Ayub 7:21

7:21 And why do you not pardon my transgression,

and take away my iniquity?

For now I will lie down in the dust, ¹ 

and you will seek me diligently, ² 

but I will be gone.”

Mazmur 32:1-2

Psalm 32 ³ 

By David; a well-written song. ⁴ 

32:1 How blessed ⁵  is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven, ⁶ 

whose sin is pardoned! ⁷ 

32:2 How blessed is the one ⁸  whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish, ⁹ 

in whose spirit there is no deceit. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 130:3-4

130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of ¹¹  sins,

O Lord, who could stand before you? ¹² 

130:4 But ¹³  you are willing to forgive, ¹⁴ 

so that you might ¹⁵  be honored. ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 6:5-7

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ¹⁷  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ¹⁸  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ¹⁹  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ²⁰  6:6 But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. 6:7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” ²¹ 

Yesaya 38:17

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ²² 

You delivered me ²³  from the pit of oblivion. ²⁴ 

For you removed all my sins from your sight. ²⁵ 

Yesaya 43:24

43:24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ²⁶ 

you did not present to me ²⁷  the fat of your sacrifices.

Yet you burdened me with your sins;

you made me weary with your evil deeds. ²⁸ 

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. ²⁹ 

Come back to me, for I protect ³⁰  you.”

Ratapan 3:32

3:32 Though he causes us ³¹  grief, he then has compassion on us ³² 

according to the abundance of his loyal kindness. ³³ 

Mikha 7:18-19

7:18 There is no other God like you! ³⁴ 

You ³⁵  forgive sin

and pardon ³⁶  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ³⁷ 

You do not remain angry forever, ³⁸ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

7:19 You will once again ³⁹  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ⁴⁰  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ⁴¹  sins into the depths of the sea. ⁴² 

Zakharia 3:4

3:4 The angel ⁴³  spoke up to those standing all around, “Remove his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you ⁴⁴  in fine clothing.”

Ibrani 9:26

9:26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice.

Ibrani 9:1

The Arrangement and Ritual of the Earthly Sanctuary

9:1 Now the first covenant, ⁴⁵  in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary.

Yohanes 1:7

1:7 He came as a witness ⁴⁶  to testify ⁴⁷  about the light, so that everyone ⁴⁸  might believe through him.

Yohanes 1:9

1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ⁴⁹  was coming into the world. ⁵⁰ 

Yohanes 2:1

Turning Water into Wine

2:1 Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana ⁵¹  in Galilee. ⁵²  Jesus’ mother ⁵³  was there,

Wahyu 1:5

1:5 and from Jesus Christ – the faithful ⁵⁴  witness, ⁵⁵  the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free ⁵⁶  from our sins at the cost of ⁵⁷  his own blood

[7:21]  ¹ tn The LXX has, “for now I will depart to the earth.”

[7:21]  ² tn The verb שָׁחַר (shakhar) in the Piel has been translated “to seek early in the morning” because of the possible link with the word “dawn.” But the verb more properly means “to seek diligently” (by implication).

[32:1]  ³ sn Psalm 32. The psalmist recalls the agony he experienced prior to confessing his sins and affirms that true happiness comes when one’s sins are forgiven. He then urges others not to be stubborn, but to turn to God while forgiveness is available, for God extends his mercy to the repentant, while the wicked experience nothing but sorrow.

[32:1]  ⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[32:1]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15). Here it refers to the relief that one experiences when one’s sins are forgiven.

[32:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[32:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “covered over.”

[32:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “man.” The word choice reflects the perspective of the psalmist, who is male. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, the gender and age specific “man” has been translated with the more neutral “one.”

[32:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord does not impute wrongdoing.”

[32:2]  ¹⁰ sn In whose spirit there is no deceit. The point is not that the individual is sinless and pure. In this context, which focuses on confession and forgiveness of sin, the psalmist refers to one who refuses to deny or hide his sin, but instead honestly confesses it to God.

[130:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “observe.”

[130:3]  ¹² tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”

[130:4]  ¹³ tn Or “surely.”

[130:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for with you [there is] forgiveness.”

[130:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “consequently you are.”

[130:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “feared.”

[6:5]  ¹⁷ tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

[6:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

[6:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

[6:5]  ²⁰ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

[6:7]  ²¹ tn Or “ritually cleansed,” or “atoned for” (NIV).

