Discovery BoxGenesis 32:24-28
Context32:24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man 1 wrestled 2 with him until daybreak. 3 32:25 When the man 4 saw that he could not defeat Jacob, 5 he struck 6 the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
32:26 Then the man 7 said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” 8 “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, 9 “unless you bless me.” 10 32:27 The man asked him, 11 “What is your name?” 12 He answered, “Jacob.” 32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, 13 “but Israel, 14 because you have fought 15 with God and with men and have prevailed.”
Psalms 22:1-2
ContextFor the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” 17 a psalm of David.
22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 18
I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. 19
22:2 My God, I cry out during the day,
but you do not answer,
and during the night my prayers do not let up. 20
Psalms 22:12-21
Context22:12 Many bulls 21 surround me;
powerful bulls of Bashan 22 hem me in.
22:13 They 23 open their mouths to devour me 24
like a roaring lion that rips its prey. 25
22:14 My strength drains away like water; 26
all my bones are dislocated;
my heart 27 is like wax;
it melts away inside me.
22:15 The roof of my mouth 28 is as dry as a piece of pottery;
my tongue sticks to my gums. 29
You 30 set me in the dust of death. 31
22:16 Yes, 32 wild dogs surround me –
a gang of evil men crowd around me;
like a lion they pin my hands and feet. 33
22:17 I can count 34 all my bones;
my enemies 35 are gloating over me in triumph. 36
22:18 They are dividing up my clothes among themselves;
they are rolling dice 37 for my garments.
22:19 But you, O Lord, do not remain far away!
You are my source of strength! 38 Hurry and help me! 39
22:20 Deliver me 40 from the sword!
Save 41 my life 42 from the claws 43 of the wild dogs!
22:21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lion, 44
and from the horns of the wild oxen! 45
You have answered me! 46
Psalms 40:1-3
ContextFor the music director; By David, a psalm.
40:1 I relied completely 48 on the Lord,
and he turned toward me
and heard my cry for help.
40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, 49
out of the slimy mud. 50
He placed my feet on a rock
and gave me secure footing. 51
40:3 He gave me reason to sing a new song, 52
praising our God. 53
May many see what God has done,
so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord! 54
Psalms 69:14-18
Context69:14 Rescue me from the mud! Don’t let me sink!
Deliver me 55 from those who hate me,
from the deep water!
69:15 Don’t let the current overpower me!
Don’t let the deep swallow me up!
Don’t let the pit 56 devour me! 57
69:16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good! 58
Because of your great compassion, turn toward me!
69:17 Do not ignore 59 your servant,
for I am in trouble! Answer me right away! 60
69:18 Come near me and redeem me! 61
Because of my enemies, rescue me!
Psalms 88:1-18
ContextA song, a psalm written by the Korahites; for the music director; according to the machalath-leannoth style; 63 a well-written song 64 by Heman the Ezrachite.
88:1 O Lord God who delivers me! 65
By day I cry out
and at night I pray before you. 66
Pay attention 68 to my cry for help!
88:3 For my life 69 is filled with troubles
and I am ready to enter Sheol. 70
88:4 They treat me like 71 those who descend into the grave. 72
I am like a helpless man, 73
88:5 adrift 74 among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power. 75
88:6 You place me in the lowest regions of the pit, 76
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
88:7 Your anger bears down on me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)
88:8 You cause those who know me to keep their distance;
you make me an appalling sight to them.
I am trapped and cannot get free. 77
88:9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.
I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;
I spread out my hands in prayer to you. 78
88:10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?
Do the departed spirits 79 rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)
88:11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the place of the dead? 80
88:12 Are your amazing deeds experienced 81 in the dark region, 82
or your deliverance in the land of oblivion? 83
88:13 As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer confronts you.
88:14 O Lord, why do you reject me,
and pay no attention to me? 84
88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. 85
I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. 86
88:16 Your anger overwhelms me; 87
your terrors destroy me.
88:17 They surround me like water all day long;
they join forces and encircle me. 88
88:18 You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance; 89
those who know me leave me alone in the darkness. 90
Psalms 130:1-2
ContextA song of ascents. 92
130:1 From the deep water 93 I cry out to you, O Lord.
130:2 O Lord, listen to me! 94
Pay attention to 95 my plea for mercy!
Psalms 143:6-7
Context143:6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; 96
my soul thirsts for you in a parched 97 land. 98
143:7 Answer me quickly, Lord!
My strength is fading. 99
Do not reject me, 100
or I will join 101 those descending into the grave. 102
Lamentations 1:12
Contextל (Lamed)
1:12 Is it nothing to you, 103 all you who pass by on the road? 104
Look and see!
