A Song of Ascents.
1Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh.
2Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.
3If you, Yah, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
4But there is forgiveness with you,
therefore you are feared.
5I wait for Yahweh.
My soul waits.
I hope in his word.
6My soul longs for the Lord more than watchmen long for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
7Israel, hope in Yahweh,
for there is loving kindness with Yahweh.
Abundant redemption is with him.
8He will redeem Israel from all their sins.
The authority to forgive sins is ascribed only to Israel’s God in the Old Testament (Ps 130:4, 51:1-3; 85:2; 2 Sam 12:13; Ps 32:1-5; 51:3-4, 9-11; 103:3; Isa 44:22; Dan 9:9; Zech 3:4; cf. 1QS 2:8f.; 11.14; CD 2:4-5; 3:18; 4:6-10). In Isa 43:25, YHWH declares himself as the forgiver of Israel’s sins: “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins” (NASB). Micah 7:18 links the act of forgiving sins with the rhetoric concerning God’s uniqueness: “Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity [a]nd passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?” (NASB) Mark’s Gospel itself includes Jesus’ teaching that corresponds to these Old Testament passages: “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions” (11:25 NASB [emphasis added]). If Jesus’ authority to forgive sins as portrayed in Mark 2:1-12 is read alongside 11:25 and the noted Old Testament passages, Mark the author is seen to view Jesus as participating in God’s unique prerogative of forgiving sins, and such a view undoubtedly reflects Mark’s high Christology. -John Lee