32:20 you will be blessed,
you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams, 1
you who let your ox and donkey graze. 2
14:4 They are dismayed because the ground is cracked 3
because there has been no rain in the land.
The farmers, too, are dismayed
and bury their faces in their hands.
19:13 Now it is planted in the wilderness,
in a dry and thirsty land. 4
1:17 The grains of seed 5 have shriveled beneath their shovels. 6
Storehouses have been decimated
and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.
1:18 Listen to the cattle groan! 7
The herds of livestock wander around in confusion 8
because they have no pasture.
Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
1 tn Heb “by all the waters.”
2 tn Heb “who set free the foot of the ox and donkey”; NIV “letting your cattle and donkeys range free.”
3 tn For the use of the verb “is cracked” here see BDB 369 s.v. חָתַת Qal.1 and compare the usage in Jer 51:56 where it refers to broken bows. The form is a relative clause without relative pronoun (cf., GKC 486-87 §155.f). The sentence as a whole is related to the preceding through a particle meaning “because of” or “on account of.” Hence the subject and verb have been repeated to make the connection.
4 sn This metaphor depicts the Babylonian exile of the Davidic dynasty.
5 tn Heb “seed.” The phrase “the grains of” does not appear in the Hebrew, but has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
6 tc This line is textually uncertain. The MT reads “the seed shrivels in their shovels/clods.” One Qumran manuscript (4QXXIIc) reads “the heifers decay in [their] s[talls].” LXX reads “the heifers leap in their stalls.”
7 tn Heb “how the cattle groan!”
8 tn Heb “the herds of cattle are confused.” The verb בּוּךְ (bukh, “be confused”) sometimes refers to wandering aimlessly in confusion (cf. Exod 14:3).