12:17 He 1 leads 2 counselors away stripped 3
and makes judges 4 into fools. 5
29:3 when 6 he caused 7 his lamp 8
to shine upon my head,
and by his light
I walked 9 through darkness; 10
31:26 if I looked at the sun 11 when it was shining,
and the moon advancing as a precious thing,
41:18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
its eyes are like the red glow 12 of dawn.
1 tn The personal pronoun normally present as the subject of the participle is frequently omitted (see GKC 381 §119.s).
2 tn GKC 361-62 §116.x notes that almost as a rule a participle beginning a sentence is continued with a finite verb with or without a ו (vav). Here the participle (“leads”) is followed by an imperfect (“makes fools”) after a ו (vav).
3 tn The word שׁוֹלָל (sholal), from the root שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder; to strip”), is an adjective expressing the state (and is in the singular, as if to say, “in the state of one naked” [GKC 375 §118.o]). The word is found in military contexts (see Mic 1:8). It refers to the carrying away of people in nakedness and shame by enemies who plunder (see also Isa 8:1-4). They will go away as slaves and captives, deprived of their outer garments. Some (cf. NAB) suggest “barefoot,” based on the LXX of Mic 1:8; but the meaning of that is uncertain. G. R. Driver wanted to derive the word from an Arabic root “to be mad; to be giddy,” forming a better parallel.
4 sn The judges, like the counselors, are nobles in the cities. God may reverse their lot, either by captivity or by shame, and they cannot resist his power.
5 tn Some translate this “makes mad” as in Isa 44:25, but this gives the wrong connotation today; more likely God shows them to be fools.
6 tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.
7 tn The form בְּהִלּוֹ (bÿhillo) is unusual; it should be parsed as a Hiphil infinitive construct with the elision of the ה (he). The proper spelling would have been with a ַ (patakh) under the preposition, reflecting הַהִלּוֹ (hahillo). If it were Qal, it would just mean “when his light shone.”
8 sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.
9 tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary – it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.
10 tn The accusative (“darkness”) is here an adverbial accusative of place, namely, “in the darkness,” or because he was successfully led by God’s light, “through the darkness” (see GKC 374 §118.h).
11 tn Heb “light”; but parallel to the moon it is the sun. This section speaks of false worship of the sun and the moon.
16 tn Heb “the eyelids,” but it represents the early beams of the dawn as the cover of night lifts.