Mazmur 99:8

99:8 O Lord our God, you answered them.

They found you to be a forgiving God,

but also one who punished their sinful deeds. ¹ 

Yeremia 21:14

21:14 But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’

says the Lord. ² 

‘I will set fire to your palace;

it will burn up everything around it.’” ³ 

Amos 3:14

3:14 “Certainly when ⁴  I punish Israel for their ⁵  covenant transgressions, ⁶ 

I will destroy ⁷  Bethel’s ⁸  altars.

The horns ⁹  of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

[99:8]  ¹ tn Heb “a God of lifting up [i.e., forgiveness] you were to them, and an avenger concerning their deeds.” The present translation reflects the traditional interpretation, which understands the last line as qualifying the preceding one. God forgave Moses and Aaron, but he also disciplined them when they sinned (cf. NIV, NRSV). Another option is to take “their deeds” as referring to harmful deeds directed against Moses and Aaron. In this case the verse may be translated, “and one who avenged attacks against them.” Still another option is to emend the participial form נֹקֵם (noqem, “an avenger”) to נֹקָם (noqam), a rare Qal participial form of נָקַה (naqah, “purify”) with a suffixed pronoun. In this case one could translate, “and one who purified them from their [sinful] deeds” (cf. NEB “and held them innocent”).

[21:14]  ² tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[21:14]  ³ tn Heb “I will set fire in its forest and it will devour its surroundings.” The pronouns are actually third feminine singular going back to the participle “you who sit enthroned above the valley.” However, this is another example of those rapid shifts in pronouns typical of the biblical Hebrew style which are uncommon in English. They have regularly been leveled to the same person throughout in the translation to avoid possible confusion for the English reader.

[3:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the day.”

[3:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.

[3:14]  ⁶ tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.

[3:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).

[3:14]  ⁸ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[3:14]  ⁹ sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the Lord’s enemies.