Genesis 44:34

44:34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see ¹  my father’s pain.” ² 

Genesis 44:1

The Final Test

44:1 He instructed the servant who was over his household, “Fill the sacks of the men with as much food as they can carry and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.

Genesis 30:3-4

30:3 She replied, “Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with ³  her so that she can bear ⁴  children ⁵  for me ⁶  and I can have a family through her.” ⁷ 

30:4 So Rachel ⁸  gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with ⁹  her.

Jeremiah 4:19-21

4:19 I said, ¹⁰ 

“Oh, the feeling in the pit of my stomach! ¹¹ 

I writhe in anguish.

Oh, the pain in my heart! ¹² 

My heart pounds within me.

I cannot keep silent.

For I hear the sound of the trumpet; ¹³ 

the sound of the battle cry pierces my soul! ¹⁴ 

4:20 I see ¹⁵  one destruction after another taking place,

so that the whole land lies in ruins.

I see our ¹⁶  tents suddenly destroyed,

their ¹⁷  curtains torn down in a mere instant. ¹⁸ 

4:21 “How long must I see the enemy’s battle flags

and hear the military signals of their bugles?” ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 14:18

14:18 If I go out into the countryside,

I see those who have been killed in battle.

If I go into the city,

I see those who are sick because of starvation. ²⁰ 

For both prophet and priest go about their own business

in the land without having any real understanding.’” ²¹ 

Luke 19:41-44

Jesus Weeps for Jerusalem under Judgment

19:41 Now ²²  when Jesus ²³  approached ²⁴  and saw the city, he wept over it, 19:42 saying, “If you had only known on this day, ²⁵  even you, the things that make for peace! ²⁶  But now they are hidden ²⁷  from your eyes. 19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build ²⁸  an embankment ²⁹  against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 19:44 They will demolish you ³⁰  – you and your children within your walls ³¹  – and they will not leave within you one stone ³²  on top of another, ³³  because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” ³⁴ 

[44:34]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has “lest I see,” which expresses a negative purpose – “I cannot go up lest I see.”

[44:34]  ² tn Heb “the calamity which would find my father.”

[30:3]  ³ tn Heb “go in to.” The expression “go in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.

[30:3]  ⁴ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates the immediate purpose of the proposed activity.

[30:3]  ⁵ tn The word “children” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “upon my knees.” This is an idiomatic way of saying that Bilhah will be simply a surrogate mother. Rachel will adopt the child as her own.

[30:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I will be built up, even I, from her.” The prefixed verbal form with the conjunction is subordinated to the preceding prefixed verbal form and gives the ultimate purpose for the proposed action. The idiom of “built up” here refers to having a family (see Gen 16:2, as well as Ruth 4:11 and BDB 125 s.v. בָנָה).

[30:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “and she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “went in to.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.

[4:19]  ¹⁰ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are used to mark the shift from the Lord’s promise of judgment to Jeremiah’s lament concerning it.

[4:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “My bowels! My bowels!”

[4:19]  ¹² tn Heb “the walls of my heart!”

[4:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[4:19]  ¹⁴ tc The translation reflects a different division of the last two lines than that suggested by the Masoretes. The written text (the Kethib) reads “for the sound of the ram’s horn I have heard [or “you have heard,” if the form is understood as the old second feminine singular perfect] my soul” followed by “the battle cry” in the last line. The translation is based on taking “my soul” with the last line and understanding an elliptical expression “the battle cry [to] my soul.” Such an elliptical expression is in keeping with the elliptical nature of the exclamations at the beginning of the verse (cf. the literal translations of the first two lines of the verse in the notes on the words “stomach” and “heart”).

[4:20]  ¹⁵ tn The words, “I see” are not in the text here or at the beginning of the third line. They are supplied in the translation to show that this is Jeremiah’s vision of what will happen as a result of the invasion announced in 4:5-9, 11-17a.

[4:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my.” This is probably not a reference to Jeremiah’s own tents since he foresees the destruction of the whole land. Jeremiah so identifies with the plight of his people that he sees the destruction of their tents as though they were his very own. It would probably lead to confusion to translate literally and it is not uncommon in Hebrew laments for the community or its representative to speak of the community as an “I.” See for example the interchange between first singular and first plural pronouns in Ps 44:4-8.

