Discovery Box1 Samuel 2:32-36
Context2:32 You will see trouble in my dwelling place! 1 Israel will experience blessings, 2 but there will not be an old man in your 3 house for all time. 4 2:33 Any one of you that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause your 5 eyes to fail 6 and will cause you grief. 7 All of those born to your family 8 will die in the prime of life. 9 2:34 This will be a confirming sign for you that will be fulfilled through your two sons, 10 Hophni and Phinehas: in a single day they both will die! 2:35 Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. He will do what is in my heart and soul. I will build for him a secure dynasty 11 and he will serve my chosen one for all time. 12 2:36 Everyone who remains in your house will come to bow before him for a little money 13 and for a scrap of bread. Each will say, ‘Assign me to a priestly task so I can eat a scrap of bread.’”
1 Samuel 2:2
Context2:2 No one is holy 14 like the Lord!
There is no one other than you!
There is no rock 15 like our God!
1 Samuel 5:1
Context5:1 Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
Psalms 109:8-19
ContextMay another take his job! 17
109:9 May his children 18 be fatherless,
and his wife a widow!
109:10 May his children 19 roam around begging,
asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! 20
109:11 May the creditor seize 21 all he owns!
May strangers loot his property! 22
109:12 May no one show him kindness! 23
May no one have compassion 24 on his fatherless children!
109:13 May his descendants 25 be cut off! 26
May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! 27
109:14 May his ancestors’ 28 sins be remembered by the Lord!
May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! 29
109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, 30
and cut off the memory of his children 31 from the earth!
109:16 For he never bothered to show kindness; 32
he harassed the oppressed and needy,
and killed the disheartened. 33
109:17 He loved to curse 34 others, so those curses have come upon him. 35
He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. 36
109:18 He made cursing a way of life, 37
so curses poured into his stomach like water
and seeped into his bones like oil. 38
109:19 May a curse attach itself to him, like a garment one puts on, 39
or a belt 40 one wears continually!
[2:32] 1 tn Heb “you will see [the] trouble of [the] dwelling place.” Since God’s dwelling place/sanctuary is in view, the pronoun is supplied in the translation (see v. 29).
[2:32] 2 tn Heb “in all which he does good with Israel.”
[2:32] 3 tc The LXX and a Qumran manuscript have the first person pronoun “my” here.
[2:32] 4 tn Heb “all the days.”
[2:33] 5 tc The LXX, a Qumran
[2:33] 6 tn Heb “to cause your eyes to fail.” Elsewhere this verb, when used of eyes, refers to bloodshot eyes resulting from weeping, prolonged staring, or illness (see Lev 26:16; Pss 69:3; 119:82; Lam 2:11; 4:17).
[2:33] 7 tn Heb “and to cause your soul grief.”
[2:33] 8 tn Heb “and all the increase of your house.”
[2:33] 9 tc The text is difficult. The MT literally says “they will die [as] men.” Apparently the meaning is that they will be cut off in the prime of their life without reaching old age. The LXX and a Qumran
[2:34] 10 tn Heb “and this to you [is] the sign which will come to both of your sons.”
[2:35] 12 tn Heb “and he will walk about before my anointed one all the days.”
[2:36] 13 tn Heb “a piece of silver” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[2:2] 14 sn In this context God’s holiness refers primarily to his sovereignty and incomparability. He is unique and distinct from all other so-called gods.
[2:2] 15 tn The LXX has “and there is none righteous like our God.” The Hebrew term translated “rock” refers to a rocky cliff where one can seek refuge from enemies. Here the metaphor depicts God as a protector of his people. Cf. TEV “no protector like our God”; CEV “We’re safer with you than on a high mountain.”
[109:8] 16 tn The prefixed verbal forms (except those with vav [ו] consecutive) in vv. 8-20 are taken as jussives of prayer. Note the distinct jussive forms used in vv. 12-13, 15, 19.
[109:8] 17 tn The Hebrew noun פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah) can mean “charge” or “office,” though BDB 824 s.v. suggests that here it refers to his possessions.
[109:10] 20 tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vÿdoreshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yÿgoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shi’elu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.
[109:11] 21 tn Heb “lay snares for” (see Ps 38:12).
[109:11] 22 tn Heb “the product of his labor.”
[109:12] 23 tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”
[109:12] 24 tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).
[109:13] 25 tn Or “offspring.”
[109:13] 26 sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.
[109:13] 27 tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”
[109:14] 28 tn Or “fathers’ sins.”
[109:14] 29 tn Heb “not be wiped out.”
[109:15] 30 tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the
[109:15] 31 tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.
[109:16] 32 tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”
[109:16] 33 tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”
[109:17] 34 sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.
[109:17] 35 tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.
[109:17] 36 tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”
[109:18] 37 tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”
[109:18] 38 tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”
[109:19] 39 tn Heb “may it be for him like a garment one puts on.”
[109:19] 40 tn The Hebrew noun מֵזַח (mezakh, “belt; waistband”) occurs only here in the OT. The form apparently occurs in Isa 23:10 as well, but an emendation is necessary there.
