Yesaya 43:25

43:25 I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake;

your sins I do not remember.

Yesaya 44:22

44:22 I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud,

the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. ¹ 

Come back to me, for I protect ²  you.”

Keluaran 34:6-7

34:6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: ³  “The Lord, the Lord, ⁴  the compassionate and gracious ⁵  God, slow to anger, ⁶  and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, ⁷  34:7 keeping loyal love for thousands, ⁸  forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression ⁹  of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

Bilangan 14:18-19

14:18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, ¹⁰  forgiving iniquity and transgression, ¹¹  but by no means clearing ¹²  the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’ ¹³  14:19 Please forgive ¹⁴  the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love, ¹⁵  just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.”

Mazmur 51:1

Psalm 51 ¹⁶ 

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ¹⁷ 

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of ¹⁸  your loyal love!

Because of ¹⁹  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ²⁰ 

Mazmur 130:7

130:7 O Israel, hope in the Lord,

for the Lord exhibits loyal love, ²¹ 

and is more than willing to deliver. ²² 

Yeremia 3:12-13

The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent

3:12 “Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. ²³  Tell them,

‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. ²⁴ 

For I am merciful,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not be angry with you forever.

3:13 However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ²⁵ 

and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God.

You must confess ²⁶  that you have given yourself to ²⁷  foreign gods under every green tree,

and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.

Lukas 7:47

7:47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which were many, are forgiven, thus she loved much; ²⁸  but the one who is forgiven little loves little.”

Roma 5:16-21

5:16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. ²⁹  For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, ³⁰  led to condemnation, but ³¹  the gracious gift from the many failures ³²  led to justification. 5:17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, ³³  death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

5:18 Consequently, ³⁴  just as condemnation ³⁵  for all people ³⁶  came ³⁷  through one transgression, ³⁸  so too through the one righteous act ³⁹  came righteousness leading to life ⁴⁰  for all people. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man ⁴¹  many ⁴²  were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man ⁴³  many ⁴⁴  will be made righteous. 5:20 Now the law came in ⁴⁵  so that the transgression ⁴⁶  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Efesus 1:6-8

1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace ⁴⁷  that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. ⁴⁸  1:7 In him ⁴⁹  we have redemption through his blood, ⁵⁰  the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 1:8 that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.

Efesus 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁵¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints [in Ephesus], ⁵²  the faithful ⁵³  in Christ Jesus.

Titus 1:15-16

1:15 All is pure to those who are pure. But to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 1:16 They profess to know God but with their deeds they deny him, since they are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

[44:22]  ¹ tn Heb “I blot out like a cloud your rebellious deeds, and like a cloud your sins.” “Rebellious deeds” and “sins” stand by metonymy for the guilt they produce. Both עָב (’av) and עָנָן (’anan) refer to the clouds in the sky. It is tempting for stylistic purposes to translate the second with “fog” or “mist” (cf. NAB, NRSV “cloud…mist”; NIV “cloud…morning mist”; NLT “morning mists…clouds”), but this distinction between the synonyms is unwarranted here. The point of the simile seems to be this: The Lord forgives their sins, causing them to vanish just as clouds disappear from the sky (see Job 7:9; 30:15).

[44:22]  ² tn Heb “redeem.” See the note at 41:14.

[34:6]  ³ tn Here is one of the clearest examples of what it means “to call on the name of the Lord,” as that clause has been translated traditionally (וַיִּקְרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָה, vayyiqra’ vÿshem yÿhvah). It seems more likely that it means “to make proclamation of Yahweh by name.” Yahweh came down and made a proclamation – and the next verses give the content of what he said. This cannot be prayer or praise; it is a proclamation of the nature or attributes of God (which is what his “name” means throughout the Bible). Attempts to make Moses the subject of the verb are awkward, for the verb is repeated in v. 6 with Yahweh clearly doing the proclaiming.

[34:6]  ⁴ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 439) suggests that these two names be written as a sentence: “Yahweh, He is Yahweh.” In this manner it reflects “I am that I am.” It is impossible to define his name in any other way than to make this affirmation and then show what it means.

[34:6]  ⁵ tn See Exod 33:19.

[34:6]  ⁶ sn This is literally “long of anger.” His anger prolongs itself, allowing for people to repent before punishment is inflicted.

