3:16 Or why 1 was 2 I not buried 3
like a stillborn infant, 4
like infants 5 who have never seen the light? 6
1 tn The verb is governed by the interrogative of v. 12 that introduces this series of rhetorical questions.
2 tn The verb is again the prefix conjugation, but the narrative requires a past tense, or preterite.
3 tn Heb “hidden.” The LXX paraphrases: “an untimely birth, proceeding from his mother’s womb.”
4 tn The noun נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”) is the abortive thing that falls (hence the verb) from the womb before the time is ripe (Ps 58:9). The idiom using the verb “to fall” from the womb means to come into the world (Isa 26:18). The epithet טָמוּן (tamun, “hidden”) is appropriate to the verse. The child comes in vain, and disappears into the darkness – it is hidden forever.
5 tn The word עֹלְלִים (’olÿlim) normally refers to “nurslings.” Here it must refer to infants in general since it refers to a stillborn child.
6 tn The relative clause does not have the relative pronoun; the simple juxtaposition of words indicates that it is modifying the infants.