³ sn According to a number of patristic authors, the image represented a deification of Nebuchadnezzar himself. This is not clear from the biblical text, however.

¹ tn Heb “The Lord himself is right.” The phrase “to judge me” is not in the Hebrew but is added in the translation to clarify the expression.

² tn Heb “Jerusalem, joy.” The next verse suggests the meaning: The Lord will create Jerusalem to be a source of joy to himself.

² sn The imagery depicts the Lord as a warrior who is eager to fight and can no longer hold himself back from the attack.

² tn Heb “hates his soul.” The accomplice is working against himself, for he will be punished along with the thief if he is caught.

¹ sn To “despise oneself” means to reject oneself as if there was little value. The one who ignores discipline is not interested in improving himself.

³ tn Heb “his own soul.” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is used as a synecdoche of part (= soul) for the whole (= person): “himself” (BDB 660 s.v. 4).

¹ sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.

³ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) here refers to the psalmist’s throat or neck. The psalmist compares himself to a helpless, drowning man.

² tn Heb “my bones became brittle.” The psalmist pictures himself as aging and growing physically weak. Trying to cover up his sin brought severe physical consequences.

² sn The idiom is “to strike the hand.” Here the wording is a little different, “Who is he that will strike himself into my hand?”

² tn The Hitpael of גָּבַר (gavar) means “to act with might” or “to behave like a hero.” The idea is that the wicked boldly vaunts himself before the Lord.

² tn The image is rather graphic. It is saying that he puffs himself up with the wind and then brings out of his mouth blasts of this wind.

¹ sn There is great irony here in that the man who set out to destroy all the Jews now finds himself begging for his own life from a Jew.

¹ tc The translation reads the Hiphil singular וַיַּבְדֵּל לוֹ (vayyavdel lo, “separated for himself”) rather than the Niphal plural וַיִּבָּדְלוּ (vayyibbad^elu, “were separated”) of the MT.

¹ tn Heb “and Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and [between] all the people and [between] the king, to become a people for the Lord.”

¹ tn The word “new” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation to make it clear that David refers to Absalom, not himself.

² tn Heb “he will do harm.” The object is not stated in the Hebrew text. The statement may be intentionally vague, meaning that he might harm himself or them!

¹ tn Heb “He called him on that day Jerub Baal.” The name means, at least by popular etymology, “Let Baal fight” or “Let Baal defend himself.”

¹ tc The LXX reads “the angel of the Lord” here and in v. 16. The translation follows the MT and adds “himself” to draw attention to the change.