ס (Samek)
4:15 People cry to them, “Turn away! You are unclean!
Turn away! Turn away! Don’t touch us!”
So they have fled and wander about;
but the nations say, 1 “They may not stay here any longer.”
ר (Resh)
4:20 Our very life breath – the Lord’s anointed king 2 –
was caught in their traps, 3
of whom we thought, 4
“Under his protection 5 we will survive among the nations.”
1 tn Heb “They say among the nations.”
2 tn Heb “the anointed one of the
3 tn Heb “was captured in their pits.”
4 tn Heb “of whom we had said.”
5 tn Heb “under his shadow.” The term צֵל (tsel, “shadow”) is used figuratively here to refer the source of protection from military enemies. In the same way that the shade of a tree gives physical relief and protection from the heat of the sun (e.g., Judg 9:15; Job 40:22; Ps 80:11; Song 2:3; Ezek 17:23; 31:6, 12, 17; Hos 4:13; 14:8; Jon 4:5, 6), a faithful and powerful king can provide “shade” (= protection) from enemies and military attack (Num 14:19; Ps 91:1; Isa 30:2, 3; 49:2; 51:16; Jer 48:45; Lam 4:20).