10:3 What will you do on judgment day, 3
when destruction arrives from a distant place?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
12:4 At that time 4 you will say:
“Praise the Lord!
Ask him for help! 5
Publicize his mighty acts among the nations!
Make it known that he is unique! 6
58:10 You must 7 actively help the hungry
and feed the oppressed. 8
Then your light will dispel the darkness, 9
and your darkness will be transformed into noonday. 10
1 tn Or, perhaps “cream,” frequently, “curds” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); KJV, ASV “butter”; CEV “yogurt.”
2 tn Heb “for his knowing.” Traditionally the preposition has been translated in a temporal sense, “when he knows.” However, though the preposition לְ (lamed) can sometimes have a temporal force, it never carries such a nuance in any of the 40 other passages where it is used with the infinitive construct of יָדַע (yada’, “to know”). Most often the construction indicates purpose/result. This sense is preferable here. The following context indicates that sour milk and honey will epitomize the devastation that God’s judgment will bring upon the land. Cultivated crops will be gone and the people will be forced to live off the milk produced by their goats and the honey they find in the thickets. As the child is forced to eat a steady diet of this sour milk and honey, he will be reminded of the consequences of sin and motivated to make correct moral decisions in order to avoid further outbreaks of divine discipline.
3 tn Heb “the day of visitation” (so KJV, ASV), that is, the day when God arrives to execute justice on the oppressors.
4 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
5 tn Heb “call in his name,” i.e., “invoke his name.”
6 tn Heb “bring to remembrance that his name is exalted.” The Lord’s “name” stands here for his character and reputation.
7 tn Heb “if you.” See the note on “you must” in v. 9b.
8 tn Heb “If you furnish for the hungry [with] your being, and the appetite of the oppressed you satisfy.”
9 tn Heb “will rise in the darkness.”
10 tn Heb “and your darkness [will be] like noonday.”