Ezekiel 4:16-17

4:16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply ¹  in Jerusalem. ²  They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror 4:17 because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity. ³ 

Ezekiel 23:33

23:33 You will be overcome by ⁴  drunkenness and sorrow. The cup of your sister Samaria is a cup of horror and desolation.

Leviticus 26:26

26:26 When I break off your supply of bread, ⁵  ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight, ⁶  and you will eat and not be satisfied.

Leviticus 26:36

26:36 “‘As for ⁷  the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer.

Deuteronomy 28:48

28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty ⁸  you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They ⁹  will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you.

Deuteronomy 28:65

28:65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair.

Job 3:24

3:24 For my sighing comes in place of ¹⁰  my food, ¹¹ 

and my groanings ¹²  flow forth like water. ¹³ 

Psalms 60:2-3

60:2 You made the earth quake; you split it open. ¹⁴ 

Repair its breaches, for it is ready to fall. ¹⁵ 

60:3 You have made your people experience hard times; ¹⁶ 

you have made us drink intoxicating wine. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 80:5

80:5 You have given them tears as food; ¹⁸ 

you have made them drink tears by the measure. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 102:4-9

102:4 My heart is parched ²⁰  and withered like grass,

for I am unable ²¹  to eat food. ²² 

102:5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,

my bones protrude from my skin. ²³ 

102:6 I am like an owl ²⁴  in the wilderness;

I am like a screech owl ²⁵  among the ruins. ²⁶ 

102:7 I stay awake; ²⁷ 

I am like a solitary bird on a roof.

102:8 All day long my enemies taunt me;

those who mock me use my name in their curses. ²⁸ 

102:9 For I eat ashes as if they were bread, ²⁹ 

and mix my drink with my tears, ³⁰ 

[4:16]  ¹ tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support.

[4:16]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:17]  ³ tn Or “in their punishment.” Ezek 4:16-17 alludes to Lev 26:26, 39. The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here, 3:18, 19; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

[23:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “filled with.”

[26:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “When I break to you staff of bread” (KJV, ASV, and NASB all similar).

[26:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “they will return your bread in weight.”

[26:36]  ⁷ tn Heb “And.”

[28:48]  ⁸ tn Heb “lack of everything.”

[28:48]  ⁹ tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).

[3:24]  ¹⁰ tn For the prepositional לִפְנֵי (lifne), the temporal meaning “before” (“my sighing comes before I eat”) makes very little sense here (as the versions have it). The meaning “in place of, for” fits better (see 1 Sam 1:16, “count not your handmaid for a daughter of Belial”).

[3:24]  ¹¹ sn The line means that Job’s sighing, which results from the suffering (metonymy of effect) is his constant, daily food. Parallels like Ps 42:3 which says “my tears have been my bread/food” shows a similar figure.

[3:24]  ¹² tn The word normally describes the “roaring” of a lion (Job 4:10); but it is used for the loud groaning or cries of those in distress (Pss 22:1; 32:3).

[3:24]  ¹³ tn This second colon is paraphrased in the LXX to say, “I weep being beset with terror.” The idea of “pouring forth water” while groaning can be represented by “I weep.” The word “fear, terror” anticipates the next verse.

[60:2]  ¹⁴ tn The verb פָּצַם (patsam, “split open”) occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “crack,” and an Aramaic cognate is used in Tg. Jer 22:14 with the meaning “break open, frame.” See BDB 822 s.v. and Jastrow 1205 s.v. פְּצַם.

[60:2]  ¹⁵ sn It is ready to fall. The earth is compared to a wall that has been broken by the force of the earthquake (note the preceding line) and is ready to collapse.

[60:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “you have caused your people to see [what is] hard.”

[60:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “wine of staggering,” that is, intoxicating wine that makes one stagger in drunkenness. Intoxicating wine is here an image of divine judgment that makes its victims stagger like drunkards. See Isa 51:17-23.

[80:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “you have fed them the food of tears.”

[80:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[by] the third part [of a measure].” The Hebrew term שָׁלִישׁ (shalish, “third part [of a measure]”) occurs only here and in Isa 40:12.

[102:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “struck, attacked.”

[102:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “I forget.”

[102:4]  ²² sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.

[102:5]  ²³ tn Heb “from the sound of my groaning my bone[s] stick to my flesh.” The preposition at the beginning of the verse is causal; the phrase “sound of my groaning” is metonymic for the anxiety that causes the groaning. The point seems to be this: Anxiety (which causes the psalmist to groan) keeps him from eating (v. 4). This physical deprivation in turn makes him emaciated – he is turned to “skin and bones,” so to speak.

[102:6]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew term קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (see Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). Modern translations have frequently rendered this as some type of owl (NIV, REB “desert owl”; NRSV “owl”).

[102:6]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew term כוֹס (khos) refers to a bird (see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16), probably a type of owl (cf. NIV, REB “owl”; NRSV “little owl”).

[102:6]  ²⁶ sn By comparing himself to a screech owl among the ruins, the psalmist may be highlighting his loneliness (see v. 7), though he may also be comparing his cries for help to the owl’s screech.

[102:7]  ²⁷ tn This probably refers to the psalmist’s inability to sleep. Another option is to translate, “I keep watch,” in which case it might refer to watching for a response from the Lord (see vv. 1-2).

[102:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “by me they swear.” When the psalmist’s enemies call judgment down on others, they hold the psalmist up as a prime example of what they desire their enemies to become.

[102:9]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Heb “weeping.”