22:30 he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, 1
who will escape 2 through the cleanness of your hands.”
29:3 when 3 he caused 4 his lamp 5
to shine upon my head,
and by his light
I walked 6 through darkness; 7
31:30 I 8 have not even permitted my mouth 9 to sin
by asking 10 for his life through a curse –
1 tc The Hebrew has אִי־נָקִי (’i naqi), which could be taken as “island of the innocent” (so Ibn-Ezra), or “him that is not innocent” (so Rashi). But some have changed אִי (’i) to אִישׁ (’ish, “the innocent man”). Others differ: A. Guillaume links אִי (’i) to Arabic ‘ayya “whosoever,” and so leaves the text alone. M. Dahood secures the same idea from Ugaritic, but reads it אֵי (’e).
2 tc The MT has “he will escape [or be delivered].” Theodotion has the second person, “you will be delivered.”
3 tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.
4 tn The form בְּהִלּוֹ (bÿhillo) is unusual; it should be parsed as a Hiphil infinitive construct with the elision of the ה (he). The proper spelling would have been with a ַ (patakh) under the preposition, reflecting הַהִלּוֹ (hahillo). If it were Qal, it would just mean “when his light shone.”
5 sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.
6 tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary – it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.
7 tn The accusative (“darkness”) is here an adverbial accusative of place, namely, “in the darkness,” or because he was successfully led by God’s light, “through the darkness” (see GKC 374 §118.h).
8 tn This verse would then be a parenthesis in which he stops to claim his innocence.
9 tn Heb “I have not given my palate.”
10 tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition (“by asking”) serves in an epexegetical capacity here, explaining the verb of the first colon (“permitted…to sin”). To seek a curse on anyone would be a sin.