15:21 Terrifying sounds fill 1 his ears;
in a time of peace marauders 2 attack him.
18:11 Terrors 3 frighten him on all sides
and dog 4 his every step.
48:5 As soon as they see, 5 they are shocked; 6
they are terrified, they quickly retreat. 7
48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, 8
like a woman writhing in childbirth. 9
73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!
Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! 10
10:24 What the wicked fears 11 will come on him;
what the righteous desire 12 will be granted. 13
7:2 It was reported to the family 14 of David, “Syria has allied with 15 Ephraim.” They and their people were emotionally shaken, just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. 16
21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; 17
cramps overwhelm me
like the contractions of a woman in labor.
I am disturbed 18 by what I hear,
horrified by what I see.
21:4 My heart palpitates, 19
I shake in fear; 20
the twilight I desired
has brought me terror.
57:20 But the wicked are like a surging sea
that is unable to be quiet;
its waves toss up mud and sand.
57:21 There will be no prosperity,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
1 tn The word “fill” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.
2 tn The word שׁוֹדֵד (shoded) means “a robber; a plunderer” (see Job 12:6). With the verb bo’ the sentence means that the robber pounces on or comes against him (see GKC 373 §118.f). H. H. Rowley observes that the text does not say that he is under attack, but that the sound of fears is in his ears, i.e., that he is terrified by thoughts of this.
3 sn Bildad is referring here to all the things that afflict a person and cause terror. It would then be a metonymy of effect, the cause being the afflictions.
4 tn The verb פּוּץ (puts) in the Hiphil has the meaning “to pursue” and “to scatter.” It is followed by the expression “at his feet.” So the idea is easily derived: they chase him at his feet. But some commentators have other proposals. The most far-fetched is that of Ehrlich and Driver (ZAW 24 [1953]: 259-60) which has “and compel him to urinate on his feet,” one of many similar readings the NEB accepted from Driver.
5 tn The object of “see” is omitted, but v. 3b suggests that the
6 tn Heb “they look, so they are shocked.” Here כֵּן (ken, “so”) has the force of “in the same measure.”
7 tn The translation attempts to reflect the staccato style of the Hebrew text, where the main clauses of vv. 4-6 are simply juxtaposed without connectives.
8 tn Heb “trembling seizes them there.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).
9 tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”
10 tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”
11 tn Heb “the dread of the wicked.” The noun רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is a subjective genitive. The noun מְגוֹרַת (mÿgorat) refers to “the feared thing,” that is, what the wicked dread. The wicked are afraid of the consequences of their sinful actions; however, they cannot escape these consequences.
12 tn Heb “the desire of the righteous.” The noun צַדִּיק (tsadiq, “righteous”) is a subjective genitive.
13 tn Heb “it will give.” When used without an expressed subject, the verb יִתֵּן (yitten) has a passive nuance: “it will be granted.”
14 tn Heb “house.” In this context the “house of David” includes King Ahaz, his family, and the royal court. See also Jer 21:12; Zech 12:7-8, 10, 12, for a similar use of the phrase.
15 tn Heb “rests upon.” Most understand the verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”), but HALOT 685 s.v. II נחה proposes that this is a hapax legomenon which means “stand by.”
16 tn Heb “and his heart shook and the heart of his people shook, like the shaking of the trees of the forest before the wind.” The singular pronoun “his” is collective, referring to the Davidic house/family. לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) here refers to the seat of the emotions.
17 tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”
18 tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”
19 tn Heb “wanders,” perhaps here, “is confused.”
20 tn Heb “shuddering terrifies me.”
21 tn Aram “[the king’s] brightness changed for him.”
22 tn Aram “his thoughts were alarming him.”
23 tn Aram “his loins went slack.”