[34:6]  ⁷ sn These two words (“loyal love” and “truth”) are often found together, occasionally in a hendiadys construction. If that is the interpretation here, then it means “faithful covenant love.” Even if they are left separate, they are dual elements of a single quality. The first word is God’s faithful covenant love; the second word is God’s reliability and faithfulness.

[34:7]  ⁸ tn That is, “for thousands of generations.”

[34:7]  ⁹ sn As in the ten commandments (20:5-6), this expression shows that the iniquity and its punishment will continue in the family if left unchecked. This does not go on as long as the outcomes for good (thousands versus third or fourth generations), and it is limited to those who hate God.

[14:18]  ¹⁰ tn The expression is רַב־חֶסֶד (rav khesed) means “much of loyal love,” or “faithful love.” Some have it “totally faithful,” but that omits the aspect of his love.

[14:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “rebellion.”

[14:18]  ¹² tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the verbal activity of the imperfect tense, which here serves as a habitual imperfect. Negated it states what God does not do; and the infinitive makes that certain.

[14:18]  ¹³ sn The Decalogue adds “to those who hate me.” The point of the line is that the effects of sin, if not the sinful traits themselves, are passed on to the next generation.

[14:19]  ¹⁴ tn The verb סְלַח־נָא (selakh-na’), the imperative form, means “forgive” (see Ps 130:4), “pardon,” “excuse.” The imperative is of course a prayer, a desire, and not a command.

[14:19]  ¹⁵ tn The construct unit is “the greatness of your loyal love.” This is the genitive of specification, the first word being the modifier.

[51:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The exiles could relate to David’s experience, for they, like him, and had been forced to confront their sin. They appropriated David’s ancient prayer and applied it to their own circumstances.

[51:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”

[51:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ²⁰ tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”

[130:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “for with the Lord [is] loyal love.”

[130:7]  ²² tn Heb “and abundantly with him [is] redemption.”

[3:12]  ²³ tn Heb “Go and proclaim these words to the north.” The translation assumes that the message is directed toward the exiles of northern Israel who have been scattered in the provinces of Assyria to the north.

[3:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I will not cause my face to fall on you.”

[3:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Only acknowledge your iniquity.”

[3:13]  ²⁶ tn The words “You must confess” are repeated to convey the connection. The Hebrew text has an introductory “that” in front of the second line and a coordinative “and” in front of the next two lines.

[3:13]  ²⁷ tc MT reads דְּרָכַיִךְ (dÿrakhayikh, “your ways”), but the BHS editors suggest דּוֹדַיִךְ (dodayikh, “your breasts”) as an example of orthographic confusion. While the proposal makes sense, it remains a conjectural emendation since it is not supported by any actual manuscripts or ancient versions.

[3:13]  tn Heb “scattered your ways with foreign [gods]” or “spread out your breasts to strangers.”

[7:47]  ²⁸ tn Grk “for she loved much.” The connection between this statement and the preceding probably involves an ellipsis, to the effect that the ὅτι clause gives the evidence of forgiveness, not the ground. For similar examples of an “evidentiary” ὅτι, cf. Luke 1:22; 6:21; 13:2. See discussion in D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:703-5. Further evidence that this is the case here is the final statement: “the one who is forgiven little loves little” means that the one who is forgiven little is thus not able to love much. The REB renders this verse: “her great love proves that her many sins have been forgiven; where little has been forgiven, little love is shown.”

[7:47]  sn She loved much. Jesus’ point is that the person who realizes how great a gift forgiveness is (because they have a deep sense of sin) has a great love for the one who forgives, that is, God. The woman’s acts of reverence to Jesus honored him as the one who brought God’s message of grace.

[5:16]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and not as through the one who sinned [is] the gift.”

[5:16]  ³⁰ tn The word “transgression” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.

[5:16]  ³¹ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[5:16]  ³² tn Or “falls, trespasses,” the same word used in vv. 15, 17, 18, 20.

[5:17]  ³³ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

[5:18]  ³⁴ tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[5:18]  ³⁵ tn Grk “[it is] unto condemnation for all people.”

[5:18]  ³⁶ tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[5:18]  ³⁷ tn There are no verbs in the Greek text of v. 18, forcing translators to supply phrases like “came through one transgression,” “resulted from one transgression,” etc.

