1 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.
2 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive signals a return to the narrative.
3 tn Heb “and he remembered that they [were] flesh, a wind [that] goes and does not return.”
