² tn The adverb “Thus” or “Like this” normally points back to something previously mentioned. See, e.g., Exod 29:35; Num 11:15; 15:11; Deut 25:9.

¹ tn Heb “For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel.” The introductory formula, which appears three times in vv. 1-9 (vv. 1, 3, 5), has been recast for smoother English style.

² tn Heb “Thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in the place and concerning their mothers who give them birth and their fathers who fathered them in this land.”

³ tn As the perfect form of a stative verb, יָדַעְתָּ (yadaʿta) may be understood as present or past: thus as the result “you do not come to know” or the basis “you have not known.”

¹ tn Heb “There is one who scatters.” The participle מְפַזֵּר (m^efazzer, “one who scatters”) refers to charity rather than farming or investments (and is thus a hypocatastasis). Cf. CEV “become rich by being generous.”

¹ tn The exclamation כֵּן (ken, “so; thus; such”) marks a conclusion (BDB 485 s.v.). It draws a comparison between the destruction of the wicked in v. 18 and the concluding statement in v. 19.

² tn Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to “Zion” (see Pss 48:12; 102:14); thus the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “his.” The antecedent of the singular pronoun is the singular form עָנִי (ʿani, “oppressed”) in the preceding line. The singular is collective or representative here (and thus translated as plural, “they”).

⁴ tn Heb “a man of bloodshed and deceit.” The singular אִישׁ (ʾish, “man”) is used here in a collective or representative sense; thus the translation “people” is appropriate here. Note the plural forms in vv. 5-6a.

³ tn The word in the MT, אֹרחַ (ʾorakh, “way”), is a contraction from אֹרֵחַ (ʾoreakh, “wayfarer”); thus, “traveler.” The same parallelism is found in Jer 14:8. The reading here “on/to the road” is meaningless otherwise.

¹ tn The expression “raised my hand” refers to a threatening manner or gesture in the court rather than a threat of physical violence in the street. Thus the words “to vote” are supplied in the translation to indicate the setting.

¹ tn The verse begins with אִם (ʾim), the formula used for the content of the oath (“God lives…if I do/do not…”). Thus, the content of the oath proper is here in v. 4.

¹ tn This word פָּח (pakh) specifically refers to the snare of the fowler—thus a bird trap. But its plural seems to refer to nets in general (see Job 22:10).

³ tn The final verb is an imperfect (or jussive) following the jussive (of נָתַר, natar); it thus expresses the result (“and then” or “so that”) or the purpose (“in order that”). Job longs for death, but it must come from God.

¹ sn The reference seems to be death, or Sheol, the place where the infant who is stillborn is either buried (the grave) or resides (the place of departed spirits) and thus does not see the light of the sun.

¹ tn Heb “sacrifice of days.” The plural “days” often refers to a set of days, commonly a year, thus an annual sacrifice (cf. 1 Sam 2:29; 20:6).

¹ tn Heb “yielding fruit poisonous and wormwood.” The Hebrew noun לַעֲנָה (laʿanah) literally means “wormwood” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB), but is used figuratively for anything extremely bitter, thus here “fruit poisonous and bitter.”

¹ sn Machir was the name of another descendant of Manasseh (cf. Num 32:41; 1 Chr 7:14-19). Eastern Manasseh was thus divided between the Jairites and the Machirites.

² tn Heb “which the Lord commanded to give to them in the day he anointed them from the children of Israel.” Thus v. 36 is tied syntactically to v. 35 (see the note there).

¹ tc ‡ The conjunction δέ (de) is found in P⁴⁶ א*^,2 A D¹ Ψ 1175 1241 1505 1739 1881 M sy bo, while γάρ (gar) is the conjunction of choice in א¹ B D*^,c F G 33 lat sa. There are thus good representatives on each side. Scribes generally tended to prefer γάρ in such instances, most likely because it was more forceful and explicit. γάρ is thus seen as a motivated reading. For this reason, δέ is preferred.