2 Kings 23:33

23:33 Pharaoh Necho imprisoned him in Riblah in the land of Hamath and prevented him from ruling in Jerusalem. ¹  He imposed on the land a special tax ²  of one hundred talents ³  of silver and a talent of gold.

2 Kings 25:6

25:6 They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, ⁴  where he ⁵  passed sentence on him.

Job 36:8-11

36:8 But if they are bound in chains, ⁶ 

and held captive by the cords of affliction,

36:9 then he reveals ⁷  to them what they have done, ⁸ 

and their transgressions,

that they were behaving proudly.

36:10 And he reveals ⁹  this ¹⁰  for correction,

and says that they must turn ¹¹  from evil.

36:11 If they obey and serve him,

they live out their days in prosperity

and their years in pleasantness. ¹² 

Psalms 107:10-14

107:10 They sat in utter darkness, ¹³ 

bound in painful iron chains, ¹⁴ 

107:11 because they had rebelled against God’s commands, ¹⁵ 

and rejected the instructions of the sovereign king. ¹⁶ 

107:12 So he used suffering to humble them; ¹⁷ 

they stumbled and no one helped them up.

107:13 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

107:14 He brought them out of the utter darkness, ¹⁸ 

and tore off their shackles.

[23:33]  ¹ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has “when [he was] ruling in Jerusalem,” but the marginal reading (Qere), which has support from Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin witnesses, has “[preventing him] from ruling in Jerusalem.”

[23:33]  ² tn Or “fine.”

[23:33]  ³ tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold (cf. NCV, NLT); CEV “almost four tons of silver and about seventy-five pounds of gold.”

[25:6]  ⁴ sn Riblah was a strategic town on the Orontes River in Syria. It was at a crossing of the major roads between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Pharaoh Necho had earlier received Jehoahaz there and put him in chains (2 Kgs 23:33) prior to taking him captive to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar had set up his base camp for conducting his campaigns against the Palestinian states there and was now sitting in judgment on prisoners brought to him.

[25:6]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has the plural form of the verb, but the parallel passage in Jer 52:9 has the singular.

[36:8]  ⁶ tn Dhorme thinks that the verse is still talking about kings, who may be in captivity. But this diverts attention from Elihu’s emphasis on the righteous.

[36:9]  ⁷ tn The verb נָגַד (nagad) means “to declare; to tell.” Here it is clear that God is making known the sins that caused the enslavement or captivity, so “reveal” makes a good interpretive translation.

[36:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “their work.”

[36:10]  ⁹ tn The idiom once again is “he uncovers their ear.”

[36:10]  ¹⁰ tn The revelation is in the preceding verse, and so a pronoun must be added to make the reference clear.

[36:10]  ¹¹ tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to turn; to return”) is one of the two major words in the OT for “repent” – to return from evil. Here the imperfect should be obligatory – they must do it.

[36:11]  ¹² tc Some commentators delete this last line for metrical considerations. But there is no textual evidence for the deletion; it is simply the attempt by some to make the meter rigid.

[107:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “those who sat in darkness and deep darkness.” Synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of “darkness” experienced by the exiles. The Hebrew term צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet, “deep darkness”) has traditionally been understood as a compound noun, meaning “shadow of death” (צֵל + מָוֶת [tsel + mavet]; see BDB 853 s.v. צַלְמָוֶת; cf. NASB). Other authorities prefer to vocalize the form צַלְמוּת (tsalmut) and understand it as an abstract noun (from the root צלם) meaning “darkness.” An examination of the word’s usage favors the latter derivation. It is frequently associated with darkness/night and contrasted with light/morning (see Job 3:5; 10:21-22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:1; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:8). In some cases the darkness described is associated with the realm of death (Job 10:21-22; 38:17), but this is a metaphorical application of the word and does not reflect its inherent meaning. In Ps 107:10 the word refers metonymically to a dungeon, which in turn metaphorically depicts the place of Israel’s exile (see vv. 2-3).

[107:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “those bound in suffering and iron.” “Suffering and iron” is a hendiadys (like English “good and angry”), where both words contribute to one idea. In this case the first word characterizes the second; the iron (chains) contribute to the prisoners’ pain and suffering.

[107:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the words of God.”

[107:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the counsel of the Most High.”

[107:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he subdued with suffering their heart.”

[107:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “darkness and deep darkness.” See the note on the word “darkness” in v. 10.