[38:17]  ²² tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”

[38:17]  ²³ tc The Hebrew text reads, “you loved my soul,” but this does not fit syntactically with the following prepositional phrase. חָשַׁקְתָּ (khashaqta, “you loved”), may reflect an aural error; most emend the form to חָשַׂכְת, (khasakht, “you held back”).

[38:17]  ²⁴ tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”

[38:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”

[43:24]  ²⁶ tn That is, “calamus” (so NIV); NCV, TEV, NLT “incense”; CEV “spices.”

[43:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “you did not saturate me”; NASB “Neither have you filled Me.”

[43:24]  ²⁸ sn In vv. 22-24 the Lord appears to be condemning his people for failure to bring the proper sacrifices. However, this is problematic. If this refers to the nation’s behavior while in exile, such cultic service was impossible and could hardly be expected by the Lord. If this refers to the nation’s conduct before the exile, it contradicts other passages that depict Israel as bringing excessive sacrifices (see, e.g., Isa 1:11-14; Jer 6:20; Amos 4:4-5, 5:21-23). Rather than being a condemnation of Israel’s failure to bring sacrifices, these verses are better taken as a highly rhetorical comment on the worthlessness of Israel’s religious ritual. They may have brought sacrifices, but not to the Lord, for he did not accept them or even want them. See C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 127, and R. Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCBC), 91.

[44:22]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Heb “redeem.” See the note at 41:14.

[3:32]  ³¹ tn Heb “Although he has caused grief.” The word “us” is added in the translation.

[3:32]  ³² tn Heb “He will have compassion.” The words “on us” are added in the translation.

[3:32]  ³³ tc The Kethib preserves the singular form חַסְדּוֹ (khasdo, “his kindness”), also reflected in the LXX and Aramaic Targum. The Qere reads the plural form חֲסָדָיו (khasadayv, “his kindnesses”) which is reflected in the Latin Vulgate.

[7:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ³⁶ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ³⁷ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[7:19]  ³⁹ tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the Lord will again show mercy.

[7:19]  ⁴⁰ tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the Lord subdues.

[7:19]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.

[7:19]  ⁴² sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).

[3:4]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the angel, cf. v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:4]  ⁴⁴ tn The occurrence of the infinitive absolute here for an expected imperfect 1st person common singular (or even imperative 2nd person masculine plural or preterite 3rd person masculine plural) is well-attested elsewhere. Most English translations render this as 1st person singular (“and I will clothe”), but cf. NAB “Take off…and clothe him.”

[9:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “the first” (referring to the covenant described in Heb 8:7, 13). In the translation the referent (covenant) has been specified for clarity.

[1:7]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “came for a testimony.”

[1:7]  sn Witness is also one of the major themes of John’s Gospel. The Greek verb μαρτυρέω (marturew) occurs 33 times (compare to once in Matthew, once in Luke, 0 in Mark) and the noun μαρτυρία (marturia) 14 times (0 in Matthew, once in Luke, 3 times in Mark).

[1:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “to bear witness.”

[1:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “all.”

[1:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “He was the true light, who gives light to everyone who comes into the world.” The participle ἐρχόμενον (ercomenon) may be either (1) neuter nominative, agreeing with τὸ φῶς (to fw"), or (2) masculine accusative, agreeing with ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon). Option (1) results in a periphrastic imperfect with ἦν (hn), ἦν τὸ φῶς… ἐρχόμενον, referring to the incarnation. Option (2) would have the participle modifying ἄνθρωπον and referring to the true light as enlightening “every man who comes into the world.” Option (2) has some rabbinic parallels: The phrase “all who come into the world” is a fairly common expression for “every man” (cf. Leviticus Rabbah 31.6). But (1) must be preferred here, because: (a) In the next verse the light is in the world; it is logical for v. 9 to speak of its entering the world; (b) in other passages Jesus is described as “coming into the world” (6:14, 9:39, 11:27, 16:28) and in 12:46 Jesus says: ἐγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα (egw fw" ei" ton kosmon elhluqa); (c) use of a periphrastic participle with the imperfect tense is typical Johannine style: 1:28, 2:6, 3:23, 10:40, 11:1, 13:23, 18:18 and 25. In every one of these except 13:23 the finite verb is first and separated by one or more intervening words from the participle.

