² tn Heb “palms.”

² tn Heb “hand, palm.”

² tn Or “rows of palms.”

² sn The name Diklah means “date-palm.”

² tc Theodotion lacks “and the palms of my hands.”

² tn Heb “on my knees and the palms of my hands.”

⁴ sn Lifting up the palms or hands is a metaphor for prayer.

² tn Heb “causes poverty.” The expression is literally, “the palm of slackness causes poverty.”

⁴ tn Heb “and he put up on it palm trees and chains.”

³ tn Heb “and he hammered out the gold on the cherubim and the palm trees.”

² sn The city of date palm trees refers to Jericho. See Deut 34:3.

¹ sn The city of date palm trees refers to Jericho. See Deut 34:3.

¹ sn Decorative palm trees were also a part of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 6:29, 32, 35).

⁴ tn Heb “to the survivors who are left to you from the palm of the kings of Assyria.”

² sn The term תָּמָר (tamar, “palm tree”) refers to the date palm tree (Phoenix dactyliferia) that can reach a height of 80 feet (24 m). It flourished in warm moist areas and oases from Egypt to India. Ancient Iraq was the leading grower of date palms and dates in the ancient world, as today (M. H. Pope, The Song of Songs [AB], 633). There is also a hint of eroticism in this palm tree metaphor because the palm tree was often associated with fertility in the ancient world. The point of comparison is that she is a tall, slender, fertile young woman. The comparison of a tall and slender lady to a palm tree is not uncommon in love literature: “O you, whose height is that of a palm tree in a serail” (Homer, Odyssey vi 162-63) (S. H. Stephan, “Modern Palestinian Parallels to the Song of Songs,” JPOS 2 [1922]: 76).

³ tn While Aramaic פַּס (pas) can mean the palm of the hand, here it seems to be the back of the hand that is intended.

¹ tn Heb “a palm of slackness.” The genitive noun רְמִיָּה (r^emiyyah, “slackness”) functions as an attributive adjective: “a slack palm” (BDB 941 s.v.). The term כַף (khaf, “palm”) is a synecdoche of part (= palm) for the whole person (= one who works with his hands). The hand is emphasized because it is the instrument of physical labor. The “slack hand” is contrasted with the “diligent hand.” A slack hand refers to a lazy worker or careless work that such hands produce. See N. C. Habel, “Wisdom, Wealth, and Poverty Paradigms in the Book of Proverbs,” BiBh 14 (1988): 28-49.

² tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your exhausted men bread?”

¹ sn The “palms” refer to the up-turned hands, positioned in such a way that the articles of the offering could be placed on them.

² tn Heb “Are the palms of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give to your army bread?” Perhaps the reference to the kings’ “palms” should be taken literally. The officials of Sukkoth may be alluding to the practice of mutilating prisoners or enemy corpses (see R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 155).