Discovery Box| (0.28) | (Jer 41:3) | 2 tn Heb “Chaldean.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation. There are two cases of apposition in this verse, with repetition of the preposition and then of the sign of the accusative, i.e., “who were with him, [namely] with Gedaliah” and “all the Chaldeans who happened to be there, [namely] the soldiers.” |
| (0.28) | (Jer 38:9) | 1 sn “Because there isn’t any food left in the city” is rhetorical exaggeration; the food did not run out until just before the city fell. Perhaps the intent is to refer to the fact that there was no food in the city for people so confined (i.e., in solitary confinement). |
| (0.28) | (Jer 35:4) | 2 sn According to Jer 52:24 and 2 Kgs 25:18, there were three officers who carried out this duty. It was their duty to guard the entrance of the temple to keep people out that did not belong there, such as those who were foreigners or ritually unclean (see 2 Kgs 12:9 and compare Ps 118:19-20). |
| (0.28) | (Jer 11:21) | 2 tn Heb “the men of Anathoth.” However, this does not involve all of the people, only the conspirators. The literal rendering might lead to confusion later since v. 21 mentions that there will not be any of them left alive. However, it is known from Ezra 2:23 that there were survivors. |
| (0.28) | (Jer 4:17) | 2 sn There is some irony involved in the choice of the simile since the men guarding a field were there to keep thieves from getting in and stealing the crops. Here the besiegers are guarding the city to keep people from getting out. |
| (0.28) | (Jer 3:8) | 3 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation. |
| (0.28) | (Jer 3:6) | 2 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation. |
| (0.28) | (Isa 35:8) | 1 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vederekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa does not reflect the repetition of the phrase. |
| (0.28) | (Ecc 11:4) | 1 sn This proverb criticizes those who are overly cautious. The farmer who waits for the most opportune moment to plant when there is no wind to blow away the seed, and to reap when there is no rain to ruin a ripe harvest, will never do anything but sit around waiting for the right moment. |
| (0.28) | (Pro 29:18) | 3 sn The law here refers to scripture, the concrete form of revelation. So the two halves of the verse provide the contrast: When there is no prophetic revelation there is chaos, but those who keep the revelation contained in scripture find blessing. |
| (0.28) | (Pro 26:12) | 3 sn Previous passages in the book of Proverbs all but deny the possibility of hope for the fool. So this proverb is saying there is absolutely no hope for the self-conceited person, and there might be a slight hope for the fool—he may yet figure out that he really is a fool. |
| (0.28) | (Pro 20:18) | 3 sn There have been attempts by various commentators to take “war” figuratively to mean life’s struggles, litigation, or evil inclinations. But there is no need and little justification for such interpretations. The proverb simply describes the necessity of taking counsel before going to war. |
| (0.28) | (Pro 7:12) | 1 tn The repetition of the noun פַּעַם (paʿam, “step, occasion”) is an idiom indicating different occasions. It could be rendered idiomatically in English as “now [here], now [there],” “once [here], then [there],” or “at one time…at another time” (BDB 822 s.v. פַּעַם 3.e). |
| (0.28) | (Psa 139:16) | 2 tn Heb “and on your scroll all of them were written, [the] days [which] were formed, and [there was] not one among them.” This “scroll” may be the “scroll of life” mentioned in Ps 69:28 (see the note on the word “living” there). |
| (0.28) | (Psa 135:17) | 1 tn Heb “indeed, there is not breath in their mouth.” For the collocation אַף אֵין (ʾaf ʾen, “indeed, there is not”) see Isa 41:26. Another option is to take אַף as “nose” (see Ps 115:6), in which case one might translate, “a nose, [but] they have no breath in their mouths.” |
| (0.28) | (Psa 87:4) | 6 tn Heb “and this one was born there.” The words “It is said of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarification and stylistic purposes (see v. 5). Those advocating the universalistic interpretation understand “there” as referring to Zion, but it seems more likely that the adverb refers to the nations just mentioned. The foreigners are identified by their native lands. |
| (0.28) | (Psa 36:12) | 1 tn Heb “there the workers of wickedness have fallen.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here for dramatic effect, as the psalmist envisions the evildoers lying fallen at a spot that is vivid in his imagination (BDB 1027 s.v.). |
| (0.28) | (Psa 5:12) | 6 tn Or “with favor” (cf. NRSV). There is no preposition before the noun in the Hebrew text, nor is there a pronoun attached. “Favor” here stands by metonymy for God’s defensive actions on behalf of the one whom he finds acceptable. |
| (0.28) | (Job 19:14) | 2 tn Many commentators add the first part of v. 15 to this verse because it is too loaded and this is too short. That gives the reading “My kinsmen and my familiar friends have disappeared, they have forgotten me (15) the guests I entertained.” There is not much support for this, nor is there much reason for it. |
| (0.28) | (Job 9:9) | 2 sn There is more certainty for the understanding of this word as Orion, even though there is some overlap of the usage of the words in the Bible. In classical literature we have the same stereotypical reference to these three (see E. Dhorme, Job, 131). |
