Discovery Box| (0.18) | (Job 2:10) | 6 sn The Hebrew words טוֹב (tov, “good”) and רַע (raʿ, “evil”) have to do with what affects life. That which is good benefits people because it produces, promotes and protects life; that which is evil brings calamity and disaster, it harms, pains, or destroys life. |
| (0.18) | (Est 3:6) | 4 tc This parenthetical phrase is not included in the LXX. Some scholars emend the MT reading עַם (ʿam, “people”) to עִם (ʿim, “with”), arguing that the phrase is awkwardly placed and syntactically inappropriate. While there is some truth to their complaint, the MT makes sufficient sense to be acceptable here, and is followed by most English versions. |
| (0.18) | (Est 1:3) | 2 tc Due to the large numbers of people implied, some scholars suggest that the original text may have read “leaders of the army” (cf. NAB “Persian and Median aristocracy”; NASB “the army officers”; NIV “the military leaders”). However, there is no textual evidence for this emendation, and the large numbers are not necessarily improbable. |
| (0.18) | (Est 1:3) | 4 sn The size of the banquet described here, the number of its invited guests, and the length of its duration, although certainly immense by any standard, are not without precedent in the ancient world. C. A. Moore documents a Persian banquet for 15,000 people and an Assyrian celebration with 69,574 guests (Esther [AB], 6). |
| (0.18) | (Ezr 4:10) | 1 sn Ashurbanipal succeeded his father Esarhaddon as king of Assyria in 669 b.c. Around 645 b.c. he sacked the city of Susa, capital of Elam, and apparently some of these people were exiled to Samaria and other places. |
| (0.18) | (Ezr 4:2) | 6 sn The Assyrian policy had been to resettle Samaria with peoples from other areas (cf. 2 Kgs 17:24-34). These immigrants acknowledged Yahweh as well as other deities in some cases. The Jews who returned from the Exile regarded them with suspicion and were not hospitable to their offer of help in rebuilding the temple. |
| (0.18) | (Ezr 4:4) | 1 tn Heb “the people of the land.” Elsewhere this expression sometimes has a negative connotation, referring to a lay population that was less zealous for Judaism than it should have been. Here, however, it seems to refer to the resident population of the area without any negative connotation. |
| (0.18) | (Ezr 2:64) | 1 sn The same total is given in Neh 7:66, but the numbers of people listed do not add up to this total; the list in vv. 3-60 is apparently selective, but it is not clear what the basis of the selectivity is. |
| (0.18) | (2Ch 36:21) | 3 sn According to Lev 25:4, the land was to remain uncultivated every seventh year. Lev 26:33-35 warns that the land would experience a succession of such sabbatical rests if the people disobeyed God, for he would send them away into exile. |
| (0.18) | (2Ch 35:12) | 1 tn Heb “and they put aside the burnt offering[s] to give them to the divisions of the house of the fathers for the sons of the people to bring near to the Lord as it is written in the scroll of Moses—and the same with the cattle.” |
| (0.18) | (2Ch 35:7) | 1 tn Heb “and Josiah supplied for the sons of the people sheep, lambs and sons of goats, the whole for the Passover sacrifices for everyone who was found according to the number of 30,000 and 3,000 cattle. These were from the property of the king.” |
| (0.18) | (2Ch 7:20) | 1 tn Heb “them.” The switch from the second to the third person pronoun is rhetorically effective, for it mirrors God’s rejection of his people—he has stopped addressing them as “you” and begun addressing them as “them.” However, the switch is awkward and confusing in English, so the translation maintains the direct address style. |
| (0.18) | (1Ch 16:15) | 1 tn The Hebrew text has a masculine plural imperative, addressed to the people. Some LXX mss harmonize the wording here to Ps 105:8, which has זָכַר (zakhar), the perfect third masculine singular form of the verb, “He (the Lord) remembers” (so NIV; NEB reads “He called to mind his covenant”). |
| (0.18) | (2Ki 23:35) | 1 tn Heb “And the silver and the gold Jehoiakim gave to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the silver at the command of Pharaoh, [from] each according to his tax he collected the silver and the gold, from the people of the land, to give to Pharaoh Necho.” |
| (0.18) | (2Sa 22:50) | 2 tn Heb “to your name.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his divine characteristics as suggested by his name, in this case “Lord,” the primary name of Israel’s covenant God which suggests his active presence with his people (see Exod 3:12-15). |
| (0.18) | (2Sa 16:18) | 1 tn Heb “No for with the one whom the Lord has chosen, and this people, and all the men of Israel, I will be and with him I will stay.” The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading לוֹ (lo, “[I will be] to him”) rather than the MT לֹא (loʾ, “[I will] not be”), which makes very little sense here. |
| (0.18) | (2Sa 13:20) | 1 tn Heb “Don’t set your heart to this thing!” Elsewhere this phrase means to disregard or not pay attention to something (e.g. Exod 7:23). It is a callous thing to say to Tamar, but to the degree that what he said becomes known, it misleads people from understanding that he is personally plotting revenge (13:22, 28). |
| (0.18) | (1Sa 2:2) | 2 tn The LXX has “and there is none righteous like our God.” The Hebrew term translated “rock” refers to a rocky cliff where one can seek refuge from enemies. Here the metaphor depicts God as a protector of his people. Cf. TEV “no protector like our God”; CEV “We’re safer with you than on a high mountain.” |
| (0.18) | (Jdg 5:7) | 4 tn Heb “mother.” The translation assumes that the image portrays Deborah as a protector of the people. It is possible that the metaphor points to her prophetic role. Just as a male prophet could be called “father,” so Deborah, a prophetess, is called “mother” (B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 239). |
| (0.18) | (Jos 24:14) | 1 sn Joshua quotes the Lord’s words in vv. 2b-13 (note that the Lord speaks in the first person in these verses); in vv. 14-15 Joshua himself exhorts the people (note the third person references to the Lord). |
