3:16 Or why 1 was 2 I not buried 3
like a stillborn infant, 4
like infants 5 who have never seen the light? 6
35:7 If you are righteous, what do you give to God,
or what does he receive from your hand?
38:5 Who set its measurements – if 7 you know –
or who stretched a measuring line across it?
38:6 On what 8 were its bases 9 set,
or who laid its cornerstone –
38:36 Who has put wisdom in the heart, 10
or has imparted understanding to the mind?
1 tn The verb is governed by the interrogative of v. 12 that introduces this series of rhetorical questions.
2 tn The verb is again the prefix conjugation, but the narrative requires a past tense, or preterite.
3 tn Heb “hidden.” The LXX paraphrases: “an untimely birth, proceeding from his mother’s womb.”
4 tn The noun נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”) is the abortive thing that falls (hence the verb) from the womb before the time is ripe (Ps 58:9). The idiom using the verb “to fall” from the womb means to come into the world (Isa 26:18). The epithet טָמוּן (tamun, “hidden”) is appropriate to the verse. The child comes in vain, and disappears into the darkness – it is hidden forever.
5 tn The word עֹלְלִים (’olÿlim) normally refers to “nurslings.” Here it must refer to infants in general since it refers to a stillborn child.
6 tn The relative clause does not have the relative pronoun; the simple juxtaposition of words indicates that it is modifying the infants.
7 tn The particle כּ (ki) is taken here for a conditional clause, “if you know” (see GKC 498 §159.dd). Others take it as “surely” with a biting irony.
13 tn For the interrogative serving as a genitive, see GKC 442 §136.b.
14 sn The world was conceived of as having bases and pillars, but these poetic descriptions should not be pressed too far (e.g., see Ps 24:2, which may be worded as much for its polemics against Canaanite mythology as anything).
19 tn This verse is difficult because of the two words, טֻחוֹת (tukhot, rendered here “heart”) and שֶׂכְוִי (sekhvi, here “mind”). They have been translated a number of ways: “meteor” and “celestial appearance”; the stars “Procyon” and “Sirius”; “inward part” and “mind”; even as birds, “ibis” and “cock.” One expects them to have something to do with nature – clouds and the like. The RSV accordingly took them to mean “meteor” (from a verb “to wander”) and “a celestial appearance.” But these meanings are not well-attested.