2 Samuel 12:13

12:13 Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven ¹  your sin. You are not going to die.

2 Samuel 12:1

Nathan the Prophet Confronts David

12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan ²  to David. When he came to David, ³  Nathan ⁴  said, ⁵  “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

2 Samuel 21:8

21:8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had born to Saul, and the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab ⁶  whom she had born to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.

2 Samuel 21:2

21:2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke with them. (Now the Gibeonites were not descendants of Israel; they were a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had made a promise to ⁷  them, but Saul tried to kill them because of his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)

2 Samuel 1:26

1:26 I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan!

You were very dear to me.

Your love was more special to me than the love of women.

Ayub 33:27-28

33:27 That person sings ⁸  to others, ⁹  saying:

‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,

but I was not punished according to what I deserved. ¹⁰ 

33:28 He redeemed my life ¹¹ 

from going down to the place of corruption,

and my life sees the light!’

Mazmur 32:5

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ¹²  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ¹³  (Selah)

Amsal 28:13

28:13 The one who covers ¹⁴  his transgressions will not prosper, ¹⁵ 

but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy. ¹⁶ 

Mikha 7:8-9

Jerusalem Will Be Vindicated

7:8 My enemies, ¹⁷  do not gloat ¹⁸  over me!

Though I have fallen, I will get up.

Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. ¹⁹ 

7:9 I must endure ²⁰  the Lord’s anger,

for I have sinned against him.

But then ²¹  he will defend my cause, ²² 

and accomplish justice on my behalf.

He will lead me out into the light;

I will experience firsthand ²³  his deliverance. ²⁴ 

Mikha 7:1

Micah Laments Judah’s Sin

7:1 I am depressed! ²⁵ 

Indeed, ²⁶  it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered,

and the grapes have been harvested. ²⁷ 

There is no grape cluster to eat,

no fresh figs that I crave so much. ²⁸ 

Yohanes 1:9

1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ²⁹  was coming into the world. ³⁰ 

[12:13]  ¹ tn Heb “removed.”

[12:1]  ² tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac Peshitta add “the prophet.” The words are included in a few modern English version (e.g., TEV, CEV, NLT).

[12:1]  ³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Nathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text repeats “to him.”

[21:8]  ⁶ tc The MT reads “Michal” here, but two Hebrew manuscripts read “Merab,” along with some LXX manuscripts. Cf. 1 Sam 18:19.

[21:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “swore an oath to.”

[33:27]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “to men.”

[33:27]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[33:28]  ¹¹ sn See note on “him” in v. 24.

[32:5]  ¹² tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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.

[7:8]  ¹⁷ tn The singular form is understood as collective.

[7:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “rejoice” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “don’t laugh at me.”

[7:8]  ¹⁹ sn Darkness represents judgment; light (also in v. 9) symbolizes deliverance. The Lord is the source of the latter.

[7:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “lift, bear.”

[7:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “until.”

[7:9]  ²² tn Or “plead my case” (NASB and NIV both similar); NRSV “until he takes my side.”

[7:9]  ²³ tn Heb “see.”

[7:9]  ²⁴ tn Or “justice, vindication.”

[7:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “woe to me!” In light of the image that follows, perhaps one could translate, “I am disappointed.”

[7:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “for.”

[7:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I am like the gathering of the summer fruit, like the gleanings of the harvest.” Micah is not comparing himself to the harvested fruit. There is an ellipsis here, as the second half of the verse makes clear. The idea is, “I am like [one at the time] the summer fruit is gathered and the grapes are harvested.”

[7:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “my appetite craves.”

[1:9]  ²⁹ tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ³⁰ 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.