Is there any pain like mine?
The Lord 105 has afflicted me, 106
he 107 has inflicted it on me
when 108 he burned with anger. 109
Lamentations 3:53-56
Context3:53 They shut me 110 up in a pit
and threw stones at me.
3:54 The waters closed over my head;
I thought 111 I was about to die. 112
ק (Qof)
3:55 I have called on your name, O Lord,
from the deepest pit. 113
3:56 You heard 114 my plea: 115
“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!” 116
Jonah 2:2-3
Context2:2 and said,
“I 117 called out to the Lord from my distress,
and he answered me; 118
from the belly of Sheol 119 I cried out for help,
and you heard my prayer. 120
2:3 You threw me 121 into the deep waters, 122
into the middle 123 of the sea; 124
the ocean current 125 engulfed 126 me;
all the mighty waves 127 you sent 128 swept 129 over me. 130
John 12:27
Context12:27 “Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me 131 from this hour’? 132 No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. 133
Hebrews 5:7
Context5:7 During his earthly life 134 Christ 135 offered 136 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.
[32:24] 1 sn Reflecting Jacob’s perspective at the beginning of the encounter, the narrator calls the opponent simply “a man.” Not until later in the struggle does Jacob realize his true identity.
[32:24] 2 sn The verb translated “wrestled” (וַיֵּאָבֵק, vayye’aveq) sounds in Hebrew like the names “Jacob” (יַעֲקֹב, ya’aqov) and “Jabbok” (יַבֹּק, yabboq). In this way the narrator links the setting, the main action, and the main participant together in the mind of the reader or hearer.
[32:24] 3 tn Heb “until the rising of the dawn.”
[32:25] 4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[32:25] 5 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[32:25] 6 tn Or “injured”; traditionally “touched.” The Hebrew verb translated “struck” has the primary meanings “to touch; to reach; to strike.” It can, however, carry the connotation “to harm; to molest; to injure.” God’s “touch” cripples Jacob – it would be comparable to a devastating blow.
[32:26] 7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[32:26] 8 tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”
[32:26] 9 tn Heb “and he said, ‘I will not let you go.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[32:26] 10 sn Jacob wrestled with a man thinking him to be a mere man, and on that basis was equal to the task. But when it had gone on long enough, the night visitor touched Jacob and crippled him. Jacob’s request for a blessing can only mean that he now knew that his opponent was supernatural. Contrary to many allegorical interpretations of the passage that make fighting equivalent to prayer, this passage shows that Jacob stopped fighting, and then asked for a blessing.
[32:27] 11 tn Heb “and he said to him.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[32:27] 12 sn What is your name? The question is rhetorical, since the
[32:28] 13 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[32:28] 14 sn The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element (אֵל, ’el) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the
[32:28] 15 sn You have fought. The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” (שָׂרִיתָ, sarita) sounds like the name “Israel” (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yisra’el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man (Genesis, 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).
[22:1] 16 sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.
[22:1] 17 tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.
[22:1] 18 sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).
[22:1] 19 tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.
[22:2] 20 tn Heb “there is no silence to me.”
[22:12] 21 sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.
[22:12] 22 sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.
[22:13] 23 tn “They” refers to the psalmist’s enemies, who in the previous verse are described as “powerful bulls.”
[22:13] 24 tn Heb “they open against me their mouth[s].” To “open the mouth against” is a Hebrew idiom associated with eating and swallowing (see Ezek 2:8; Lam 2:16).
[22:13] 25 tn Heb “a lion ripping and roaring.”
[22:14] 26 tn Heb “like water I am poured out.”
[22:14] 27 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s strength and courage.
[22:15] 28 tc Heb “my strength” (כֹּחִי, kokhiy), but many prefer to emend the text to חִכִּי (khikiy, “my palate”; cf. NEB, NRSV “my mouth”) assuming that an error of transposition has occurred in the traditional Hebrew text.
[22:15] 29 tn Cf. NEB “my jaw”; NASB, NRSV “my jaws”; NIV “the roof of my mouth.”
[22:15] 30 sn Here the psalmist addresses God and suggests that God is ultimately responsible for what is happening because of his failure to intervene (see vv. 1-2, 11).
[22:15] 31 sn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the progressive nature of the action. The psalmist is in the process of dying.
