2 Samuel 12:21-22

12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While ¹  the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!” 12:22 He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ²  ‘Perhaps ³  the Lord will show pity and the child will live.

Psalms 6:6

6:6 I am exhausted as I groan;

all night long I drench my bed in tears; ⁴ 

my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. ⁵ 

Psalms 102:9

102:9 For I eat ashes as if they were bread, ⁶ 

and mix my drink with my tears, ⁷ 

Isaiah 38:14

38:14 Like a swallow or a thrush I chirp,

I coo ⁸  like a dove;

my eyes grow tired from looking up to the sky. ⁹ 

O sovereign master, ¹⁰  I am oppressed;

help me! ¹¹ 

Hebrews 5:7

5:7 During his earthly life ¹²  Christ ¹³  offered ¹⁴  both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion.

[12:21]  ¹ tc For the MT בַּעֲבוּר (ba’avur, “for the sake of”) we should probably read בְּעוֹד (bÿ’od, “while”). See the Lucianic Greek recension, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Targum.

[12:22]  ² tn Heb “said.”

[12:22]  ³ tn Heb “Who knows?”

[6:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”

[6:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”

[102:9]  ⁶ sn Mourners would sometimes put ashes on their head or roll in ashes as a sign of mourning (see 2 Sam 13:19; Job 2:8; Isa 58:5).

[102:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “weeping.”

[38:14]  ⁸ tn Or “moan” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); KJV, CEV “mourn.”

[38:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “my eyes become weak, toward the height.”

[38:14]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 16 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[38:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “stand surety for me.” Hezekiah seems to be picturing himself as a debtor who is being exploited; he asks that the Lord might relieve his debt and deliver him from the oppressive creditor.

[5:7]  ¹² tn Grk “in the days of his flesh.”

[5:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:7]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “who…having offered,” continuing the description of Christ from Heb 5:5-6.