2:10 The Lord shatters 1 his adversaries; 2
he thunders against them from 3 the heavens.
The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth.
He will strengthen 4 his king
and exalt the power 5 of his anointed one.” 6
1 tn The imperfect verbal forms in this line and in the next two lines are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.
2 tc The present translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate in reading the plural (“his adversaries,” similarly many other English versions) rather than the singular (“his adversary”) of the Kethib.
3 tn The Hebrew preposition here has the sense of “from within.”
4 tn The imperfect verbal forms in this and the next line are understood as indicating what is anticipated and translated with the future tense, because at the time of Hannah’s prayer Israel did not yet have a king.
5 tn Heb “the horn,” here a metaphor for power or strength. Cf. NCV “make his appointed king strong”; NLT “increases the might of his anointed one.”
6 tc The LXX greatly expands v. 10 with an addition that seems to be taken from Jer 9:23-24.
7 sn A quarter shekel of silver would weigh about a tenth of an ounce (about 3 grams).
8 tn Heb “our way.”
13 tn Heb “sons of worthlessness” (see 2:12).
14 tc In place of the MT (“and it was like one being silent”) the LXX has “after about a month,” taking the expression with the first part of the following chapter rather than with 10:27. Some Hebrew support for this reading appears in the corrected hand of a Qumran
19 tn Heb “bearing.” Many English versions understand this verb to mean “wearing” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT).
25 tn The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
26 sn That is, about fifteen or sixteen pounds.
31 tn Heb “and the
37 tn Heb “people.”
38 tn Heb “said to stone him.”
39 tn Heb “for bitter was the soul of all the people, each one.”