5:18 For 1 he 2 wounds, 3 but he also bandages;
he strikes, but his hands also heal.
38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; 4
I am deprived of health because of my sin. 5
38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; 6
like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.
38:5 My wounds 7 are infected and starting to smell, 8
because of my foolish sins. 9
6:14 They offer only superficial help
for the harm my people have suffered. 10
They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’
But everything is not all right! 11
8:21 My heart is crushed because my dear people 12 are being crushed. 13
I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay. 14
8:22 There is still medicinal ointment 15 available in Gilead!
There is still a physician there! 16
Why then have my dear people 17
not been restored to health? 18
5:12 I will be like a moth to Ephraim,
like wood rot 22 to the house of Judah.
5:13 When Ephraim saw 23 his sickness
and Judah saw his wound,
then Ephraim turned 24 to Assyria,
and begged 25 its great king 26 for help.
But he will not be able to heal you!
He cannot cure your wound! 27
1 sn Verses 18-23 give the reasons why someone should accept the chastening of God – the hand that wounds is the same hand that heals. But, of course, the lines do not apply to Job because his suffering is not due to divine chastening.
2 tn The addition of the independent pronoun here makes the subject emphatic, as if to say, “For it is he who makes….”
3 tn The imperfect verbs in this verse describe the characteristic activities of God; the classification as habitual imperfect fits the idea and is to be rendered with the English present tense.
4 tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.
5 tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”
6 tn Heb “pass over my head.”
7 sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.
8 tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).
9 tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”
10 tn Heb “They heal [= bandage] the wound of my people lightly”; TEV “They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches.”
11 tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”
12 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
13 tn Heb “Because of the crushing of the daughter of my people I am crushed.”
14 tn Heb “I go about in black [i.e., mourning clothes]. Dismay has seized me.”
15 tn Heb “balm.” The more familiar “ointment” has been used in the translation, supplemented with the adjective “medicinal.”
16 tn Heb “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” In this context the questions are rhetorical and expect a positive answer, which is made explicit in the translation.
17 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
18 tn Or more clearly, “restored to spiritual health”; Heb “Why then has healing not come to my dear people?”
19 tn Heb “Behold I am healing.” For the usage of the particle “behold” indicating certainty see the translator’s note on 1:6. These are the great and hidden things that the
20 sn Compare Jer 30:17. Jerusalem is again being personified and her political and spiritual well-being are again in view.
21 tn The meaning and text of this word is questioned by KBL 749 s.v. עֲתֶרֶת. However, KBL also emends both occurrences of the verb from which BDB 801 s.v. עֲתֶרֶת derives this noun. BDB is more likely correct in seeing this and the usage of the verb in Prov 27:6; Ezek 35:13 as Aramaic loan words from a root meaning to be rich (equivalent to the Hebrew עָשַׁר, ’ashar).
22 tn The noun רָקָב (raqav, “rottenness, decay”) refers to wood rot caused by the ravages of worms (BDB 955 s.v. רָקָב); cf. NLT “dry rot.” The related noun רִקָּבוֹן (riqqavon) refers to “rotten wood” (Job 41:27).
23 tn Hosea employs three preterites (vayyiqtol forms) in verse 13a-b to describe a past-time situation.
24 tn Heb “went to” (so NAB, NRSV, TEV); CEV “asked help from.”
25 tn Heb “sent to” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).
26 tc The MT reads מֶלֶךְ יָרֵב (melekh yarev, “a contentious king”). This is translated as a proper name (“king Jareb”) by KJV, ASV, NASB. However, the stative adjective יָרֵב (“contentious”) is somewhat awkward. The words should be redivided as an archaic genitive-construct מַלְכִּי רָב (malki rav, “great king”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) which preserves the old genitive hireq yod ending. This is the equivalent of the Assyrian royal epithet sarru rabbu (“the great king”). See also the tc note on the same phrase in 10:6.
27 tn Heb “your wound will not depart from you.”
28 tn Here the Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah), usually translated “righteousness” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT; cf. NAB “justice”), has been rendered as “vindication” because it is the vindication of God’s people that is in view in the context. Cf. BDB 842 s.v. צְדָקָה 6; “righteousness as vindicated, justification, salvation, etc.”
29 sn The point of the metaphor of healing wings is unclear. The sun seems to be compared to a bird. Perhaps the sun’s “wings” are its warm rays. “Healing” may refer to a reversal of the injury done by evildoers (see Mal 3:5).
30 tn Heb “you will go out and skip about.”
31 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
32 sn Jesus’ point is that he associates with those who are sick because they have the need and will respond to the offer of help. A person who is healthy (or who thinks mistakenly that he is) will not seek treatment.
33 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Instead, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
34 tn The words “to him” are not in the Greek text but are implied. The participle προσελθών (proselqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
35 sn The ancient practice of pouring oil was designed to comfort and clean the wounds (Isa 1:6).
36 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. Because of the length and complexity of this Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
37 tn It is not clear whether the causative nuance of the verb included actual assistance or not (“helped him on” versus “had him get on”; see L&N 15.98), but in light of the severity of the man’s condition as described in the preceding verses, some degree of assistance was almost certainly needed.
38 sn His own animal refers to a riding animal, presumably a donkey, but not specified.