31:12 I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about; 1
I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar. 2
109:22 For I am oppressed and needy,
and my heart beats violently within me. 3
109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; 4
I am shaken off like a locust.
109:24 I am so starved my knees shake; 5
I have turned into skin and bones. 6
5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
1 tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.
2 tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.
3 tc The verb in the Hebrew text (חָלַל, khalal) appears to be a Qal form from the root חלל meaning “pierced; wounded.” However, the Qal of this root is otherwise unattested. The translation assumes an emendation to יָחִיל (yakhil), a Qal imperfect from חוּל (khul, “tremble”) or to חֹלַל (kholal), a polal perfect from חוּל (khul). See Ps 55:4, which reads לִבִּי יָחִיל בְּקִרְבִּי (libbiy yakhil bÿqirbbiy, “my heart trembles [i.e., “beats violently”] within me”).
4 tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.
5 tn Heb “my knees stagger from fasting.”
6 tn Heb “and my flesh is lean away from fatness [i.e., “lean so as not to be fat”].”
7 tn Or “exult, boast.”
8 tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).