29:7 The righteous person cares for 1 the legal rights 2 of the poor;
the wicked does not understand such 3 knowledge.
33:8 Highways are empty, 4
there are no travelers. 5
Treaties are broken, 6
witnesses are despised, 7
human life is treated with disrespect. 8
1 tn The form is an active participle, יֹדֵעַ (yodea’); it describes the righteous as “knowing, caring for, having sympathetic knowledge for, or considering favorably” the legal needs of the poor. Cf. NAB “has a care for”; NASB “is concerned for.”
2 tn The Hebrew word used here is דִּין (din), which typically means “judgment,” but can also mean “strife” and “cause.” Here it refers to the “cause” of the poor (so KJV, ASV), their plea, their case, their legal rights. A righteous person is sympathetic to this.
3 tn The term “such” is supplied in the translation for clarification. It is not simply any knowledge that the wicked do not understand, but the knowledge mentioned in the first colon. They do not understand the “sympathetic knowledge” or “concern” for the cause of the poor.
4 tn Or “desolate” (NAB, NASB); NIV, NRSV, NLT “deserted.”
5 tn Heb “the one passing by on the road ceases.”
6 tn Heb “one breaks a treaty”; NAB “Covenants are broken.”
7 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “he despises cities.” The term עָרִים (’arim, “cities”) is probably a corruption of an original עֵדִים (’edim, “[legal] witnesses”), a reading that is preserved in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa. Confusion of dalet (ד) and resh (ר) is a well-attested scribal error.
8 tn Heb “he does not regard human beings.”