Mazmur 19:7

19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect

and preserves one’s life. ¹ 

The rules set down by the Lord ²  are reliable ³ 

and impart wisdom to the inexperienced. ⁴ 

Mazmur 51:10

51:10 Create for me a pure heart, O God! ⁵ 

Renew a resolute spirit within me! ⁶ 

Mazmur 51:12

51:12 Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!

Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey! ⁷ 

Mazmur 85:4-7

85:4 Restore us, O God our deliverer!

Do not be displeased with us! ⁸ 

85:5 Will you stay mad at us forever?

Will you remain angry throughout future generations? ⁹ 

85:6 Will you not revive us once more?

Then your people will rejoice in you!

85:7 O Lord, show us your loyal love!

Bestow on us your deliverance!

Mazmur 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ¹⁰ 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

Ayub 33:30

33:30 to turn back his life from the place of corruption,

that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

Yeremia 32:37-42

32:37 ‘I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled ¹¹  them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety. 32:38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. ¹²  32:39 I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for ¹³  their own good and the good of the children who descend from them. 32:40 I will make a lasting covenant ¹⁴  with them that I will never stop doing good to them. ¹⁵  I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that ¹⁶  they will never again turn ¹⁷  away from me. 32:41 I will take delight in doing good to them. I will faithfully and wholeheartedly plant them ¹⁸  firmly in the land.’

32:42 “For I, the Lord, say: ¹⁹  ‘I will surely bring on these people all the good fortune that I am hereby promising them. I will be just as sure to do that as I have been in bringing all this great disaster on them. ²⁰ 

Hosea 14:4-9

Divine Promise to Relent from Judgment and to Restore Blessings

14:4 “I will heal their waywardness ²¹ 

and love them freely, ²² 

for my anger will turn ²³  away from them.

14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel;

he will blossom like a lily,

he will send down his roots like a cedar of ²⁴  Lebanon.

14:6 His young shoots will grow;

his splendor will be like an olive tree,

his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

14:7 People will reside again ²⁵  in his shade;

they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. ²⁶ 

They will blossom like a vine,

and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

14:8 O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do ²⁷  with idols anymore!

I will answer him and care for him.

I am like ²⁸  a luxuriant cypress tree; ²⁹ 

your fruitfulness comes from me! ³⁰ 

Concluding Exhortation

14:9 Who is wise?

Let him discern ³¹  these things!

Who is discerning?

Let him understand them!

For the ways of the Lord are right;

the godly walk in them,

but in them the rebellious stumble.

Mikha 7:8-9

Jerusalem Will Be Vindicated

7:8 My enemies, ³²  do not gloat ³³  over me!

Though I have fallen, I will get up.

Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. ³⁴ 

7:9 I must endure ³⁵  the Lord’s anger,

for I have sinned against him.

But then ³⁶  he will defend my cause, ³⁷ 

and accomplish justice on my behalf.

He will lead me out into the light;

I will experience firsthand ³⁸  his deliverance. ³⁹ 

Mikha 7:18-19

7:18 There is no other God like you! ⁴⁰ 

You ⁴¹  forgive sin

and pardon ⁴²  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ⁴³ 

You do not remain angry forever, ⁴⁴ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

7:19 You will once again ⁴⁵  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ⁴⁶  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ⁴⁷  sins into the depths of the sea. ⁴⁸ 

Lukas 22:31-32

22:31 “Simon, ⁴⁹  Simon, pay attention! ⁵⁰  Satan has demanded to have you all, ⁵¹  to sift you like wheat, ⁵²  22:32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, ⁵³  that your faith may not fail. ⁵⁴  When ⁵⁵  you have turned back, ⁵⁶  strengthen ⁵⁷  your brothers.”

Wahyu 3:19

3:19 All those ⁵⁸  I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!

[19:7]  ¹ tn Heb “[it] restores life.” Elsewhere the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) when used with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”) as object, means to “rescue or preserve one’s life” (Job 33:30; Ps 35:17) or to “revive one’s strength” (emotionally or physically; cf. Ruth 4:15; Lam 1:11, 16, 19). Here the point seems to be that the law preserves the life of the one who studies it by making known God’s will. Those who know God’s will know how to please him and can avoid offending him. See v. 11a.

[19:7]  ² tn Traditionally, “the testimony of the Lord.” The noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to the demands of God’s covenant law.

[19:7]  ³ tn God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.

[19:7]  ⁴ tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly.

[51:10]  ⁵ sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s motives and moral character.

[51:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “and a reliable spirit renew in my inner being.”

[51:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [with] a willing spirit sustain me.” The psalmist asks that God make him the kind of person who willingly obeys the divine commandments. The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[85:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “break your displeasure with us.” Some prefer to emend הָפֵר (hafer, “break”) to הָסֵר (haser, “turn aside”).

[85:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “Will your anger stretch to a generation and a generation?”

[119:176]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).

