Ulangan 4:30

4:30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in the latter days, ¹  if you return to the Lord your God and obey him ² 

Ulangan 4:2

4:2 Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am delivering to ³  you.

Ulangan 30:6

30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse ⁴  your heart and the hearts of your descendants ⁵  so that you may love him ⁶  with all your mind and being and so that you may live.

Ulangan 30:9

30:9 The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands ⁷  abundantly successful and multiply your children, ⁸  the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord your God will once more ⁹  rejoice over you to make you prosperous ¹⁰  just as he rejoiced over your ancestors,

Yesaya 55:7

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ¹¹ 

and sinful people their plans. ¹² 

They should return ¹³  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ¹⁴ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ¹⁵ 

Hosea 6:1

Superficial Repentance Breeds False Assurance of God’s Forgiveness

6:1 “Come on! Let’s return to the Lord!

He himself has torn us to pieces,

but he will heal us!

He has injured ¹⁶  us,

but he will bandage our wounds!

Hosea 12:6

12:6 But you must return ¹⁷  to your God,

by maintaining love and justice,

and by waiting ¹⁸  for your God to return to you. ¹⁹ 

Hosea 14:1-3

Prophetic Call to Genuine Repentance

14:1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for your sin has been your downfall! ²⁰ 

14:2 Return to the Lord and repent! ²¹ 

Say to him: “Completely ²²  forgive our iniquity;

accept ²³  our penitential prayer, ²⁴ 

that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls. ²⁵ 

14:3 Assyria cannot save us;

we will not ride warhorses.

We will never again say, ‘Our gods’

to what our own hands have made.

For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!” ²⁶ 

Yoel 2:12-13

An Appeal for Repentance

2:12 “Yet even now,” the Lord says,

“return to me with all your heart –

with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

Tear your hearts, ²⁷ 

not just your garments!”

2:13 Return to the Lord your God,

for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ²⁸  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ²⁹ 

Zakharia 1:3-4

1:3 Therefore say to the people: ³⁰  The Lord who rules over all ³¹  says, “Turn ³²  to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will turn to you,” says the Lord who rules over all. 1:4 “Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” says the Lord.

Kisah Para Rasul 26:20

26:20 but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, ³³  and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, ³⁴  performing deeds consistent with ³⁵  repentance.

[4:30]  ¹ sn The phrase is not used here in a technical sense for the eschaton, but rather refers to a future time when Israel will be punished for its sin and experience exile. See Deut 31:29.

[4:30]  ² tn Heb “hear his voice.” The expression is an idiom meaning “obey,” occurring in Deut 8:20; 9:23; 13:18; 21:18, 20; 26:14, 17; 27:10; 28:1-2, 15, 45, 62; 30:2, 8, 10, 20.

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “commanding.”

[30:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

[30:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[30:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[30:9]  ⁷ tc The MT reads “hand” (singular). Most versions read the plural.

[30:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV); NRSV “of your body.”

[30:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “return and.” The Hebrew verb is used idiomatically here to indicate the repetition of the following action.

[30:9]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text includes “for good.”

[55:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ¹² tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ¹⁵ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[6:1]  ¹⁶ tn “has struck”; NRSV “struck down.”

[12:6]  ¹⁷ tn The verb תָשׁוּב (tashuv, Qal imperfect 2nd person masculine singular from שׁוּב, shuv, “to return”) functions as an imperfect of moral obligation, introducing the following imperatives (e.g., Gen 20:9; Exod 4:15). For this function of the imperfect, see IBHS 508-9 §31.4g.

[12:6]  ¹⁸ tn The verb וְקַוֵּה (vÿqavveh, vav + Piel imperative 2nd person masculine singular from קָוָה, qavah, “to wait for”) means “to hope for, wait for, look eagerly for” (BDB 875 s.v. קָוָה 1; HALOT 1082 s.v. קָוָה 2.b). The Qal meaning refers to a general hope; the Piel meaning refers to hope directed toward an object, or hope inserted within a sequence of expectation and fulfillment. When the Piel is used in reference to a thing, it refers to waiting expectantly for something to occur (e.g., Gen 49:18; Isa 5:2, 4, 7; 59:9, 11; Jer 8:15; 13:16; 14:19; Ps 69:21; Job 3:9; 6:19; 11:20). When it is used in reference to God, it refers to the people of God waiting expectantly for God to do something or to fulfill his promise (e.g., Pss 25:5, 21; 27:14; 37:34; 40:2; 52:11; 130:5; Isa 8:17; 25:9; 26:8; 33:2; 51:5; 60:9; Hos 12:7). The personal object can be introduced by the preposition לְ (lamed, “for”; HALOT 1082 s.v. קָוָה 2.a) or אֶל (’el, “for”; HALOT 1082 s.v. קָוָה 2.b; e.g., Pss 27:14; 37:34; Isa 51:5; Hos 12:7). The point seems to be that if Israel will repent and practice moral righteousness, she can look to God in confident expectation that he will intervene on her behalf by relenting from judgment and restoring the covenant blessings.