[4:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my.”

[4:20]  ¹⁸ tn It is not altogether clear what Jeremiah intends by the use of this metaphor. In all likelihood he means that the defenses of Israel’s cities and towns have offered no more resistance than nomads’ tents. However, in light of the fact that the word “tent” came to be used generically for a person’s home (cf. 1 Kgs 8:66; 12:16), it is possible that Jeremiah is here referring to the destruction of their homes and the resultant feeling of homelessness and loss of even elementary protection. Given the lack of certainty the present translation is rather literal here.

[4:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the sound of ram’s horns,” but the modern equivalent is “bugles” and is more readily understandable.

[14:18]  ²⁰ tn The word “starvation” has been translated “famine” elsewhere in this passage. It is the word which refers to hunger. The “starvation” here may be war induced and not simply that which comes from famine per se. “Starvation” will cover both.

[14:18]  ²¹ tn The meaning of these last two lines is somewhat uncertain. The meaning of these two lines is debated because of the uncertainty of the meaning of the verb rendered “go about their business” (סָחַר, sakhar) and the last phrase translated here “without any real understanding.” The verb in question most commonly occurs as a participle meaning “trader” or “merchant” (cf., e.g., Ezek 27:21, 36; Prov 31:14). It occurs as a finite verb elsewhere only in Gen 34:10, 21; 42:34 and there in a literal sense of “trading,” “doing business.” While the nuance is metaphorical here it need not extend to “journeying into” (cf., e.g., BDB 695 s.v. סָחַר Qal.1) and be seen as a reference to exile as is sometimes assumed. That seems at variance with the causal particle which introduces this clause, the tense of the verb, and the surrounding context. People are dying in the land (vv. 17-18a) not because prophet and priest have gone (the verb is the Hebrew perfect or past) into exile but because prophet and priest have no true knowledge of God or the situation. The clause translated here “without having any real understanding” (Heb “and they do not know”) is using the verb in the absolute sense indicated in BDB 394 s.v. יָדַע Qal.5 and illustrated in Isa 1:3; 56:10. For a more thorough discussion of the issues one may consult W. McKane, Jeremiah (ICC), 1:330-31.

[19:41]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[19:41]  ²³ tn Grk “he.”

[19:41]  ²⁴ sn When Jesus approached and saw the city. This is the last travel note in Luke’s account (the so-called Jerusalem journey), as Jesus approached and saw the city before entering it.

[19:42]  ²⁵ sn On this day. They had missed the time of Messiah’s coming; see v. 44.

[19:42]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the things toward peace.” This expression seems to mean “the things that would ‘lead to,’ ‘bring about,’ or ‘make for’ peace.”

[19:42]  ²⁷ sn But now they are hidden from your eyes. This becomes an oracle of doom in the classic OT sense; see Luke 13:31-35; 11:49-51; Jer 9:2; 13:7; 14:7. They are now blind and under judgment (Jer 15:5; Ps 122:6).

[19:43]  ²⁸ sn Jesus now predicted the events that would be fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. The details of the siege have led some to see Luke writing this after Jerusalem’s fall, but the language of the verse is like God’s exilic judgment for covenant unfaithfulness (Hab 2:8; Jer 6:6, 14; 8:13-22; 9:1; Ezek 4:2; 26:8; Isa 29:1-4). Specific details are lacking and the procedures described (build an embankment against you) were standard Roman military tactics.

[19:43]  ²⁹ sn An embankment refers to either wooden barricades or earthworks, or a combination of the two.

[19:44]  ³⁰ tn Grk “They will raze you to the ground.”

[19:44]  ³¹ tn Grk “your children within you.” The phrase “[your] walls” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the city of Jerusalem, metaphorically pictured as an individual, is spoken of here.

[19:44]  ³² sn (Not) one stone on top of another is an idiom for total destruction.

[19:44]  ³³ tn Grk “leave stone on stone.”

[19:44]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the time of your visitation.” To clarify what this refers to, the words “from God” are supplied at the end of the verse, although they do not occur in the Greek text.