[32:37]  ¹¹ tn The verb here should be interpreted as a future perfect; though some of the people have already been exiled (in 605 and 597 b.c.), some have not yet been exiled at the time this prophesy is given (see study note on v. 1 for the date). However, contemporary English style does not regularly use the future perfect, choosing instead to use the simple future or the simple perfect as the present translation has done here.

[32:38]  ¹² sn The covenant formula setting forth the basic relationship is reinstituted along with a new covenant (v. 40). See also 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and the study note on 30:22.

[32:39]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will give to them one heart and one way to [= in order that they may] fear me all the days for good to them.” The phrase “one heart” refers both to unanimity of will and accord (cf. 1 Chr 12:38 [12:39 HT]; 2 Chr 30:12) and to singleness of purpose or intent (cf. Ezek 11:19 and see BDB 525 s.v. ֵלב 4 where reference is made to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will”). The phrase “one way” refers to one way of life or conduct (cf. BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a where reference is made to moral action and character), a way of life that is further qualified by the goal of showing “fear, reverence, respect” for the Lord. The Hebrew sentence has been broken up to avoid a long complex sentence in English which is contrary to contemporary English style. However, an attempt has been made to preserve all the connections of the original.

[32:39]  sn Other passages also speak about the “single-minded purpose” (Heb “one heart”) and “living in a way that shows respect for me.” Deut 30:6-8 speaks of a circumcised heart that will love him, obey him, and keep his commands. Ezek 11:20-21 speaks of the removal of a stony heart and the giving of a single-minded, “fleshy” heart and a new spirit that will follow his decrees and keep his laws. Ezek 36:26-27 speaks of the removal of a stony heart and the giving of a new, “fleshy” heart and a new spirit and an infusion of God’s own spirit so that they will be able to follow his decrees and keep his laws. Jer 24:7 speaks of the giving of a (new) heart so that they might “know” him. And Jer 31:33 speaks of God writing his law on their hearts. All this shows that there is a new motivation and a new enablement for fulfilling the old stipulations, especially that of whole-hearted devotion to him (cf. Deut 6:4-6).

[32:40]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “an everlasting covenant.” For the rationale for the rendering “agreement” and the nature of the biblical covenants see the study note on 11:2.

[32:40]  sn For other references to the lasting (or everlasting) nature of the new covenant see Isa 55:3; 61:8; Jer 50:5; Ezek 16:60; 37:26. The new covenant appears to be similar to the ancient Near Eastern covenants of grants whereby a great king gave a loyal vassal a grant of land or dynastic dominion over a realm in perpetuity in recognition of past loyalty. The right to such was perpetual as long as the great king exercised dominion, but the actual enjoyment could be forfeited by individual members of the vassal’s dynasty. The best example of such an covenant in the OT is the Davidic covenant where the dynasty was given perpetual right to rule over Israel. Individual kings might be disciplined and their right to enjoy dominion taken away, but the dynasty still maintained the right to rule (see 2 Sam 23:5; Ps 89:26-37 and note especially 1 Kgs 11:23-39). The new covenant appears to be the renewal of God’s promise to Abraham to always be the God of his descendants and for his descendants to be his special people (Gen 17:7) something they appear to have forfeited by their disobedience (see Hos 1:9). However, under the new covenant he promises to never stop doing them good and grants them a new heart, a new spirit, the infusion of his own spirit, and the love and reverence necessary to keep from turning away from him. The new covenant is not based on their past loyalty but on his gracious forgiveness and his gifts.

[32:40]  ¹⁵ tn Or “stop being gracious to them” or “stop blessing them with good”; Heb “turn back from them to do good to them.”

[32:40]  ¹⁶ tn Or “I will make them want to fear and respect me so much that”; Heb “I will put the fear of me in their hearts.” However, as has been noted several times, “heart” in Hebrew is more the center of the volition (and intellect) than the center of emotions as it is in English. Both translations are intended to reflect the difference in psychology.

[32:40]  ¹⁷ tn The words “never again” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied not only by this translation but by a number of others.

[32:41]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “will plant them in the land with faithfulness with all my heart and with all my soul.” The latter expressions are, of course, anthropomorphisms (see Deut 6:5).

[32:42]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “For thus says the Lord.” See the translator’s notes on 32:27, 36.

[32:42]  ²⁰ tn Heb “As I have brought all this great disaster on these people so I will bring upon them all the good fortune which I am promising them.” The translation has broken down the longer Hebrew sentence to better conform to English style.

[32:42]  sn See the same guarantee in Jer 31:27.

[14:4]  ²¹ sn The noun מְשׁוּבָתָה (mÿshuvatah, “waywardness”; cf. KJV “backsliding”) is from the same root as שׁוּבָה (shuvah, “return!”) in 14:1[2]. This repetition of שׁוּב (shuv) creates a wordplay which emphasizes reciprocity: if Israel will return (שׁוּבָה, shuvah) to the Lord, he will cure her of the tendency to turn away (מְשׁוּבָתָה) from him.