[22:16] 33 tn Heb “like a lion, my hands and my feet.” This reading is often emended because it is grammatically awkward, but perhaps its awkwardness is by rhetorical design. Its broken syntax may be intended to convey the panic and terror felt by the psalmist. The psalmist may envision a lion pinning the hands and feet of its victim to the ground with its paws (a scene depicted in ancient Near Eastern art), or a lion biting the hands and feet. The line has been traditionally translated, “they pierce my hands and feet,” and then taken as foreshadowing the crucifixion of Christ. Though Jesus does appropriate the language of this psalm while on the cross (compare v. 1 with Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34), the NT does not cite this verse in describing the death of Jesus. (It does refer to vv. 7-8 and 18, however. See Matt 27:35, 39, 43; Mark 15:24, 29; Luke 23:34; John 19:23-24.) If one were to insist on an emendation of כָּאֲרִי (ka’ariy, “like a lion”) to a verb, the most likely verbal root would be כָּרָה (karah, “dig”; see the LXX). In this context this verb could refer to the gnawing and tearing of wild dogs (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV). The ancient Greek version produced by Symmachus reads “bind” here, perhaps understanding a verbal root כרך, which is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic and means “to encircle, entwine, embrace” (see HALOT 497-98 s.v. כרך and Jastrow 668 s.v. כָּרַךְ). Neither one of these proposed verbs can yield a meaning “bore, pierce.”
[22:17] 34 tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 17-18 draw attention to the progressive nature of the action.
[22:17] 35 tn Heb “they.” The masculine form indicates the enemies are in view. The referent (the psalmist’s enemies) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:17] 36 tn Heb “they gaze, they look upon me.”
[22:18] 37 tn Heb “casting lots.” The precise way in which this would have been done is not certain.
[22:19] 38 tn Heb “O my strength.”
[22:19] 39 tn Heb “hurry to my help.”
[22:20] 41 tn The verb “save” is supplied in the translation; it is understood by ellipsis (see “deliver” in the preceding line).
[22:20] 42 tn Heb “my only one.” The psalmist may mean that his life is precious, or that he feels isolated and alone.
[22:20] 43 tn Heb “from the hand.” Here “hand” is understood by metonymy as a reference to the “paw” and thus the “claws” of the wild dogs.
[22:21] 44 sn The psalmist again compares his enemies to vicious dogs and ferocious lions (see vv. 13, 16).
[22:21] 45 tn The Hebrew term רֵמִים (remim) appears to be an alternate spelling of רְאֵמִים (rÿ’emim, “wild oxen”; see BDB 910 s.v. רְאֵם).
[22:21] 46 tn Heb “and from the horns of the wild oxen you answer me.” Most take the final verb with the preceding prepositional phrase. Some understand the verb form as a relatively rare precative perfect, expressing a wish or request (see IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew. (See the discussion at Ps 3:7.) Others prefer to take the perfect in its usual indicative sense. The psalmist, perhaps in response to an oracle of salvation, affirms confidently that God has answered him, assuring him that deliverance is on the way. The present translation takes the prepositional phrase as parallel to the preceding “from the mouth of the lion” and as collocated with the verb “rescue” at the beginning of the verse. “You have answered me” is understood as a triumphant shout which marks a sudden shift in tone and introduces the next major section of the psalm. By isolating the statement syntactically, the psalmist highlights the declaration.
[40:1] 47 sn Psalm 40. The psalmist combines a song of thanksgiving for a recent act of divine deliverance (vv. 1-11) with a confident petition for renewed divine intervention (vv. 12-17).
[40:1] 48 tn Heb “relying, I relied.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the verbal idea. The emphasis is reflected in the translation through the adverb “completely.” Another option is to translate, “I waited patiently” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[40:2] 49 tn Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15-16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (sha’on, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).
[40:2] 50 tn Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
[40:2] 51 tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”
[40:3] 52 sn A new song was appropriate because the Lord had intervened in the psalmist’s experience in a fresh and exciting way.
[40:3] 53 tn Heb “and he placed in my mouth a new song, praise to our God.”
[40:3] 54 tn Heb “may many see and fear and trust in the
[69:14] 55 tn Heb “let me be delivered.”
[69:15] 56 tn Heb “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).
[69:15] 57 tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”
[69:16] 58 tn Or “pleasant”; or “desirable.”
[69:17] 59 tn Heb “do not hide your face from.” The Hebrew idiom “hide the face” can (1) mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
[69:18] 61 tn Heb “come near my life and redeem it.” The verb “redeem” casts the
[88:1] 62 sn Psalm 88. The psalmist cries out in pain to the Lord, begging him for relief from his intense and constant suffering. The psalmist regards God as the ultimate cause of his distress, but nevertheless clings to God in hope.
