35:13 When they were sick, I wore sackcloth, 1
and refrained from eating food. 2
(If I am lying, may my prayers go unanswered!) 3
35:14 I mourned for them as I would for a friend or my brother. 4
I bowed down 5 in sorrow as if I were mourning for my mother. 6
24:17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, 7
and when he stumbles do not let your heart rejoice,
9:1 (8:23) 8 I wish that my head were a well full of water 9
and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!
If they were, I could cry day and night
for those of my dear people 10 who have been killed.
6:6 They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, 11
and pour the very best oils on themselves. 12
Yet they are not concerned over 13 the ruin 14 of Joseph.
1:1 From Paul, 20 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1 tn Heb “as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.” Sackcloth was worn by mourners. When the psalmist’s enemies were sick, he was sorry for their misfortune and mourned for them.
2 sn Fasting was also a practice of mourners. By refraining from normal activities, such as eating food, the mourner demonstrated the sincerity of his sorrow.
3 tn Heb “and my prayer upon my chest will return.” One could translate, “but my prayer was returning upon my chest,” but the use of the imperfect verbal form sets this line apart from the preceding and following lines (vv. 13a, 14), which use the perfect to describe the psalmist’s past actions.
4 tn Heb “like a friend, like a brother to me I walked about.”
5 sn I bowed down. Bowing down was a posture for mourning. See Ps 38:6.
6 tn Heb “like mourning for a mother [in] sorrow I bowed down.”
7 sn The saying (vv. 17, 18) warns against gloating over the misfortune of one’s enemies. The prohibition is formed with two negated jussives “do not rejoice” and “let not be glad,” the second qualified by “your heart” as the subject, signifying the inner satisfaction of such a defeat.
8 sn Beginning with 9:1, the verse numbers through 9:26 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:1 ET = 8:23 HT, 9:2 ET = 9:1 HT, 9:3 ET = 9:2 HT, etc., through 9:26 ET = 9:25 HT. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
9 tn Heb “I wish that my head were water.”
10 tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.
11 sn Perhaps some religious rite is in view, or the size of the bowls is emphasized (i.e., bowls as large as sacrificial bowls).
12 tn Heb “with the best of oils they anoint [themselves].”
13 tn Or “not sickened by.”
14 sn The ruin of Joseph may refer to the societal disintegration in Israel, or to the effects of the impending judgment.
15 tc Most
16 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
17 tn Grk “And opening his mouth he taught them, saying.” The imperfect verb ἐδίδασκεν (edidasken) has been translated ingressively.
18 tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”
19 tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”
20 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
21 tn The Greek article with τὰ πάντα (ta panta) is anaphoric, referring to the previous list of vices, and has been translated here as “all such things.”