13:1 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, 15 so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.
13:1 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, 16 so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.
20:12 The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe 17 of Benjamin, saying, “How could such a wicked thing take place? 18
22:13 But look, there is outright celebration! 23
You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,
eat meat and drink wine.
Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” 24
1 tn Heb “vineyards.”
2 tn Heb “stomped” or “trampled.” This refers to the way in which the juice was squeezed out in the wine vats by stepping on the grapes with one’s bare feet. For a discussion of grape harvesting in ancient Israel, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 110-14.
3 tn Heb “house.”
4 tn Heb “and went into the midst of the people.”
7 tn Heb “And they sat and ate, the two of them together, and they drank.”
8 tn Heb “Be willing and spend the night so that your heart might be good.”
10 tn Heb “the man arose to go.”
11 tn Or “young man.”
12 tn Heb “the day is sinking to become evening.”
13 tn Or “declining.”
14 tn Heb “for your way and go to your tent.”
13 tn Heb “and his concubine.” The pronoun (“she”) has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
14 tn Or “was unfaithful to him.” Many have understood the Hebrew verb וַתִּזְנֶה (vattizneh) as being from זָנָה (zanah, “to be a prostitute”), but it may be derived from a root meaning “to be angry; to hate” attested in Akkadian (see HALOT 275 s.v. II זנה).
15 tn Heb “went from him.”
16 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
19 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
22 tc The MT reads the plural, but surely the singular (which is supported by the LXX and Vulgate) is preferable here.
23 tn Heb “What is this wicked thing which happened among you?”
25 tn Heb “runners.” So also in 8:10, 14. Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “couriers.”
26 tn Or “went forth in haste” (so ASV).
27 tn Heb “with the word of the king.”
28 sn The city of Susa was in an uproar. This final statement of v. 15 is a sad commentary on the pathetic disregard of despots for the human misery and suffering that they sometimes inflict on those who are helpless to resist their power. Here, while common people braced for the reckless loss of life and property that was about to begin, the perpetrators went about their mundane activities as though nothing of importance was happening.
28 tn Heb “happiness and joy.”
29 tn The prophet here quotes what the fatalistic people are saying. The introductory “you say” is supplied in the translation for clarification; the concluding verb “we die” makes it clear the people are speaking. The six verbs translated as imperatives are actually infinitives absolute, functioning here as finite verbs.
31 tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).
32 tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.
33 tn Or “taken.”
34 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
35 sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.
34 tc The present translation reads וְכַסְפָּא (vÿkhaspa’, “and the silver”) with Theodotion and the Vulgate. Cf. v. 2. The form was probably accidentally dropped from the Aramaic text by homoioteleuton.
35 tn Aram “the temple of the house of God.” The phrase seems rather awkward. The Vulgate lacks “of the house of God,” while Theodotion and the Syriac lack “the house.”
37 tn The Greek text reads here ὁμολογέω (Jomologew); though normally translated “acknowledge, confess,” BDAG (708 s.v. 1) lists “assure, promise with an oath” for certain contexts such as here.