31:7 let them 1 drink and forget 2 their poverty,
and remember their misery no more.
31:5 lest they drink and forget what is decreed,
and remove 3 from all the poor 4 their legal rights. 5
1 tn The subjects and suffixes are singular (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). Most other English versions render this as plural for stylistic reasons, in light of the preceding context.
2 tn The king was not to “drink and forget”; the suffering are to “drink and forget.”
3 tn The verb means “change,” perhaps expressed in reversing decisions or removing rights.
4 tn Heb “all the children of poverty.” This expression refers to the poor by nature. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the afflicted”; NIV “oppressed.”
5 sn The word is דִּין (din, “judgment”; so KJV). In this passage it refers to the cause or the plea for justice, i.e., the “legal rights.”