² sn As v. 12 indicates, the returning exiles are the Lord’s reward/prize. See also 40:10 and the note there.

¹ tn Heb “and the chief adviser returned and he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.”

³ tn Heb “and she will return to her [prostitute’s] wages and engage in prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the earth.”

¹ tn Heb “his spirit goes out, it returns to his ground; in that day his plans die.” The singular refers to the representative man mentioned in v. 3b.

² tn The psalmist returns to the singular (see v. 5a), which he uses in either a representative or distributive (“each one”) sense.

¹ sn Many commentators place vv. 38-40b at the end of v. 34, so that there is no return to these conditional clauses after his final appeal.

² tn Heb “made the shadow return, on the steps which [the sun] had gone down, on the steps of Ahaz, back ten steps.”

¹ tn Heb “and the chief adviser returned and he found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.”

² sn mutilated…covered with blood. This self-mutilation was a mourning rite designed to facilitate Baal’s return from the underworld.

² tn Heb “we have returned to you.” For another example of שׁוּב אֶל (shuv ʾel) in the sense of “give allegiance to,” see 1 Kgs 12:27b.

¹ tn The Hebrew text draws the vividness of the scene with the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh)—Balaam returned, and there he was, standing there.

¹ tn The word עֵד (ʿed) actually means “witness,” but the dead animal that is returned is a silent witness, i.e., evidence. The word is an adverbial accusative.

⁵ tn This verb is parallel to the preceding cohortative and so also expresses purpose: “let me go that I may return…and that I may see.”

¹ tn The text has two imperatives, “Go, return”; if these are interpreted as a hendiadys (as in the translation), then the second is adverbial.

² tn The two verbs form a verbal hendiadys, the second verb becoming adverbial in the translation: “and he went and he returned” becomes “and he went back.”

¹ tn The verb means “to go, to come, to enter.” In this context it means that they returned to their father, or came home.

¹ sn The noun מְשׁוּבָתָה (m^eshuvatah, “waywardness”; cf. KJV “backsliding”) is from the same root as שׁוּבָה (shuvah, “return!”) in 14:1 [14:2 HT]. This repetition of שׁוּב (shuv) creates a wordplay that emphasizes reciprocity: if Israel will return (שׁוּבָה, shuvah) to the Lord, he will cure her of the tendency to turn away (מְשׁוּבָתָה) from him.

¹ tc Thus the MT, which reads וַהֲשִׁבֹתִי (vahashivoti, “I will cause to return”), a Hiphil of the verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”). The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate translate as though the Hebrew had the vocalization וְהֹשַׁבְתִּי (v^ehoshavti, “I will cause to inhabit”), a Hiphil from יָשַׁב (yashav “to dwell”).

¹ tn Heb “Return, take another.” The verb “return” is used in the sense of repetition: “take again” (cf. BDB 998 s.v. שׁוּב Qal.8). The idea is already contained in “Get another,” so most modern English versions do not represent it.

² tn Heb “If you return [ = repent], I will restore [more literally, “cause you to return”] that you may stand before me.” For the idiom of “standing before” in the sense of serving, see BDB 764 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.e and compare the usage in 1 Kgs 10:8; 12:8; 17:1; Deut 10:8.