[14:4]  ²² tn The noun נְדָבָה (nÿdavah, “voluntariness; free-will offering”) is an adverbial accusative of manner: “freely, voluntarily” (BDB 621 s.v. נְדָבָה 1). Cf. CEV “without limit”; TEV “with all my heart”; NLT “my love will know no bounds.”

[14:4]  ²³ sn The verb שָׁב, shav, “will turn” (Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular from שׁוּב, shuv, “to turn”) continues the wordplay on שׁוּב in 14:1-4[2-5]. If Israel will “return” (שׁוּב) to the Lord, he will heal Israel’s tendency to “turn away” (מְשׁוּבָתָה, mÿshuvatah) and “turn” (שָׁב) from his anger.

[14:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “like Lebanon” (so KJV; also in the following verse). The phrase “a cedar of” does not appear in the Hebrew text; it is supplied in translation for clarity. Cf. TEV “the trees of Lebanon”; NRSV “the forests of Lebanon.”

[14:7]  ²⁵ tn Hosea uses the similar-sounding terms יָשֻׁבוּ יֹשְׁבֵי (yashuvu yoshve, “the dwellers will return”) to create a wordplay between the roots שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”) and יָשַׁב (yashav, “to dwell; to reside”).

[14:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they will cause the grain to live” or “they will revive the grain.” Some English versions treat this as a comparison: “they shall revive as the corn” (KJV); “will flourish like the grain” (NIV).

[14:8]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew expression מַה־לִּי עוֹד (mah-li ’od) is a formula of repudiation/emphatic denial that God has anything in common with idols: “I want to have nothing to do with […] any more!” Cf., e.g., Judg 11:12; 2 Sam 16:10; 19:23; 1 Kgs 17:18; 2 Kgs 3:13; 2 Chr 35:21; Jer 2:18; Ps 50:16; BDB 553 s.v. מָה 1.d.(c).

[14:8]  ²⁸ tn The term “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity, as in the majority of English versions (including KJV).

[14:8]  ²⁹ tn Cf. KJV “a green fir tree”; NIV, NCV “a green pine tree”; NRSV “an evergreen cypress.”

[14:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “your fruit is found in me”; NRSV “your faithfulness comes from me.”

[14:9]  ³¹ tn The shortened form of the prefix-conjugation verb וְיָבֵן (vÿyaven) indicates that it is a jussive rather than an imperfect. When a jussive comes from a superior to an inferior, it may connote exhortation and instruction or advice and counsel. For the functions of the jussive, see IBHS 568-70 §34.3.

[7:8]  ³² tn The singular form is understood as collective.

[7:8]  ³³ tn Or “rejoice” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “don’t laugh at me.”

[7:8]  ³⁴ sn Darkness represents judgment; light (also in v. 9) symbolizes deliverance. The Lord is the source of the latter.

[7:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “lift, bear.”

[7:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “until.”

[7:9]  ³⁷ tn Or “plead my case” (NASB and NIV both similar); NRSV “until he takes my side.”

[7:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “see.”

[7:9]  ³⁹ tn Or “justice, vindication.”

[7:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ⁴¹ 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]  ⁴² tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ⁴³ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[7:19]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ 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]  ⁴⁷ 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]  ⁴⁸ sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).

[22:31]  ⁴⁹ tc The majority of mss (א A D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï as well as several versional witnesses) begin this verse with an introductory comment, “and the Lord said,” indicating a change in the subject of discussion. But this is apparently a reading motivated by the need for clarity. Some of the best witnesses, along with a few others (Ì⁷⁵ B L T 1241 2542^c sy^s co), do not contain these words. The abrupt shift is the more difficult reading and thus more likely to be original.

[22:31]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “behold” (for “pay attention” see L&N 91.13).

[22:31]  ⁵¹ sn This pronoun is plural in the Greek text, so it refers to all the disciples of which Peter is the representative.

[22:31]  ⁵² sn Satan has demanded permission to put them to the test. The idiom “sift (someone) like wheat” is similar to the English idiom “to pick (someone) apart.” The pronoun you is implied.

[22:32]  ⁵³ sn Here and in the remainder of the verse the second person pronouns are singular, so only Peter is in view. The name “Simon” has been supplied as a form of direct address to make this clear in English.

[22:32]  ⁵⁴ sn That your faith may not fail. Note that Peter’s denials are pictured here as lapses, not as a total absence of faith.

[22:32]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:32]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “turned around.”

[22:32]  ⁵⁷ sn Strengthen your brothers refers to Peter helping to strengthen their faith. Jesus quite graciously restores Peter “in advance,” even with the knowledge of his approaching denials.

[3:19]  ⁵⁸ tn The Greek pronoun ὅσος (Josos) means “as many as” and can be translated “All those” or “Everyone.”