² tn The Hebrew verb literally means “to take hold of; to seize”; this produces the idea of doing violence to the reputation of God.

⁴ sn The imagery of this verse compares the blessings produced by the king’s reign to fructifying rains that cause the crops to grow.

³ tn Heb “in fear [of] you.” The Hebrew noun יִרְאָה (yirʾah, “fear”), when used of fearing God, is sometimes used metonymically for what it ideally produces: “worship, reverence, piety.”

¹ sn The verse has been properly understood, on the whole, as comparing the earth above and all its produce with the upheaval down below.

¹ tn Heb “from the harvest of the heavens.” The referent appears to be good crops produced by the rain that falls from the sky.

³ tn Heb “a number of produce”; the words “years of” are implied. As an alternative this could be translated “a number of harvests” (cf. NRSV, NLT).

² tn After verbs of making or producing, the accusative (like “gold” here) may be used to express the material from which something is made (see GKC 371 §117.hh).

⁴ tn Heb “gathered in your labors.” This is a metonymy of cause put for the effect. “Labors” are not gathered in, but what the labors produced—the harvest.

⁴ tn Heb “and he shall collect a fifth of the land of Egypt.” The language is figurative (metonymy); it means what the land produces, i.e., the harvest.

² tn Heb “that the tree was good for food.” The words “produced fruit that was” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

³ sn “Food” is a metonymy of effect here. The picture is of the driving rain that should cause crops to grow so that food can be produced—but does not (some English versions assume the crops are destroyed instead, e.g., NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). The point the proverb is making is that a show of strength may not produce anything except ruin.

¹ sn The questions Moses asks are rhetorical. He is actually affirming that they are not his people, that he did not produce them, but now is to support them. His point is that God produced this nation, but has put the burden of caring for their needs on him.

¹ sn The arrogance produced by material possessions. The person who thinks he has enough wealth and property to protect himself and insure his security has no need for God (or anything outside himself).

¹ tn This is a continuation of the preceding sentence in Greek, but because this would produce an awkward sentence in English, a new sentence was begun here in the translation.

¹ tn Grk “But what.” Here ἀλλά (alla, a strong contrastive in Greek) produces a somewhat awkward sense in English, and has not been translated. The same situation occurs at the beginning of v. 26.

² tn Or “the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. Since the context here refers to a drought (which produced the famine), “sky” is preferable.

¹ tn Grk “But what.” Here ἀλλά (alla, a strong contrastive in Greek) produces a somewhat awkward sense in English, and has not been translated. The same situation occurs at the beginning of v. 9.

² tn Heb “The merchant—in his hand are scales of deceit—loves to cheat.” The present translation rearranges the Hebrew line division to produce a smoother English rendering.

² sn Comparison with Neh 13:15-18 suggests that these loads were merchandise or agricultural produce being brought in for sale. The loads carried out of the houses in the next verse were probably goods for barter.

² tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb, which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.