[1:9]  sn In v. 9 the world (κόσμος, kosmos) is mentioned for the first time. This is another important theme word for John. Generally, the world as a Johannine concept does not refer to the totality of creation (the universe), although there are exceptions at 11:9. 17:5, 24, 21:25, but to the world of human beings and human affairs. Even in 1:10 the world created through the Logos is a world capable of knowing (or reprehensibly not knowing) its Creator. Sometimes the world is further qualified as this world (ὁ κόσμος οὗτος, Jo kosmos Joutos) as in 8:23, 9:39, 11:9, 12:25, 31; 13:1, 16:11, 18:36. This is not merely equivalent to the rabbinic phrase “this present age” (ὁ αἰών οὗτος, Jo aiwn Joutos) and contrasted with “the world to come.” For John it is also contrasted to a world other than this one, already existing; this is the lower world, corresponding to which there is a world above (see especially 8:23, 18:36). Jesus appears not only as the Messiah by means of whom an eschatological future is anticipated (as in the synoptic gospels) but also as an envoy from the heavenly world to this world.

[2:1]  ⁵¹ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:1]  ⁵² sn Cana in Galilee was not a very well-known place. It is mentioned only here, in 4:46, and 21:2, and nowhere else in the NT. Josephus (Life 16 [86]) says he once had his quarters there. The probable location is present day Khirbet Cana, 8 mi (14 km) north of Nazareth, or Khirbet Kenna, 4 mi (7 km) northeast of Nazareth.

[2:1]  ⁵³ tn Grk “in Galilee, and Jesus’ mother.”

[1:5]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “Jesus Christ – the faithful one, the witness…” Some take ὁ πιστός (Jo pistos) as a second substantive in relation to ὁ μάρτυς (Jo martus). In the present translation, however, ὁ πιστός was taken as an adjective in attributive position to ὁ μάρτυς. The idea of martyrdom and faithfulness are intimately connected. See BDAG 820 s.v. πιστός 1.a.α: “ὁ μάρτυς μου ὁ πιστός μου Rv 2:13 (μάρτυς 3); in this ‘book of martyrs’ Christ is ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς (καὶ ὁ ἀληθινός) 1:5; 3:14; cp. 19:11 (the combination of ἀληθινός and πιστός in the last two passages is like 3 Macc 2:11). Cp. Rv 17:14.”

[1:5]  ⁵⁵ sn The Greek term translated witness can mean both “witness” and “martyr.”

[1:5]  ⁵⁶ tc The reading “set free” (λύσαντι, lusanti) has better ms support (̹⁸ א A C 1611 2050 2329 2351 Ï^A sy) than its rival, λούσαντι (lousanti, “washed”; found in P 1006 1841 1854 2053 2062 Ï^K lat bo). Internally, it seems that the reading “washed” could have arisen in at least one of three ways: (1) as an error of hearing (both “released” and “washed” are pronounced similarly in Greek); (2) an error of sight (both “released” and “washed” look very similar – a difference of only one letter – which could have resulted in a simple error during the copying of a ms); (3) through scribal inability to appreciate that the Hebrew preposition ב can be used with a noun to indicate the price paid for something. Since the author of Revelation is influenced significantly by a Semitic form of Greek (e.g., 13:10), and since the Hebrew preposition “in” (ב) can indicate the price paid for something, and is often translated with the preposition “in” (ἐν, en) in the LXX, the author may have tried to communicate by the use of ἐν the idea of a price paid for something. That is, John was trying to say that Christ delivered us at the price of his own blood. This whole process, however, may have been lost on a later scribe, who being unfamiliar with Hebrew, found the expression “delivered in his blood” too difficult, and noticing the obvious similarities between λύσαντι and λούσαντι, assumed an error and then proceeded to change the text to “washed in his blood” – a thought more tolerable in his mind. Both readings, of course, are true to scripture; the current question is what the author wrote in this verse.

[1:5]  tn Or “and released us” (L&N 37.127).

[1:5]  ⁵⁷ tn The style here is somewhat Semitic, with the use of the ἐν (en) + the dative to mean “at the price of.” The addition of “own” in the English is stylistic and is an attempt to bring out the personal nature of the statement and the sacrificial aspect of Jesus’ death – a frequent refrain in the Apocalypse.