Nehemia 9:30-31

9:30 You prolonged your kindness ¹  with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, ²  so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ³  9:31 However, due to your abundant mercy you did not do away with them altogether; you did not abandon them. For you are a merciful and compassionate God.

Mazmur 78:38

78:38 Yet he is compassionate.

He forgives sin and does not destroy.

He often holds back his anger,

and does not stir up his fury. ⁴ 

Mazmur 103:8-10

103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;

he is patient ⁵  and demonstrates great loyal love. ⁶ 

103:9 He does not always accuse,

and does not stay angry. ⁷ 

103:10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve; ⁸ 

he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve. ⁹ 

Amsal 19:11

19:11 A person’s wisdom ¹⁰  makes him slow to anger, ¹¹ 

and it is his glory ¹²  to overlook ¹³  an offense.

[9:30]  ¹ tn The Hebrew expression here is elliptical. The words “your kindness” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:30]  ² tn Heb “did not give ear to.”

[9:30]  ³ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[78:38]  ⁴ tn One could translate v. 38 in the past tense (“he was compassionate…forgave sin and did not destroy…held back his anger, and did not stir up his fury”), but the imperfect verbal forms are probably best understood as generalizing. Verse 38 steps back briefly from the narrational summary of Israel’s history and lays the theological basis for v. 39, which focuses on God’s mercy toward sinful Israel.

[103:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:9]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verb נָטַר (natar) is usually taken to mean “to keep; to guard,” with “anger” being understood by ellipsis. The idiom “to guard anger” is then understood to mean “to remain angry” (see Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5, 12; Nah 1:2). However, it is possible that this is a homonymic root meaning “to be angry” (see HALOT 695 s.v. נטר).

[103:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”

[103:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”

[19:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “prudence,” the successful use of wisdom in discretion. Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “good sense.”

[19:11]  ¹¹ tn The Hiphil perfect of אָרַךְ (’arakh, “to be long”) means “to make long; to prolong.” Patience and slowness to anger lead to forgiveness of sins.

[19:11]  ¹² sn “Glory” signifies the idea of beauty or adornment. D. Kidner explains that such patience “brings out here the glowing colours of a virtue which in practice may look drably unassertive” (Proverbs [TOTC], 133).

[19:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “to pass over” (so KJV, ASV); NCV, TEV “ignore.” The infinitive construct עֲבֹר (’avor) functions as the formal subject of the sentence. This clause provides the cause, whereas the former gave the effect – if one can pass over an offense there will be no anger.

[19:11]  sn W. McKane says, “The virtue which is indicated here is more than a forgiving temper; it includes also the ability to shrug off insults and the absence of a brooding hypersensitivity…. It contains elements of toughness and self-discipline; it is the capacity to stifle a hot, emotional rejoinder and to sleep on an insult” (Proverbs [OTL], 530).