ק (Qof)
3:55 I have called on your name, O Lord,
from the deepest pit. 1
3:56 You heard 2 my plea: 3
“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!” 4
3:65 Give them a distraught heart; 5
may your curse be on them!
5:19 But you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures from generation to generation.
1 tn Heb “from a pit of lowest places.”
2 tn The verb could be understood as a precative, “hear my plea,” parallel to the following volitive verb, “do not close.”
3 tn Heb “my voice.”
4 tn The preposition ל (lamed) continues syntactically from “my plea” in the previous line (e.g. Ex 5:2; Josh 22:2; 1 Sam 8:7; 12:1; Jer 43:4).
5 tn The noun מְגִנַּה (mÿginnah) is a hapax legomenon. Its meaning is debated; earlier lexicographers suggested that it meant “covering” (BDB 171 s.v.), but more recent lexicons suggest “shamelessness” or “insanity” (HALOT 546 s.v.). The translation is based on the term being parallel to “curse” and needing to relate to “heart.” Cf. NRSV “anguish of heart.”