Deuteronomy 32:25

32:25 The sword will make people childless outside,

and terror will do so inside;

they will destroy ¹  both the young man and the virgin,

the infant and the gray-haired man.

Psalms 63:1

Psalm 63 ² 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ³ 

63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! ⁴ 

My soul thirsts ⁵  for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched ⁶  land where there is no water.

Psalms 144:12-15

144:12 Then ⁷  our sons will be like plants,

that quickly grow to full size. ⁸ 

Our daughters will be like corner pillars, ⁹ 

carved like those in a palace. ¹⁰ 

144:13 Our storehouses ¹¹  will be full,

providing all kinds of food. ¹² 

Our sheep will multiply by the thousands

and fill ¹³  our pastures. ¹⁴ 

144:14 Our cattle will be weighted down with produce. ¹⁵ 

No one will break through our walls,

no one will be taken captive,

and there will be no terrified cries in our city squares. ¹⁶ 

144:15 How blessed are the people who experience these things! ¹⁷ 

How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!

Isaiah 40:30

40:30 Even youths get tired and weary;

even strong young men clumsily stumble. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 41:17-20

41:17 The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none;

their tongues are parched from thirst.

I, the Lord, will respond to their prayers; ¹⁹ 

I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.

41:18 I will make streams flow down the slopes

and produce springs in the middle of the valleys.

I will turn the desert into a pool of water

and the arid land into springs.

41:19 I will make cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees grow in the wilderness;

I will make evergreens, firs, and cypresses grow together in the desert.

41:20 I will do this so ²⁰  people ²¹  will observe and recognize,

so they will pay attention and understand

that the Lord’s power ²²  has accomplished this,

and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it into being.” ²³ 

Jeremiah 48:18

48:18 Come down from your place of honor;

sit on the dry ground, ²⁴  you who live in Dibon. ²⁵ 

For the one who will destroy Moab will attack you;

he will destroy your fortifications.

Lamentations 1:18

Jerusalem Speaks:

צ (Tsade)

1:18 The Lord is right to judge me! ²⁶ 

Yes, I rebelled against his commands. ²⁷ 

Please listen, all you nations, ²⁸ 

and look at my suffering!

My young women and men

have gone into exile.

Lamentations 2:10

י (Yod)

2:10 The elders of Daughter Zion

sit ²⁹  on the ground in silence. ³⁰ 

They have thrown dirt on their heads;

They have dressed in sackcloth. ³¹ 

Jerusalem’s young women ³²  stare down at the ground. ³³ 

Lamentations 2:21

ש (Sin/Shin)

2:21 The young boys and old men

lie dead on the ground in the streets.

My young women ³⁴  and my young men

have fallen by the sword.

You killed them when you were angry; ³⁵ 

you slaughtered them without mercy. ³⁶ 

Hosea 2:3

2:3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked,

and expose her like she was when she was born.

I will turn her land into a wilderness

and make her country a parched land,

so that I might kill ³⁷  her with thirst.

Zechariah 9:17

9:17 How precious and fair! ³⁸  Grain will make the young men flourish and new wine the young women.

[32:25]  ¹ tn A verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text; for purposes of English style one suitable to the context is supplied.

[63:1]  ² sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.

[63:1]  ³ sn According to the psalm superscription David wrote the psalm while in the “wilderness of Judah.” Perhaps this refers to the period described in 1 Sam 23-24 or to the incident mentioned in 2 Sam 15:23.

[63:1]  ⁴ tn Or “I will seek you.”

[63:1]  ⁵ tn Or “I thirst.”

[63:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” This may picture the land as “faint” or “weary,” or it may allude to the effect this dry desert has on those who are forced to live in it.

[144:12]  ⁷ tn Some consider אֲשֶׁר (’asher) problematic, but here it probably indicates the anticipated consequence of the preceding request. (For other examples of אֲשֶׁר indicating purpose/result, see BDB 83 s.v. and HALOT 99 s.v.) If the psalmist – who appears to be a Davidic king preparing to fight a battle (see vv. 10-11) – is victorious, the whole nation will be spared invasion and defeat (see v. 14) and can flourish. Some prefer to emend the form to אַשְׁרֵי (“how blessed [are our sons]”). A suffixed noun sometimes follows אַשְׁרֵי (’ashrey; see 1 Kgs 10:8; Prov 20:7), but the presence of a comparative element (see “like plants”) after the suffixed noun makes the proposed reading too awkward syntactically.

[144:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “grown up in their youth.” The translation assumes that “grown up” modifies “plants” (just as “carved” modifies “corner pillars” in the second half of the verse). Another option is to take “grown up” as a predicate in relation to “our sons,” in which case one might translate, “they will be strapping youths.”

[144:12]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here and in Zech 9:15, where it refers to the corners of an altar.

[144:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “carved [in] the pattern of a palace.”

[144:13]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.

[144:13]  ¹² tn Heb “from kind to kind.” Some prefer to emend the text to מָזוֹן עַל מָזוֹן (mazon ’al mazon, “food upon food”).

[144:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “they are innumerable.”

[144:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in outside places.” Here the term refers to pastures and fields (see Job 5:10; Prov 8:26).

[144:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “weighted down.” This probably refers (1) to the cattle having the produce from the harvest placed on their backs to be transported to the storehouses (see BDB 687 s.v. סָבַל). Other options are (2) to take this as reference to the cattle being pregnant (see HALOT 741 s.v. סבל pu) or (3) to their being well-fed or fattened (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 288).