[88:1] 63 tn The Hebrew phrase מָחֲלַת לְעַנּוֹת (makhalat lÿ’annot) may mean “illness to afflict.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. The term מָחֲלַת also appears in the superscription of Ps 53.
[88:1] 64 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
[88:1] 65 tn Heb “O
[88:1] 66 tn Heb “[by] day I cry out, in the night before you.”
[88:2] 67 tn Heb “may my prayer come before you.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s desire or prayer.
[88:2] 68 tn Heb “turn your ear.”
[88:3] 70 tn Heb “and my life approaches Sheol.”
[88:4] 71 tn Heb “I am considered with.”
[88:4] 72 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
[88:4] 73 tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”
[88:5] 75 tn Heb “from your hand.”
[88:6] 76 tn The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See v. 4.
[88:8] 77 tn Heb “[I am] confined and I cannot go out.”
[88:9] 78 tn Heb “I spread out my hands to you.” Spreading out the hands toward God was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). The words “in prayer” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this.
[88:10] 79 tn Heb “Rephaim,” a term that refers to those who occupy the land of the dead (see Isa 14:9; 26:14, 19).
[88:11] 80 tn Heb “in Abaddon,” a name for Sheol. The noun is derived from a verbal root meaning “to perish,” “to die.”
[88:12] 82 tn Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.
[88:12] 83 tn Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.”
[88:14] 84 tn Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”
[88:15] 85 tn Heb “and am dying from youth.”
[88:15] 86 tn Heb “I carry your horrors [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew form אָפוּנָה (’afunah), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. It may be an adverb meaning “very much” (BDB 67 s.v.), though some prefer to emend the text to אָפוּגָה (’afugah, “I am numb”) from the verb פוּג (pug; see Pss 38:8; 77:2).
[88:16] 87 tn Heb “passes over me.”
[88:17] 88 tn Heb “they encircle me together.”
[88:18] 89 tn Heb “you cause to be far from me friend and neighbor.”
[88:18] 90 tn Heb “those known by me, darkness.”
[130:1] 91 sn Psalm 130. The psalmist, confident of the Lord’s forgiveness, cries out to the Lord for help in the midst of his suffering and urges Israel to do the same.
[130:1] 92 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
[130:1] 93 tn Heb “depths,” that is, deep waters (see Ps 69:2, 14; Isa 51:10), a metaphor for the life-threatening danger faced by the psalmist.
[130:2] 95 tn Heb “may your ears be attentive to the voice of.”
[143:6] 96 tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.
[143:6] 97 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.
[143:6] 98 tc Heb “my soul like a faint land for you.” A verb (perhaps “thirsts”) is implied (see Ps 63:1). The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition -כְּ (kÿ, “like”) to -בְּ (bÿ, “in,” see Ps 63:1; cf. NEB “athirst for thee in a thirsty land”). If the MT is retained, one might translate, “my soul thirsts for you, as a parched land does for water/rain” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
[143:7] 99 tn Heb “my spirit is failing.”
[143:7] 100 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” (1) can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) can carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
[143:7] 101 tn Heb “I will be equal with.”
[143:7] 102 tn Heb “the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit; cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See Ps 28:1.
[1:12] 103 tc The Heb לוֹא אֲלֵיכֶם (lo’ ’alekhem, “not to you”) is awkward and often considered corrupt but there is no textual evidence yet adduced to certify a more original reading.
[1:12] 104 tn The line as it stands is imbalanced, such that the reference to the passersby may belong here or as a vocative with the following verb translated “look.”
[1:12] 105 tn Heb “He.” The personal pronoun “he” and the personal name “the
[1:12] 106 tn Heb “which was afflicted on me.” The Polal of עָלַל (’alal) gives the passive voice of the Polel. The Polel of the verb עָלַל (’alal) occurs ten times in the Bible, appearing in agricultural passages for gleaning or some other harvest activity and also in military passages. Jer 6:9 plays on this by comparing an attack to gleaning. The relationship between the meaning in the two types of contexts is unclear, but the very neutral rendering “to treat” in some dictionaries and translations misses the nuance appropriate to the military setting. Indeed it is not at all feasible in a passage like Judges 20:45 where “they treated them on the highway” would make no sense but “they mowed them down on the highway” would fit the context. Accordingly the verb is sometimes rendered “treat” or “deal severely,” as HALOT 834 s.v. poel.3 suggests for Lam 3:51, although simply suggesting “to deal with” in Lam 1:22 and 2:20. A more injurious nuance is given to the translation here and in 1:22; 2:20 and 3:51.
