Imamat 16:21

16:21 Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins, ¹  and thus he is to put them ²  on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man standing ready. ³ 

Imamat 26:40

26:40 However, when ⁴  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, ⁵  by which they also walked ⁶  in hostility against me ⁷ 

Bilangan 5:7

5:7 then he must confess ⁸  his sin that he has committed and must make full reparation, ⁹  add one fifth to it, and give it to whomever he wronged. ¹⁰ 

Yosua 7:19

7:19 So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, honor ¹¹  the Lord God of Israel and give him praise! Tell me what you did; don’t hide anything from me!”

Ezra 10:11-12

10:11 Now give praise to the Lord God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the local residents ¹²  and from these foreign wives.”

10:12 All the assembly replied in a loud voice: “We will do just as you have said! ¹³ 

Ayub 33:27

33:27 That person sings ¹⁴  to others, ¹⁵  saying:

‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,

but I was not punished according to what I deserved. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 32:5

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ¹⁷  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ¹⁸  (Selah)

Amsal 28:13

28:13 The one who covers ¹⁹  his transgressions will not prosper, ²⁰ 

but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy. ²¹ 

Yeremia 3:13

3:13 However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ²² 

and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God.

You must confess ²³  that you have given yourself to ²⁴  foreign gods under every green tree,

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

Daniel 9:4

9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing in this way:

“O Lord, ²⁵  great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant ²⁶  with those who love him and keep his commandments,

Roma 10:10

10:10 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness ²⁷  and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. ²⁸ 

Roma 10:1

10:1 Brothers and sisters, ²⁹  my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites ³⁰  is for their salvation.

Yohanes 1:8-10

1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify ³¹  about the light. 1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ³²  was coming into the world. ³³  1:10 He was in the world, and the world was created ³⁴  by him, but ³⁵  the world did not recognize ³⁶  him.

[16:21]  ¹ tn Heb “transgressions to all their sins.”

[16:21]  ² tn Heb “and he shall give them.”

[16:21]  ³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term עִתִּי (’itti) is uncertain. It is apparently related to עֵת (’et, “time”), and could perhaps mean either that he has been properly “appointed” (i.e., designated) for the task (e.g., NIV and NRSV) or “ready” (e.g., NASB and NEB).

[26:40]  ⁴ tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

[26:40]  ⁵ tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

[26:40]  ⁶ tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

[26:40]  ⁷ tn Heb “with me.”

[5:7]  ⁸ tn The verb is the Hitpael perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive from the verb יָדָה (yadah), which in this stem means “acknowledge, confess sin,” but in the Hiphil (primarily) it means “praise, give thanks.” In both cases one is acknowledging something, either the sin, or the person and work of the Lord. Here the verb comes in the apodosis: “when…then he must confess.”

[5:7]  ⁹ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of שׁוּב (shuv, “return”). Here it has the sense of “repay” with the word “reparation” (traditionally rendered “guilt offering,” but now is understood to refer to what was defrauded). The Levitical rulings called for the guilty to restore what was taken, if it could be made right, and pay a fifth more as a surcharge.

[5:7]  ¹⁰ tn This is now the third use of אָשָׁם (’asham); the first referred to “guilt,” the second to “reparation,” and now “wronged.” The idea of “guilt” lies behind the second two uses as well as the first. In the second “he must repay his guilt” (meaning what he is guilty of); and here it can also mean “the one against whom he is guilty of sinning.”

[7:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “give glory to.”

[10:11]  ¹² tn Heb “the peoples of the land.”

[10:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “thus according to your word [singular = Qere] concerning us, to do.”

[33:27]  ¹⁴ tc The verb יָשֹׁר (yashor) is unusual. The typical view is to change it to יָשִׁיר (yashir, “he sings”), but that may seem out of harmony with a confession. Dhorme suggests a root שׁוּר (shur, “to repeat”), but this is a doubtful root. J. Reider reads it יָשֵׁיר (yasher) and links it to an Arabic word “confesses” (ZAW 24 [1953]: 275).

[33:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to men.”

[33:27]  ¹⁶ tn The verb שָׁוָה (shavah) has the impersonal meaning here, “it has not been requited to me.” The meaning is that the sinner has not been treated in accordance with his deeds: “I was not punished according to what I deserved.”

[32:5]  ¹⁷ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.

[28:13]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew participles provide the subject matter in this contrast. On the one hand is the person who covers over (מְכַסֶּה, mÿkhasseh) his sins. This means refusing to acknowledge them in confession, and perhaps rationalizing them away. On the other hand there is the one who both “confesses” (מוֹדֶה, modeh) and “forsakes” (עֹזֵב, ’ozev) the sin. To “confess” sins means to acknowledge them, to say the same thing about them that God does.

[28:13]  ²⁰ sn The verse contrasts the consequences of each. The person who refuses to confess will not prosper. This is an understatement (a figure of speech known as tapeinosis); the opposite is the truth, that eventually such a person will be undone and ruined. On the other hand, the penitent will find mercy. This expression is a metonymy of cause for the effect – although “mercy” is mentioned, what mercy provides is intended, i.e., forgiveness. In other passages the verb “conceal” is used of God’s forgiveness – he covers over the iniquity (Ps 32:1). Whoever acknowledges sin, God will cover it; whoever covers it, God will lay it open.

[28:13]  ²¹ sn This verse is unique in the book of Proverbs; it captures the theology of forgiveness (e.g., Pss 32 and 51). Every part of the passage is essential to the point: Confession of sins as opposed to concealing them, coupled with a turning away from them, results in mercy.

[3:13]  ²² tn Heb “Only acknowledge your iniquity.”

[3:13]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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.”

[9:4]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 7, 9, 15, 16, and 19 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “who keeps the covenant and the loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys.

[10:10]  ²⁷ tn Grk “believes to righteousness.”

[10:10]  ²⁸ tn Grk “confesses to salvation.”

[10:1]  ²⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[10:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:8]  ³¹ tn Or “to bear witness.”

[1:9]  ³² tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ³³ 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.

[1:10]  ³⁴ tn Or “was made”; Grk “came into existence.”

[1:10]  ³⁵ tn Grk “and,” but in context this is an adversative use of καί (kai) and is thus translated “but.”

[1:10]  ³⁶ tn Or “know.”