Isaiah 38:14

38:14 Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,

I coo ¹  like a dove;

my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. ² 

O sovereign master, ³  I am oppressed;

help me! ⁴ 

Job 30:28-29

30:28 I go about blackened, ⁵  but not by the sun;

in the assembly I stand up and cry for help.

30:29 I have become a brother to jackals

and a companion of ostriches. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 8:15

8:15 We hoped for good fortune, but nothing good has come of it.

We hoped for a time of relief, but instead we experience terror. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 9:1

9:1 (8:23) ⁸  I wish that my head were a well full of water ⁹ 

and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!

If they were, I could cry day and night

for those of my dear people ¹⁰  who have been killed.

Ezekiel 7:16

7:16 Their survivors will escape to the mountains and become like doves of the valleys; all of them will moan – each one for his iniquity.

¹ tn Or “moan” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); KJV, CEV “mourn.”

² tn Heb “my eyes become weak, toward the height.”

³ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

⁴ tn Heb “stand surety for me.” Hezekiah seems to be picturing himself as a debtor who is being exploited; he asks that the Lord might relieve his debt and deliver him from the oppressive creditor.

⁵ tn The construction uses the word קֹדֵר (qoder) followed by the Piel perfect of הָלַךְ (halakh, “I go about”). The adjective “blackened” refers to Job’s skin that has been marred by the disease. Adjectives are often used before verbs to describe some bodily condition (see GKC 374-75 §118.n).

⁶ sn The point of this figure is that Job’s cries of lament are like the howls and screeches of these animals, not that he lives with them. In Job 39:13 the female ostrich is called “the wailer.”

⁷ tn Heb “[We hoped] for a time of healing but behold terror.”

⁸ sn Beginning with 9:1, the verse numbers through 9:26 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:1 ET = 8:23 HT, 9:2 ET = 9:1 HT, 9:3 ET = 9:2 HT, etc., through 9:26 ET = 9:25 HT. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

⁹ tn Heb “I wish that my head were water.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.