2 Samuel 3:24-25

3:24 So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner ¹  has come to you! Why would you send him away? Now he’s gone on his way! ²  3:25 You know Abner the son of Ner! Surely he came here to spy on you and to determine when you leave and when you return ³  and to discover everything that you are doing!”

2 Samuel 3:39

3:39 Today I am weak, even though I am anointed as king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too much for me to bear! ⁴  May the Lord punish appropriately the one who has done this evil thing!” ⁵ 

Ecclesiastes 10:5-7

10:5 I have seen another ⁶  misfortune ⁷  on the earth: ⁸ 

It is an error a ruler makes. ⁹ 

10:6 Fools ¹⁰  are placed in many positions of authority, ¹¹ 

while wealthy men sit in lowly positions.

10:7 I have seen slaves ¹²  on horseback

and princes walking on foot ¹³  like slaves.

Isaiah 3:5

3:5 The people will treat each other harshly;

men will oppose each other;

neighbors will fight. ¹⁴ 

Youths will proudly defy the elderly

and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected. ¹⁵ 

[3:24]  ¹ tn Heb “Look, Abner.”

[3:24]  ² tc The LXX adds “in peace.”

[3:25]  ³ tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.” The expression is a merism. It specifically mentions the polar extremities of the actions but includes all activity in between the extremities as well, thus encompassing the entirety of one’s activities.

[3:39]  ⁴ tn Heb “are hard from me.”

[3:39]  ⁵ tn Heb “May the Lord repay the doer of the evil according to his evil” (NASB similar).

[10:5]  ⁶ tn The term “another” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation to indicate that this is not the first “misfortune” described by the Teacher. See 5:13, 16; 6:1-2.

[10:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “an evil.”

[10:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[10:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “like an error that comes forth from the presence of a ruler.”

[10:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “folly.”

[10:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “high places.”

[10:7]  ¹² tn Or “servants,” so KJV, ASV, NCV, NLT (also in the following line).

[10:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “upon the earth.”

[3:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “man against man, and a man against his neighbor.”

[3:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and those lightly esteemed those who are respected.” The verb רָהַב (rahav) does double duty in the parallelism.