¹ tn The Hebrew text has הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (helel ben shakhar, “Helel son of Shachar”), which is probably a name for the morning star (Venus) or the crescent moon. See HALOT 245 s.v. הֵילֵל.

² tn Heb “For what emptiness do you create all the sons of mankind?” In this context the term שָׁוְא (shavʾ) refers to mankind’s mortal nature and the brevity of life (see vv. 45, 48).

² tn Heb “which he commanded our fathers to make them known to their sons.” The plural suffix “them” probably refers back to the Lord’s mighty deeds (see vv. 3-4).

² tn The phrase בְּנֵי אֵלִים (b^ene ʾelim, “sons of gods” or “sons of God”) occurs only here and in Ps 89:6 (89:7 HT). In Ps 89 the “sons of gods/God” are also called “the assembly of the holy ones” and “council of the holy ones.” The heavenly assembly, comprised of so-called “angels” and other supernatural beings, appears to be in view. See Job 5:1; 15:15 and Zech 14:5, where these supernatural beings are referred to as “holy ones.” In Canaanite mythological texts the divine council of the high god El is referred to as “the sons of El.” The OT apparently borrows the Canaanite phrase and applies it to the supernatural beings that surround the heavenly throne.

² sn According to Jewish tradition, David offered this prayer when he was forced to flee from Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s attempted coup (see 2 Sam 15:13-17).

¹ tn The word for “seven” is spelled in an unusual way. From this some have thought it means “twice seven,” or fourteen sons. Several commentators take this view, but it is probably not warranted.

² tn The word בְּלִיָּעַל (b^eliyyaʿal) means both “worthless” and “wicked.” It is common in proverbial literature, and in later writings it became a description of Satan. It is usually found with “son of.”

⁵ tn The LXX has the name of a bird here: “the vulture’s young seek the high places.” The Targum to Job has “sons of demons” or “the sparks which shoot from coals of fire.”

¹ sn The hungry are other people, possibly the hungry poor to whom the wealthy have refused to give bread (22:7). The sons are so helpless that even the poor take their property.

³ sn The “sons of God” in the OT is generally taken to refer to angels. They are not actually “sons” of Elohim; the idiom is a poetic way of describing their nature and relationship to God. The phrase indicates their supernatural nature, and their submission to God as the sovereign Lord. It may be classified as a genitive that expresses how individuals belong to a certain class or type, i.e., the supernatural (GKC 418 §128.v). In the pagan literature, especially of Ugarit, “the sons of God” refers to the lesser gods or deities of the pantheon. See H. W. Robinson, “The Council of Yahweh,” JTS 45 (1943): 151-57; G. Cooke, “The Sons of (the) God(s),” ZAW 76 (1964): 22-47; M. Tsevat, “God and the Gods in the Assembly,” HUCA 40-41 (1969/70): 123-37.

¹ tc The translation reads with a few medieval Hebrew MSS and the Syriac Peshitta וּמִבְּנֵי (umibb^ene, “and some of the descendants of”; cf. NLT) rather than the MT reading וּבְנֵי (uv^ene, “and the sons of”).

¹ tc The translation reads מִן־הַשֵּׁלָנִי (min hashelani, “from the Shelahite”) rather than the MT reading בֶּן־הַשִּׁלֹנִי (ben hashiloni, “the son of the Shilionite”). See 1 Chr 9:5.

¹ tc The translation reads בְּנֵי (b^ene, “the sons of”) rather than the MT reading אַנְשֵׁי בֵית (ʾanshe vet, “men of the house of”). Cf. Ezra 2:24.

¹ tc The translation reads וּמִבְּנֵי בִנּוּי (umibb^ene vinnuy, “and from the sons of Binnui”) rather than the reading וּבָנִי וּבִנּוּי (uvani uvinnuy, “and Bani and Binnui”) of the MT.

¹ tc The translation follows the suggestion in BHS and reads אַנְשֵׁי (ʾanshe, “the men of”) here rather than the reading בְּנֵי (b^ene, “the sons of”) found in the MT. So also in vv. 25, 26, 33, 34.

¹ tn Heb “and stand in the sanctuary by the divisions of the house of the fathers for your brothers, the sons of the people, and a division of the house of a father for the Levites.”

¹ tn Heb “and the rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and his faithful acts, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet upon the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.”

³ tn Heb “which he made to David, just as he had promised to give him and his sons a lamp all the days.” Here “lamp” is metaphorical, symbolizing the Davidic dynasty.

¹ tn Heb “the rest of the events of Jehoshaphat, the former and the latter, look, they are written in the records of Jehu son of Hanani, which are taken up in the scroll of the kings of Israel.”

¹ tn Heb “Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel has given kingship to David over Israel permanently, to him and to his sons [by] a covenant of salt?”