² tn Heb “our soul.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is used as a metonymy of association (soul = life) (e.g., Gen 44:30; Exod 21:23; 2 Sam 14:7; Jon 1:14).

¹ tn The Heb emphasizes the pronoun “We—we have sinned….” Given the contrast with the following, it means, “For our part, we have sinned….” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “we” followed by a short pause.

² tn Heb “And according to all that the Lord our God says, thus declare to us, and we will act.” The restructuring of the sentence is intended to better reflect contemporary English style.

³ tn Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.”

¹ tn Heb “but the word of our God stands forever.” In this context the divine “word” specifically refers to his decreed promise assuring Jerusalem that her suffering is over and his glorious return imminent (vv. 1-5).

² tn Heb “to the instruction of our God.” In this context, which is highly accusatory and threatening, תּוֹרָה (torah, “law, instruction”) does not refer to mere teaching, but to corrective teaching and rebuke.

⁴ sn The verse completes the saying by affirming that people will be judged responsible for helping those in mortal danger. The verse uses a series of rhetorical questions to affirm that God knows our hearts and we cannot plead ignorance.

³ sn It is easy to rationalize one’s point of view and deceive even oneself. But the Lord evaluates our thinking and motives as well (cf. Prov 16:2).

³ tn Heb “our being.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

² tn Heb “which he commanded our fathers to make them known to their sons.” The plural suffix “them” probably refers back to the Lord’s mighty deeds (see vv. 3-4).

² tn Heb “Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to die by hunger and thirst, saying, ‘The Lord our God will rescue us from the hand of the king of Assyria’?’

¹ tn Heb “and now let the terror of the Lord be upon you, be careful and act for there is not with the Lord our God injustice, lifting up of a face, and taking a bribe.”

¹ tn Heb “I, [it was] with my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for a stool of the feet of our God.”

¹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “in all which we heard with our ears,” but בְּכֹל (b^ekhol, “in all”) should probably be emended to כְּכֹל (k^ekhol, “according to all”).

¹ tn Heb “because for what was at first [i.e., formerly] you [were] not, the Lord our God broke out against us because we did not seek him concerning the procedure.”

² tn Heb “and they did not help them for by counsel they sent him away, the lords of the Philistines, saying, ‘With our heads he will fall to his master Saul.’”

² tn Heb “Solomon held at that time the festival, and all Israel was with him, a great assembly from Lebo Hamath to the Stream of Egypt, before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days, fourteen days.”

¹ tn Heb “in all which we heard with our ears.” The phrase translated “in all” בְּכֹל (b^ekhol) should probably be emended to “according to all” כְּכֹל (k^ekhol).

¹ tn Heb “The Lord commanded Moses to assign to us an inheritance in the midst of our brothers.” Since Zelophehad had no sons, “brothers” must refer to their uncles, as the next sentence makes clear.

² tn Heb “Our lives in return for you to die.” If the lives of Rahab’s family are not spared, then the spies will pay for the broken vow with their own lives.