22:14 My strength drains away like water; 11
all my bones are dislocated;
my heart 12 is like wax;
it melts away inside me.
53:10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill,
once restitution is made, 13
he will see descendants and enjoy long life, 14
and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.
1 tn Heb “burn with fire.”
2 sn This is to be done because there is no priesthood yet. Once they are installed, then the sin/purification offering is to be eaten by the officiating priests as a sign that the offering was received. But priests could not consume their own sin offering.
3 sn There were two kinds of “purification offering,” those made with confession for sin and those made without. The title needs to cover both of them, and if it is called in the traditional way “the sin offering,” that will convey that when people offered it for skin diseases, menstruation, or having babies, they had sinned. That was not the case. Moreover, it is usual to translate the names of the sacrifices by what they do more than what they cover – so peace offering, reparation offering, and purification offering.
4 tn All of v. 11 is a so-called casus pendens (also known as an extraposition or a nominative absolute), which means that it anticipates the next verse, being the full description of “all (the rest of) the bull” (lit. “all the bull”) at the beginning of v. 12 (actually after the first verb of the verse; see the next note below).
5 tn Heb “And he (the offerer) shall bring out all the bull to from outside to the camp to a clean place.”
6 tn Heb “a clean place,” but referring to a place that is ceremonially clean. This has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “the pouring out [place] of fatty ash.”
8 tn Heb “burn with fire.” This expression is somewhat redundant in English, so the translation collocates “fire” with “wood,” thus “a wood fire.”
9 sn See the note on the word “slaughter” in v. 15.
10 tn Heb “And he shall bring out the bull to from outside to the camp.”
11 tn Heb “like water I am poured out.”
12 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s strength and courage.
13 tn The meaning of this line is uncertain. It reads literally, “if you/she makes, a reparation offering, his life.” The verb תָּשִׂים (tasim) could be second masculine singular,in which case it would have to be addressed to the servant or to God. However, the servant is only addressed once in this servant song (see 52:14a), and God either speaks or is spoken about in this servant song; he is never addressed. Furthermore, the idea of God himself making a reparation offering is odd. If the verb is taken as third feminine singular, then the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) at the end of the line is the likely subject. In this case one can take the suffixed form of the noun as equivalent to a pronoun and translate, “if he [literally, “his life”] makes a reparation offering.”
14 sn The idiomatic and stereotypical language emphasizes the servant’s restoration to divine favor. Having numerous descendants and living a long life are standard signs of divine blessing. See Job 42:13-16.