on you

because you say, ‘I have not committed any sin.’

Roma 3:9-19

The Condemnation of the World

3:9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 3:10 just as it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one,

3:11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

3:12 All have turned away,

together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” ⁵ 

3:13 “Their throats are open graves, ⁶ 

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.” ⁷ 

3:14 “Their mouths are ⁸  full of cursing and bitterness.” ⁹ 

3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,

3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,

3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.” ¹⁰ 

3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ¹¹ 

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹²  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Yakobus 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ¹³  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ¹⁴  in what he says, ¹⁵  he is a perfect individual, ¹⁶  able to control the entire body as well.

[20:9]  ¹ sn The verse is a rhetorical question; it is affirming that no one can say this because no one is pure and free of sin.

[20:9]  ² tn The verb form זִכִּיתִי (zikkiti) is the Piel perfect of זָכָה (zakhah, “to be clear; to be clean; to be pure”). The verb has the idea of “be clear, justified, acquitted.” In this stem it is causative: “I have made my heart clean” (so NRSV) or “kept my heart pure” (so NIV). This would be claiming that all decisions and motives were faultless.

[20:9]  ³ sn The Hebrew verb translated “I am pure” (טָהֵר, taher) is a Levitical term. To claim this purity would be to claim that moral and cultic perfection had been attained and therefore one was acceptable to God in the present condition. Of course, no one can claim this; even if one thought it true, it is impossible to know all that is in the heart as God knows it.

[2:35]  ⁴ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle often translated “behold” (הִנֵּה, hinneh) in a meaningful way in this context. See further the translator’s note on the word “really” in 1:6.

[3:12]  ⁵ sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”

[3:13]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.

[3:14]  ⁸ tn Grk “whose mouth is.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:14]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 10:7.

[3:17]  ¹⁰ sn Rom 3:15-17 is a quotation from Isa 59:7-8.

[3:18]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Ps 36:1.

[3:19]  ¹² tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”

[3:2]  ¹³ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ¹⁶ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).