3:54 The waters closed over my head;
I thought 1 I was about to die. 2
5:4 We must pay money 3 for our own water; 4
we must buy our own wood at a steep price. 5
1 tn Heb “I said,” meaning “I said to myself” = “I thought.”
2 tn Heb “I was about to be cut off.” The verb נִגְזָרְתִּי (nigzarti), Niphal perfect 1st person common singular from גָּזַר (gazar, “to be cut off”), functions in an ingressive sense: “about to be cut off.” It is used in reference to the threat of death (e.g., Ezek 37:11). To be “cut off” from the hand of the living means to experience death (Ps 88:6).
3 tn Heb “silver.” The term “silver” is a synecdoche of species (= silver) for general (= money).
4 tn Heb “We drink our water for silver.”
5 tn Heb “our wood comes for a price.”