88:4 They treat me like 1 those who descend into the grave. 2
I am like a helpless man, 3
51:52 Yes, but the time will certainly come,” 4 says the Lord, 5
“when I will punish her idols.
Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.
ל (Lamed)
2:12 Children 6 say to their mothers, 7
“Where are food and drink?” 8
They faint 9 like a wounded warrior
in the city squares.
They die slowly 10
in their mothers’ arms. 11
1 tn Heb “I am considered with.”
2 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
3 tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”
4 tn Heb “that being so, look, days are approaching.” Here לָכֵן (lakhen) introduces the Lord’s response to the people’s lament (v. 51). It has the force of “yes, but” or “that may be true.” See Judg 11:8 and BDB 486-87 s.v. כֵּן 3.d.
5 tn Heb “Oracle of the
6 tn Heb “they”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “to their mother,” understood as a collective singular.
8 tn Heb “Where is bread and wine?” The terms “bread” and “wine” are synecdoches of specific (= bread, wine) for general (= food, drink).
9 tn Heb “as they faint” or “when they faint.”
10 tn Heb “as their life is poured out.” The term בְּהִשְׁתַּפֵּךְ (bÿhishtappekh), Hitpael infinitive construct + the preposition בּ (bet), from שָׁפַךְ (shafakh, “to pour out”) may be rendered “as they expire” (BDB 1050 s.v. שָׁפַךְ), referring to the process of dying. Note the repetition of the word “pour out” with various direct objects in this poem at 2:4, 11, 12, and 19.
11 tn Heb “chest, lap.”
12 tn Heb “him”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.