3:26 It is good to wait patiently 1
for deliverance from the Lord. 2
3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes –
both calamity and blessing? 3
3:50 until the Lord looks down from heaven
and sees what has happened. 4
ק (Qof)
3:55 I have called on your name, O Lord,
from the deepest pit. 5
ת (Tav)
3:64 Pay them back 6 what they deserve, 7 O Lord,
according to what they 8 have done. 9
1 tn Heb “waiting and silently.” The two adjectives וְיָחִיל וְדוּמָם (vÿyakhil vÿdumam, “waiting and silently”) form a hendiadys: The first functions verbally and the second functions adverbially: “to wait silently.” The adjective דוּמָם (dumam, “silently”) also functions as a metonymy of association, standing for patience or rest (HALOT 217 s.v.). This metonymical nuance is captured well in less literal English versions: “wait in patience” (TEV) and “wait patiently” (CEV, NJPS). The more literal English versions do not express the metonymy as well: “quietly wait” (KJV, NKJV, ASV), “waits silently” (NASB), “wait quietly” (RSV, NRSV, NIV).
2 tn Heb “deliverance of the
3 tn Heb “From the mouth of the Most High does it not go forth, both evil and good?”
4 tn The phrase “what has happened” is added in the translation for smoother English style and readability.
5 tn Heb “from a pit of lowest places.”
6 tn Heb “Please cause to return.” The imperfect verb תָּשִׁיב (tashiv), Hiphil imperfect 2nd person masculine singular from שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”), functions in a volitional sense, like an imperative of request. The Hiphil stem of שׁוּב (shuv, in the Hiphil “to cause to return”) often means “to make requital, to pay back” (e.g., Judg 9:5, 56; 1 Sam 25:39; 1 Kgs 2:32, 44; Neh 3:36; Prov 24:12, 29; Hos 12:3; Joel 4:4, 7) (BDB 999 s.v. שׁוּב 4.a).
7 tn Heb “recompense to them.” The noun גְּמוּל (gÿmul, “dealing, accomplishment”) has two metonymical (cause-effect) meanings: (1) positive “benefit” and (2) negative “retribution, requital, recompense,” the sense used here (e.g., Pss 28:4; 94:2; 137:8; Prov 19:17; Isa 35:4; 59:18; 66:6; Jer 51:6; Lam 3:64; Joel 4:4, 7). The phrase תָּשִׁיב גְּמוּל (tashiv gÿmul) means “to pay back retribution” (e.g., Joel 4:4, 7), that is, to return the deeds of the wicked upon them as a display of talionic or poetic justice.
8 tn Heb “their hands.” The term “hand” is a synecdoche of part (= hands) for the whole person (= they).
9 tn Heb “according to the work of their hands.”