[12:6]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase “to return to you” does not appear in the Hebrew text but is implied; it is provided in the translation for clarity. This ellipsis fills out the implicit connotations of the verb קָוָה (qavah, “to wait for”).

[14:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “For you have stumbled in your iniquity”; NASB, NRSV “because of your iniquity.”

[14:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “Take words with you and return to the Lord” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:2]  ²² tn The word order כָּל־תִּשָּׂא עָוֹן (kol-tisa’ ’avon) is syntactically awkward. The BHS editors suggest rearranging the word order: תִּשָּׂא כָּל־עוֹן (“Forgive all [our] iniquity!”). However, Gesenius suggests that כָּל (“all”) does not function as the construct in the genitive phrase כָּל־עוֹן (“all [our] iniquity”); it functions adverbially modifying the verb תִּשָּׂא (“Completely forgive!”; see GKC 415 §128.e).

[14:2]  ²³ sn The repetition of the root לָקַח (laqakh) creates a striking wordplay in 14:2. If Israel will bring (לָקַח) its confession to God, he will accept (לָקַח) repentant Israel and completely forgive its sin.

[14:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and accept [our] speech.” The word טוֹב (tov) is often confused with the common homonymic root I טוֹב (tov, “good”; BDB 373 s.v. I טוֹב). However, this is probably IV טוֹב (tov, “word, speech”; HALOT 372 s.v. IV טוֹב), a hapax legomenon that is related to the verb טבב (“to speak”; HALOT 367 s.v. טבב) and the noun טִבָּה (tibbah, “rumor”; HALOT 367 s.v. טִבָּה). The term טוֹב (“word; speech”) refers to the repentant prayer mentioned in 14:1-3. Most translations relate it to I טוֹב and treat it as (1) accusative direct object: “accept that which is good” (RSV, NJPS), “Accept our good sacrifices” (CEV), or (2) adverbial accusative of manner: “receive [us] graciously” (KJV, NASB, NIV). Note TEV, however, which follows the suggestion made here: “accept our prayer.”

[14:2]  ²⁵ tc The MT reads פָרִים (farim, “bulls”), but the LXX reflects פְּרִי (pÿri, “fruit”), a reading followed by NASB, NIV, NRSV: “that we may offer the fruit of [our] lips [as sacrifices to you].” Although the Greek expression in Heb 13:15 (καρπὸν χειλέων, karpon xeilewn, “the fruit of lips”) reflects this LXX phrase, the MT makes good sense as it stands; NT usage of the LXX should not be considered decisive in resolving OT textual problems. The noun פָרִים (parim, “bulls”) functions as an adverbial accusative of state.

[14:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “For the orphan is shown compassion by you.” The present translation takes “orphan” as a figurative reference to Israel, which is specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:12]  ²⁷ sn The figurative language calls for genuine repentance, and not merely external ritual that goes through the motions.

[2:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and great of loyal love.”

[2:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and he relents from calamity.”

[1:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “to them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ³¹ sn The epithet Lord who rules over all occurs frequently as a divine title throughout Zechariah (53 times total). This name (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, yÿhvah tsÿva’ot), traditionally translated “Lord of hosts” (so KJV, NAB, NASB; cf. NIV, NLT “Lord Almighty”; NCV, CEV “Lord All-Powerful”), emphasizes the majestic sovereignty of the Lord, an especially important concept in the postexilic world of great human empires and rulers. For a thorough study of the divine title, see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 123-57.

[1:3]  ³² tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuv) is common in covenant contexts. To turn from the Lord is to break the covenant and to turn to him (i.e., to repent) is to renew the covenant relationship (cf. 2 Kgs 17:13).

[26:20]  ³³ tn BDAG 1093-94 s.v. χώρα 2.b states, “of the provincial name (1 Macc 8:3) ἡ χώρα τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας Ac 26:20.”

[26:20]  ³⁴ sn That they should repent and turn to God. This is the shortest summary of Paul’s message that he preached.

[26:20]  ³⁵ tn BDAG 93 s.v. ἄξιος 1.b, “καρποὶ ἄ. τῆς μετανοίας fruits in keeping with your repentance…Lk 3:8; Mt 3:8. For this ἄ. τῆς μετανοίας ἔργα Ac 26:20.” Note how Paul preached the gospel offer and the issue of response together, side by side.