69:8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger;
they act as if I were a foreigner. 1
86:14 O God, arrogant men attack me; 2
a gang 3 of ruthless men, who do not respect you, seek my life. 4
19:13 “He has put my relatives 5 far from me;
my acquaintances only 6 turn away from me.
19:14 My kinsmen have failed me;
my friends 7 have forgotten me. 8
19:15 My guests 9 and my servant girls
consider 10 me a stranger;
I am a foreigner 11 in their eyes.
1 tn Heb “and I am estranged to my brothers, and a foreigner to the sons of my mother.”
2 tn Heb “rise up against me.”
3 tn Or “assembly.”
4 tn Heb “seek my life and do not set you before them.” See Ps 54:3.
5 tn Heb “brothers.”
6 tn The LXX apparently took אַךְ־זָרוּ (’akh, “even, only,” and zaru, “they turn away”) together as if it was the verb אַכְזָרוּ (’akhzaru, “they have become cruel,” as in 20:21). But the grammar in the line would be difficult with this. Moreover, the word is most likely from זוּר (zur, “to turn away”). See L. A. Snijders, “The Meaning of zar in the Old Testament,” OTS 10 (1964): 1-154 (especially p. 9).
7 tn The Pual participle is used for those “known” to him, or with whom he is “familiar,” whereas קָרוֹב (qarov, “near”) is used for a relative.
8 tn Many commentators add the first part of v. 15 to this verse, because it is too loaded and this is too short. That gives the reading “My kinsmen and my familiar friends have disappeared, they have forgotten me (15) the guests I entertained.” There is not much support for this, nor is there much reason for it.
9 tn The Hebrew גָּרֵי בֵיתִי (gare beti, “the guests of my house”) refers to those who sojourned in my house – not residents, but guests.
10 tn The form of the verb is a feminine plural, which would seem to lend support to the proposed change of the lines (see last note to v. 14). But the form may be feminine primarily because of the immediate reference. On the other side, the suffix of “their eyes” is a masculine plural. So the evidence lies on both sides.
11 tn This word נָכְרִי (nokhri) is the person from another race, from a strange land, the foreigner. The previous word, גֵּר (ger), is a more general word for someone who is staying in the land but is not a citizen, a sojourner.