10:10 Did you not pour 1 me out like milk,
and curdle 2 me like cheese? 3
10:11 You clothed 4 me with skin and flesh
and knit me together 5 with bones and sinews.
1 tn The verb נָתַךְ (natakh) means “to flow,” and in the Hiphil, “to cause to flow.”
2 tn This verb קָפָא (qafa’) means “to coagulate.” In the Hiphil it means “to stiffen; to congeal.”
3 tn The verbs in v. 10 are prefixed conjugations; since the reference is to the womb, these would need to be classified as preterites.
sn These verses figuratively describe the formation of the embryo in the womb.
4 tn The skin and flesh form the exterior of the body and so the image of “clothing” is appropriate. Once again the verb is the prefixed conjugation, expressing what God did.
5 tn This verb is found only here (related nouns are common) and in the parallel passage of Ps 139:13. The word סָכַךְ (sakhakh), here a Poel prefixed conjugation (preterite), means “to knit together.” The implied comparison is that the bones and sinews form the tapestry of the person (compare other images of weaving the life).