13:26 They came back 7 to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. 8 They reported 9 to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.
120:5 How miserable I am! 10
For I have lived temporarily 11 in Meshech;
I have resided among the tents of Kedar. 12
1 sn The line of attack ran down the eastern side of the Jordan Valley into the desert, and then turned and came up the valley to the cities of the plain.
2 sn The wilderness of Paran is an area in the east central region of the Sinai peninsula, northeast from the traditional site of Mt. Sinai and with the Arabah and the Gulf of Aqaba as its eastern border.
3 tn Heb “And his mother took for him a wife from the land of Egypt.”
4 sn The verb is the same as the noun: “they journeyed on their journeyings.” This underscores the point of their continual traveling.
5 tn Heb “mouth.”
6 tn Heb “heads.”
7 tn The construction literally has “and they went and they entered,” which may be smoothed out as a verbal hendiadys, the one verb modifying the other.
8 sn Kadesh is Ain Qadeis, about 50 miles (83 km) south of Beer Sheba. It is called Kadesh-barnea in Num 32:8.
9 tn Heb “They brought back word”; the verb is the Hiphil preterite of שׁוּב (shuv).
10 tn Or “woe to me.” The Hebrew term אוֹיָה (’oyah, “woe”) which occurs only here, is an alternate form of אוֹי (’oy).
11 tn Heb “I live as a resident alien.”
12 sn Meshech was located in central Anatolia (modern Turkey). Kedar was located in the desert to east-southeast of Israel. Because of the reference to Kedar, it is possible that Ps 120:5 refers to a different Meshech, perhaps one associated with the individual mentioned as a descendant of Aram in 1 Chr 1:17. (However, the LXX in 1 Chr 1:17 follows the parallel text in Gen 10:23, which reads “Mash,” not Meshech.) It is, of course, impossible that the psalmist could have been living in both the far north and the east at the same time. For this reason one must assume that he is recalling his experience as a wanderer among the nations or that he is using the geographical terms metaphorically and sarcastically to suggest that the enemies who surround him are like the barbarians who live in these distant regions. For a discussion of the problem, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 146.