2:3 I replied to the king, “O king, live forever! Why would I not appear dejected when the city with the graves of my ancestors 1 lies desolate and its gates destroyed 2 by fire?”
1 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 5).
2 tn Heb “devoured” or “eaten” (so also in Neh 2:13).
1 tn Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”
2 tn Heb “all who could hear with understanding.” The word “children” is understood to be implied here by a number of English versions (e.g., NAB, TEV, NLT).
3 tn Heb “the ears of all the people were toward.”
1 tn The Hiphil stem of כָּעַס (ka’as) may mean: (1) “to provoke to anger”; (2) “to bitterly offend”; or (3) “to grieve” (BDB 495 s.v. Hiph.; HALOT 491 s.v. כעס hif). The Hebrew lexicons suggest that “bitterly offend” is the most appropriate nuance here.
2 tn Heb “before the builders.” The preposition נֶגֶד (neged, “before”) here connotes “in the sight of” or “in the view of” (BDB 617 s.v. 1.a; HALOT 666 s.v. 1.a).
1 tc The Hebrew text lacks the verb “worked.” It is implied, however, and has been supplied in the translation.