[1:12] 107 sn The delay in naming the Lord as cause is dramatic. The natural assumption upon hearing the passive verb in the previous line, “it was dealt severely,” might well be the pillaging army, but instead the Lord is named as the tormentor.
[1:12] 108 tn Heb “in the day of.” The construction בְּיוֹם (bÿyom, “in the day of”) is a common Hebrew idiom, meaning “when” or “on the occasion of” (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).
[1:12] 109 tn Heb “on the day of burning anger.”
[3:54] 111 tn Heb “I said,” meaning “I said to myself” = “I thought.”
[3:54] 112 tn Heb “I was about to be cut off.” The verb נִגְזָרְתִּי (nigzarti), Niphal perfect 1st person common singular from גָּזַר (gazar, “to be cut off”), functions in an ingressive sense: “about to be cut off.” It is used in reference to the threat of death (e.g., Ezek 37:11). To be “cut off” from the hand of the living means to experience death (Ps 88:6).
[3:55] 113 tn Heb “from a pit of lowest places.”
[3:56] 114 tn The verb could be understood as a precative, “hear my plea,” parallel to the following volitive verb, “do not close.”
[3:56] 116 tn The preposition ל (lamed) continues syntactically from “my plea” in the previous line (e.g. Ex 5:2; Josh 22:2; 1 Sam 8:7; 12:1; Jer 43:4).
[2:2] 117 sn The eight verses of Jonah’s prayer in Hebrew contain twenty-seven first-person pronominal references to himself. There are fifteen second- or third-person references to the
[2:2] 118 tn Tg. Jonah 2:2 renders this interpretively: “and he heard my prayer.”
[2:2] 119 sn Sheol was a name for the place of residence of the dead, the underworld (see Job 7:9-10; Isa 38:17-18). Jonah pictures himself in the belly of Sheol, its very center – in other words he is as good as dead.
[2:2] 120 tn Heb “voice” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “my cry.” The term קוֹל (qol, “voice”) functions as a metonymy for the content of what is uttered: cry for help in prayer.
[2:3] 121 tn Or “You had thrown me.” Verse 3 begins the detailed description of Jonah’s plight, which resulted from being thrown into the sea.
[2:3] 122 tn Heb “the deep” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “into the ocean depths.”
[2:3] 123 tn Heb “heart” (so many English versions); CEV “to the (+ very TEV) bottom of the sea.”
[2:3] 124 tc The BHS editors suggest deleting either מְצוּלָה (mÿtsulah, “into the deep”) or בִּלְבַב יַמִּים (bilvav yammim, “into the heart of the sea”). They propose that one or the other is a scribal gloss on the remaining term. However, the use of an appositional phrase within a poetic colon is not unprecedented in Hebrew poetry. The MT is therefore best retained.
[2:3] 125 tn Or “the stream”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “the flood.” The Hebrew word נָהָר (nahar) is used in parallel with יַם (yam, “sea”) in Ps 24:2 (both are plural) to describe the oceans of the world and in Ps 66:6 to speak of the sea crossed by Israel in the exodus from Egypt.
[2:3] 126 tn Heb “surrounded” (so NRSV); NAB “enveloped.”
[2:3] 127 tn Heb “your breakers and your waves.” This phrase is a nominal hendiadys; the first noun functions as an attributive adjective modifying the second noun: “your breaking waves.”
[2:3] 128 tn Heb “your… your…” The 2nd person masculine singular suffixes on מִשְׁבָּרֶיךָ וְגַלֶּיךָ (mishbarekha vÿgallekha, “your breakers and your waves”) function as genitives of source. Just as God had hurled a violent wind upon the sea (1:4) and had sovereignly sent the large fish to swallow him (1:17 [2:1 HT]), Jonah viewed God as sovereignly responsible for afflicting him with sea waves that were crashing upon his head, threatening to drown him. Tg. Jonah 2:3 alters the 2nd person masculine singular suffixes to 3rd person masculine singular suffixes to make them refer to the sea and not to God, for the sake of smoothness: “all the gales of the sea and its billows.”
[2:3] 129 tn Heb “crossed”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV “passed.”
[2:3] 130 sn Verses 3 and 5 multiply terms describing Jonah’s watery plight. The images used in v. 3 appear also in 2 Sam 22:5-6; Pss 42:7; 51:11; 69:1-2, 14-15; 88:6-7; 102:10.
[12:27] 132 tn Or “this occasion.”
[12:27] 133 tn Or “this occasion.”
[5:7] 134 tn Grk “in the days of his flesh.”
[5:7] 135 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[5:7] 136 tn Grk “who…having offered,” continuing the description of Christ from Heb 5:5-6.