[5:18]  ³⁸ sn One transgression refers to the sin of Adam in Gen 3:1-24.

[5:18]  ³⁹ sn The one righteous act refers to Jesus’ death on the cross.

[5:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “righteousness of life.”

[5:19]  ⁴¹ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

[5:19]  ⁴² tn Grk “the many.”

[5:19]  ⁴³ sn One man refers here to Jesus Christ.

[5:19]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “the many.”

[5:20]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “slipped in.”

[5:20]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “trespass.”

[1:6]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “to the praise of his glorious grace.” Many translations translate δόξης τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ (doxh" th" carito" autou, literally “of the glory of his grace”) with τῆς χάριτος as an attributed genitive (cf., e.g., NIV, NRSV, ESV). The translation above has retained a literal rendering in order to make clear the relationship of this phrase to the other two similar phrases in v. 12 and 14, which affect the way one divides the material in the passage.

[1:6]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “the beloved.” The term ἠγαπημένῳ (hgaphmenw) means “beloved,” but often bears connotations of “only beloved” in an exclusive sense. “His dearly loved Son” picks up this connotation.

[1:6]  sn God’s grace can be poured out on believers only because of what Christ has done for them. Hence, he bestows his grace on us because we are in his dearly loved Son.

[1:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “in whom” (the relative clause of v. 7 is subordinate to v. 6). The “him” refers to Christ.

[1:7]  ⁵⁰ sn In this context his blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, refers to the price paid for believers’ redemption, which is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross.

[1:1]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁵² tc The earliest and most important mss omit “in Ephesus” (Ì⁴⁶ א* B* 6 1739 [Mcion^T,E]), yet the opening line of this epistle makes little sense without the phrase (“to the saints who are and are faithful…”? or perhaps “to the saints who are also faithful,” though with this sense the οὖσιν [ousin] is redundant and the καί [kai] is treated somewhat unnaturally). What is interesting is Marcion’s canon list which speaks of the letter to the Laodiceans among Paul’s authentic epistles. This, coupled with some internal evidence that the writer did not know his audience personally (cf. 1:15; 3:2; absence of personal names throughout), suggests that Ephesians was an encyclical letter, intended for more than one audience. Does this mean that the shorter reading is to be preferred? Yes and no. A plausible scenario is as follows, assuming Pauline authorship (though this is strongly contested today; for arguments on behalf of Pauline authorship, see M. Barth, Ephesians [AB 34], 1:36-50; P. T. O’Brien, Ephesians, 4-47; and H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 2-61): Paul sent the letter from Rome, intending it first to go to Ephesus. At the same time, Colossians was dispatched. Going counterclockwise through Asia Minor, this letter would first come to Ephesus, the port of entry, then to Laodicea, then Colossae. Tychicus’ instructions may well have been for each church to “fill in the blank” on the address line. The church at Ephesus would have certainly made the most copies, being Paul’s home base for nearly three years. Hence, most of the surviving copies have “in Ephesus” in v. 1 (so א² A B² D F G Ψ 0278 33 1881 Ï latt sy co). But one might expect a hint of evidence that Laodicea also made a few copies: Both Marcion’s list and Col 4:16 may well imply this. What is to account for the early Alexandrian evidence, then? These mss were perhaps made from a very early copy, one reflecting the blank line before each church filled it in. Although it is of course only speculation (as is necessary in a historical investigation lacking some of the pieces to the puzzle), this scenario accounts for all of the data: (1) “in Ephesus” in most mss; (2) Laodicea in Marcion’s list and Col 4:16; (3) the lack of an addressee in the earliest witnesses; (4) why the earliest witnesses’ reading must be rejected as too hard; and (5) why the author seems not to know the readership. In sum, is “in Ephesus” original? Yes and no. Some address belongs there; ἐν ᾿Εφέσῳ (en Efesw) is the predominant address, but several other churches also received this circular letter as their own. For this reason the phrase has been placed in single brackets in the translation. NA²⁷ also lists the words in brackets, indicating doubt as to their authenticity.

[1:1]  map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[1:1]  ⁵³ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style [and even if this letter is not by Paul it follows the general style of Paul’s letters, with some modifications]) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated. See M. Barth, Ephesians (AB 34), 1:68 and ExSyn 282.