Psalms 109:13

109:13 May his descendants be cut off!

May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives!

Psalms 112:6

112:6 For he will never be upended;

others will always remember one who is just.

Proverbs 10:7

10:7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing,

but the reputation of the wicked will rot.

Isaiah 38:11

38:11 “I thought,

‘I will no longer see the Lord in the land of the living,

I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world.

Numbers 1:14

1:14 from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel; 10 


tn Or “offspring.”

sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”

tn Heb “for an eternal memorial a just [one] will be.”

sn “Memory” (זֵכֶר, zekher) and “name” are often paired as synonyms. “Memory” in this sense has to do with reputation, fame. One’s reputation will be good or bad by righteousness or wickedness respectively.

tn Heb “name.” The term “name” often functions as a metonymy of association for reputation (BDB 1028 s.v. שֵׁם 2.b).

tn The editors of BHS suggest a reading “will be cursed” to make a better parallelism, but the reading of the MT is more striking as a metaphor.

tn The Hebrew text has יָהּ יָהּ (yah yah, the abbreviated form of יְהוָה [yÿhvah] repeated), but this is probably a corruption of יְהוָה.

tc The Hebrew text has חָדֶל (khadel), which appears to be derived from a verbal root meaning “to cease, refrain.” But the form has probably suffered an error of transmission; the original form (attested in a few medieval Hebrew mss) was likely חֶלֶד (kheled, “world”).

10 tc There is a textual difficulty with this verb. The Greek form uses r and not d, giving the name Ra‘oul. There is even some variation in the Hebrew traditions, but BHS (following the Leningrad codex of a.d. 1008) has preferred the name Deuel.