⁵ tn Heb “broken” or “shattered.”

⁴ tn Heb “broken” or “shattered.”

⁴ tn Heb “will not be shattered [or “dismayed”].”

¹ tn Heb “Its shattering is like the shattering of a jug of [i.e., “made by”] potters, [so] shattered one cannot save [any of it].”

² tc The present translation reads יַד־נֹפֵץ (yad nofets, “hand of one who shatters”) rather than the MT נַפֵּץ־יַד (nappets yad, “to shatter the hand”).

¹ tn Heb “Indeed by the voice of the Lord Assyria will be shattered.”

¹ tn Heb “Ephraim will be too shattered to be a nation”; NIV “to be a people.”

¹ tn Heb “and [there will be] a shattering of rebels and sinners together.”

² tn Dhorme suggested reversing the two verbs, making this the first, and then “shatter” for the second colon.

³ sn The meaning for Job is that death shatters all of man’s hopes for the continuation of life.

⁴ tn Heb “For the ascent of Luhith, with weeping they go up it; for [on] the road to Horonaim an outcry over shattering they raise up.”

¹ tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”

⁶ tc The MT reads “shatter, devastate.” Smr reads קֹדְקֹד (qodqod, “head; crown; pate”). Smr follows Jer 48:45 which appears to reflect Num 24:17.

¹ tn The verb פָּרַר (parar) means “to shake.” In the Hiphil it means “to break; to shatter” (5:12; 15:4). The Pilpel means “to break in pieces,” and in the Poel in Jer 23:29 “to smash up.” So Job was living at ease, and God shattered his life.

² tn The imperatival form (Heb “be shattered”) is rhetorical and expresses the speaker’s firm conviction of the outcome of the nations’ attack. See the note on “be broken.”

² tn The verb חַתּוּ (khattu) is from חָתַת (khatat) which means “to be terrified.” But here it stresses the resulting dilemma. R. Gordis (Job, 369) renders it, “they are shattered, beaten in an argument.”

¹ tn Heb “shattered and crushed.” The repetition of similar sounding synonyms (רָעַץ [raʿats] and רָצַץ [ratsats]) is for emphasis; רָצַץ appears in the Polel, adding further emphasis to the affirmation.

² tn Here, and throughout the song, these verbs are the prefixed conjugation that may look like the imperfect but are actually historic preterites. This verb is to “overthrow” or “throw down”—like a wall, leaving it in shattered pieces.

¹ sn The affirmation They will be my people, and I will be their God speaks of covenant renewal, a restoration of the unbroken fellowship the Lord desired to have with his people but which their disloyalty had shattered. In the eschaton God and Israel will be in covenant union once again (cf. Jer 31:33).

³ sn In a legal controversy with God it would be essential to choose the correct words very carefully (humanly speaking), but the calmness and presence of mind to do that would be shattered by the overwhelming terror of God’s presence.