3:48 Streams 1 of tears flow from my eyes 2
because my people 3 are destroyed. 4
5:9 At the risk 5 of our lives 6 we get our food 7
because robbers lurk 8 in the countryside. 9
1 tn Heb “canals.” The phrase “canals of water” (eye water = tears) is an example of hyperbole. The English idiom “streams of tears” is also hyperbolic.
2 tn Heb “my eyes flow down with canals of water.”
3 tn Heb “the daughter of my people,” or “the Daughter, my people.”
4 tn Heb “because of the destruction of [the daughter of my people].”
5 tn Heb “at the cost of our lives.” The preposition ב (bet) here denotes purchase price paid (e.g., Gen 30:16; Exod 34:20; 2 Sam 3:14; 24:24) (BDB 90 s.v. בְּ 3.a). The expression בְּנַפְשֵׁנוּ (bÿnafshenu) means “at the risk of our lives.” Similar expressions include בְנַפְשׁוֹ (bÿnafsho, “at the cost of his life,” 1 Kgs 2:23; Prov 7:23) and בְּנַפְשׁוֹתָם (bÿnafshotam, “at peril of their lives,” 2 Sam 23:17).
6 tn Heb “our soul.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is used as a metonymy (= soul) of association (= life) (e.g., Gen 44:30; Exod 21:23; 2 Sam 14:7; Jon 1:14).
7 tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for the general (= food).
8 tn Heb “because of the sword.” The term “sword” is a metonymy of instrument (= sword) for the persons who use the instrument (= murderers or marauders).
9 tn Heb “the wilderness.”