¹ tc The LXX, a Qumran ms, and a few old Latin mss have the third person pronominal suffix “his” here.

² tn Heb “to cause your eyes to fail.” Elsewhere this verb, when used of eyes, refers to bloodshot eyes resulting from weeping, prolonged staring, or illness (see Lev 26:16; Pss 69:3; 119:82; Lam 2:11; 4:17).

³ tn Heb “and to cause your soul grief.”

⁴ tn Heb “and all the increase of your house.”

⁵ tc The text is difficult. The MT literally says “they will die [as] men.” Apparently the meaning is that they will be cut off in the prime of their life without reaching old age. The LXX and a Qumran ms, however, have the additional word “sword” (“they will die by the sword of men”). This is an easier reading (cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT), but that fact is not in favor of its originality.

⁶ tn Heb “for we have added to all our sins an evil [thing] by asking for ourselves a king.”

⁷ tn Heb “and there was no one answering from all the army.”

⁸ tn Heb “Look, I, I will die.” Apparently Jonathan is acquiescing to his anticipated fate of death. However, the words may be taken as sarcastic (“Here I am about to die!”) or as a question, “Must I now die?” (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).

¹¹ tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”