12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While 1 the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!” 12:22 He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, 2 ‘Perhaps 3 the Lord will show pity and the child will live.
10:1 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites – men, women, and children alike – gathered around him. The people wept loudly. 4
1:4 When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, 5 crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
6:8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, 6
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping! 7
102:9 For I eat ashes as if they were bread, 8
and mix my drink with my tears, 9
12:4 He struggled 10 with an angel and prevailed;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found God 11 at Bethel, 12
and there he spoke with him! 13
1 tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.
2 tn Heb “said.”
3 tn Heb “Who knows?”
4 tn Heb “with much weeping.”
5 tn Heb “sat down.” Context suggests that this was a rather sudden action, resulting from the emotional shock of the unpleasant news, so “abruptly” has been supplied in the present translation.
6 tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.
7 sn The
8 sn Mourners would sometimes put ashes on their head or roll in ashes as a sign of mourning (see 2 Sam 13:19; Job 2:8; Isa 58:5).
9 tn Heb “weeping.”
10 tc The MT vocalizes the consonantal text וָיָּשַׂר (vayyasar, vav consecutive + Qal preterite 3rd person masculine singular from שׂוּר, sur, “to see”); however, parallelism with שָׂרַה (sarah, “he contended”) in 12:3 suggested that it be vocalized as ויּשׂר (vav consecutive + Qal preterite 3rd person masculine singular from שׂרה [“to strive, contend”]). The latter is followed by almost all English versions here.
11 tn Heb “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
13 tc The Leningrad Codex and the Allepo Codex both read 1st person common plural עִמָּנוּ (’immanu, “with us”). The LXX and Peshitta both reflect an alternate Hebrew Vorlage of 3rd person masculine singular עִמוֹ (’imo, “with him”). The BHS editors suggest emending the MT in favor of the Greek and Syriac. The internal evidence of 12:4-5 favors the 3rd person masculine singular reading. It is likely that the 1st person common plural ־נוּ reading on עִמָּנוּ arose due to a misunderstanding of the 3rd person masculine singular ־נוּ suffix on יִמְצָאֶנּוּ (yimtsa’ennu, “he found him”; Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 3rd person masculine singular suffix) which was probably misunderstood as the 1st person common plural suffix: “he found us.” Several English versions follow the LXX and Syriac: “there he spoke with him” (RSV, NAB, NEB, NIV, NJPS, TEV). Others follow the MT: “there he spoke with us” (KJV, NASB, CEV). The Hebrew University Old Testament Project, which tends to preserve the MT whenever possible, adopts the MT reading but gives it only a “C” rating. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:262-63.
14 tn Grk “in the days of his flesh.”
15 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Grk “who…having offered,” continuing the description of Christ from Heb 5:5-6.