[144:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there [will be] no breach, and there [will be] no going out, and there [will be] no crying out in our broad places.”

[144:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[O] the happiness of the people who [it is] such to them.”

[40:30]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “stumbling they stumble.” The verbal idea is emphasized by the infinitive absolute.

[41:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “will answer them” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[41:20]  ²⁰ tn The words “I will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text has here simply, “in order that.”

[41:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “they”; NAB, NRSV “that all may see”; CEV, NLT “Everyone will see.”

[41:20]  ²² tn Heb “hand” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[41:20]  ²³ tn Or “created it” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “has made it happen.”

[48:18]  ²⁴ tn Heb “sit in thirst.” The abstract “thirst” is put for the concrete, i.e., thirsty or parched ground (cf. Deut 8:19; Isa 35:7; Ps 107:33) for the concrete. There is no need to emend to “filth” (צֹאָה [tso’ah] for צָמָא [tsama’]) as is sometimes suggested.

[48:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “inhabitant of Daughter Dibon.” “Daughter” is used here as often in Jeremiah for the personification of a city, a country, or its inhabitants. The word “inhabitant” is to be understood as a collective as also in v. 19.

[1:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “The Lord himself is right.” The phrase “to judge me” is not in the Hebrew, but is added in the translation to clarify the expression.

[1:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “His mouth.” The term “mouth” (פֶּה, peh) is a metonymy of instrument (= mouth) for the product (= words). The term פֶּה (peh) often stands for spoken words (Ps 49:14; Eccl 10:3; Isa 29:13), declaration (Gen 41:40; Exod 38:21; Num 35:30; Deut 17:6; Ezra 1:1) and commands of God (Exod 17:1; Num 14:41; 22:18; Josh 15:13; 1 Sam 15:24; 1 Chr 12:24; Prov 8:29; Isa 34:16; 62:2). When the verb מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”) is used with the accusative direct object פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) to connote disobedience to God’s commandments (Num 20:24; 1 Sam 12:14, 15; 1 Kgs 13:21) (BDB 805 s.v. פֶּה 2.c).

[1:18]  ²⁸ tc The Kethib is written עַמִּים (’ammim, “peoples”), but the Qere, followed by many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (LXX and Aramaic Targum), read הָעַמִּים (ha’ammim, “O peoples”). The Qere is probably the original reading.

[2:10]  ²⁹ tc Consonantal ישׁבו (yshvy) is vocalized by the MT as יֵשְׁבוּ (yeshvu), Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine plural from יָשַׁב (yashav, “to sit”): “they sit on the ground.” However, the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Greek Septuagint, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate) reflect an alternate vocalization tradition of יָשְׁבוּ (yashvu), Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine plural from שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”): “they return to the ground (= the grave).” The parallelism with the following line favors the MT.

[2:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “they sit on the ground, they are silent.” Based on meter, the two verbs יִדְּמוּ…יֵשְׁבוּ (yeshvu…yidÿmu, “they sit…they are silent”) are in the same half of the line. Joined without a ו (vav) conjunction they form a verbal hendiadys. The first functions in its full verbal sense while the second functions adverbially: “they sit in silence.” The verb יִדְּמוּ (yidÿmu) may mean to be silent or to wail.

[2:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “they have girded themselves with sackcloth.”

[2:10]  ³² tn Heb “the virgins of Jerusalem.” The term “virgins” is a metonymy of association, standing for single young women who are not yet married. These single women are in grief because their potential suitors have been killed. The elders, old men, and young women function together as a merism for all of the survivors (F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Lamentations [IBC], 92).

[2:10]  ³³ tn Heb “have bowed down their heads to the ground.”

[2:21]  ³⁴ tn Heb “virgins.” The term “virgin” probably functions as a metonymy of association for single young women.

[2:21]  ³⁵ tn Heb “in the day of your anger.” The construction בָּיוֹם (bayom, “in the day of…”) is a common Hebrew idiom, meaning “when…” (e.g., Gen 2:4; Lev 7:35; Num 3:1; Deut 4:15; 2 Sam 22:1; Pss 18:1; 138:3; Zech 8:9). This temporal idiom refers to a general time period, but uses the term “day” as a forceful rhetorical device to emphasize the vividness and drama of the event, depicting it as occurring within a single day. In the ancient Near East, military minded kings often referred to a successful campaign as “the day of X” in order to portray themselves as powerful conquerors who, as it were, could inaugurate and complete a victory military campaign within the span of one day.

[2:21]  ³⁶ tc The MT reads לֹא חָמָלְתָּ (lo’ khamalta, “You showed no mercy”). However, many medieval Hebrew mss and most of the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta and Latin Vulgate) read וְלֹא חָמָלְתָּ (vÿlo’ khamalta, “and You showed no mercy”).

[2:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and kill her with thirst.” The vav prefixed to the verb (וַהֲמִתִּיהָ, vahamittiha) introduces a purpose/result clause: “in order to make her die of thirst” (purpose) or “and thus make her die of thirst” (result).

[9:17]  ³⁸ sn This expostulation best fits the whole preceding description of God’s eschatological work on behalf of his people. His goodness is especially evident in his nurturing of the young men and women of his kingdom.