59:17 He wears his desire for justice 3 like body armor, 4
and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head. 5
He puts on the garments of vengeance 6
and wears zeal like a robe.
59:1 Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak 7 to deliver you;
his ear is not too deaf to hear you. 8
5:8 Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, 9
those who also accumulate landed property 10
until there is no land left, 11
and you are the only landowners remaining within the land. 12
1 sn Although the exact weight of Goliath’s defensive body armor is difficult to estimate in terms of modern equivalency, it was obviously quite heavy. Driver, following Kennedy, suggests a modern equivalent of about 220 pounds (100 kg); see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 139. Klein, taking the shekel to be equal to .403 ounces, arrives at a somewhat smaller weight of about 126 pounds (57 kg); see R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 175. But by any estimate it is clear that Goliath presented himself as a formidable foe indeed.
2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
3 tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “goodness.”
4 tn Or “a breastplate” (traditional; so many English versions); TEV “a coat of armour.”
5 tn Heb “and [as] a helmet deliverance on his head.”
6 tn Heb “and he puts on the clothes of vengeance [as] a garment.”
7 tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “or his ear too heavy [i.e., “dull”] to hear.”
9 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who make a house touch a house.” The exclamation הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death.
10 tn Heb “[who] bring a field near a field.”
11 tn Heb “until the end of the place”; NASB “until there is no more room.”
12 tn Heb “and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”