23:1 A long time 3 passed after the Lord made Israel secure from all their enemies, 4 and Joshua was very old. 5
34:29 But if God 6 is quiet, who can condemn 7 him?
If he hides his face, then who can see him?
Yet 8 he is over the individual and the nation alike, 9
46:9 He brings an end to wars throughout the earth; 10
he shatters 11 the bow and breaks 12 the spear;
he burns 13 the shields with fire. 14
1 tn Heb “and with all their desire they sought him and he allowed himself to be found by them.”
2 tn Heb “and the
3 tn Heb “many days.”
4 tn Heb “the
5 tn Heb “was old, coming into the days.” This expression, referring to advancing in years, also occurs in the following verse.
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn The verb in this position is somewhat difficult, although it does make good sense in the sentence – it is just not what the parallelism would suggest. So several emendations have been put forward, for which see the commentaries.
8 tn The line simply reads “and over a nation and over a man together.” But it must be the qualification for the points being made in the previous lines, namely, that even if God hides himself so no one can see, yet he is still watching over them all (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 222).
9 tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.”
10 tn Heb “[the] one who causes wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” The participle continues the description begun in v. 8b and indicates that this is the
11 tn The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Ps 29:5). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3). The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.
12 tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries along the generalizing emphasis of the preceding imperfect.
13 tn The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.
14 tn Heb “wagons he burns with fire.” Some read “chariots” here (cf. NASB), but the Hebrew word refers to wagons or carts, not chariots, elsewhere in the OT. In this context, where military weapons are mentioned, it is better to revocalize the form as עֲגִלוֹת (’agilot, “round shields”), a word which occurs only here in the OT, but is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic.