27:13 This is the portion of the wicked man
allotted by God, 1
the inheritance that evildoers receive
from the Almighty.
27:14 If his children increase – it is for the sword! 2
His offspring never have enough to eat. 3
27:15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague, 4
and their 5 widows do not mourn for them.
78:63 Fire consumed their 6 young men,
and their 7 virgins remained unmarried. 8
78:64 Their 9 priests fell by the sword,
but their 10 widows did not weep. 11
109:9 May his children 12 be fatherless,
and his wife a widow!
15:8 Their widows will become in my sight more numerous 13
than the grains of sand on the seashores.
At noontime I will bring a destroyer
against the mothers of their young men. 14
I will cause anguish 15 and terror
to fall suddenly upon them. 16
18:21 So let their children die of starvation.
Let them be cut down by the sword. 17
Let their wives lose their husbands and children.
Let the older men die of disease 18
and the younger men die by the sword in battle.
5:3 We have become fatherless orphans;
our mothers have become widows.
1 tn The expression “allotted by God” interprets the simple prepositional phrase in the text: “with/from God.”
2 tn R. Gordis (Job, 294) identifies this as a breviloquence. Compare Ps 92:8 where the last two words also constitute the apodosis.
3 tn Heb “will not be satisfied with bread/food.”
4 tn The text says “will be buried in/by death.” A number of passages in the Bible use “death” to mean the plague that kills (see Jer 15:2; Isa 28:3; and BDB 89 s.v. בְּ 2.a). In this sense it is like the English expression for the plague, “the Black Death.”
5 tc The LXX has “their widows” to match the plural, and most commentators harmonize in the same way.
6 tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).
7 tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).
8 tn Heb “were not praised,” that is, in wedding songs. The young men died in masses, leaving no husbands for the young women.
9 tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).
10 tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).
11 sn Because of the invading army and the ensuing panic, the priests’ widows had no time to carry out the normal mourning rites.
12 tn Or “sons.”
13 tn Heb “to me.” BDB 513 s.v. ל 5.a(d) compares the usage of the preposition “to” here to that in Jonah 3:3, “Nineveh was a very great city to God [in God’s estimation].” The NEB/REB interpret as though it were the agent after a passive verb, “I have made widows more numerous.” Most English versions ignore it. The present translation follows BDB though the emphasis on God’s agency has been strong in the passage.
14 tn The translation of this line is a little uncertain because of the double prepositional phrase which is not represented in this translation or most of the others. The Hebrew text reads: “I will bring in to them, against mother of young men, a destroyer at noon time.” Many commentaries delete the phrase with the Greek text. If the preposition read “against” like the following one this would be a case of apposition of nearer definition. There is some evidence of that in the Targum and the Syriac according to BHS. Both nouns “mothers” and “young men” are translated as plural here though they are singular; they are treated by most as collectives. It would be tempting to translate these two lines “In broad daylight I have brought destroyers against the mothers of her fallen young men.” But this may be too interpretive. In the light of 6:4, noontime was a good time to attack. NJPS has “I will bring against them – young men and mothers together – ….” In this case “mother” and “young men” would be a case of asyndetic coordination.
15 tn This word is used only here and in Hos 11:9. It is related to the root meaning “to rouse” (so BDB 735 s.v. I עִיר). Here it refers to the excitement or agitation caused by terror. In Hos 11:9 it refers to the excitement or arousal of anger.
16 tn The “them” in the Hebrew text is feminine referring to the mothers.
17 tn Heb “be poured out to the hand [= power] of the sword.” For this same expression see Ezek 35:5; Ps 63:10 (63:11 HT). Comparison with those two passages show that it involved death by violent means, perhaps death in battle.
18 tn Heb “be slain by death.” The commentaries are generally agreed that this refers to death by disease or plague as in 15:2. Hence, the reference is to the deadly trio of sword, starvation, and disease which were often connected with war. See the notes on 15:2.
19 sn The background to the image pressed down, shaken together, running over is pouring out grain for measure in the marketplace. One often poured the grain into a container, shook it to level out the grain and then poured in some more. Those who are generous have generosity running over for them.
20 tn Grk “they will give”; that is, “pour.” The third person plural has been replaced by the passive in the translation.
21 tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured back to you.”