Isaiah 16:11

16:11 So my heart constantly sighs for Moab, like the strumming of a harp, ¹ 

my inner being sighs ²  for Kir Hareseth. ³ 

Isaiah 21:3

21:3 For this reason my stomach churns; ⁴ 

cramps overwhelm me

like the contractions of a woman in labor.

I am disturbed ⁵  by what I hear,

horrified by what I see.

Jeremiah 30:6

30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ⁶ 

Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?

Why then do I see all these strong men

grabbing their stomachs in pain like ⁷  a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

Daniel 5:6

5:6 Then all the color drained from the king’s face ⁸  and he became alarmed. ⁹  The joints of his hips gave way, ¹⁰  and his knees began knocking together.

Daniel 8:27

8:27 I, Daniel, was exhausted ¹¹  and sick for days. Then I got up and again carried out the king’s business. But I was astonished at the vision, and there was no one to explain it.

Nahum 2:10

2:10 Destruction, devastation, and desolation! ¹² 

Their hearts faint, ¹³ 

their knees tremble, ¹⁴ 

each stomach churns, ¹⁵  each face ¹⁶  turns ¹⁷  pale! ¹⁸ 

Habakkuk 3:16

Habakkuk Declares His Confidence

3:16 I listened and my stomach churned; ¹⁹ 

the sound made my lips quiver.

My frame went limp, as if my bones were decaying, ²⁰ 

and I shook as I tried to walk. ²¹ 

I long ²²  for the day of distress

to come upon ²³  the people who attack us.

[16:11]  ¹ tn Heb “so my intestines sigh for Moab like a harp.” The word מֵעַי (me’ay, “intestines”) is used here of the seat of the emotions. English idiom requires the word “heart.” The point of the comparison to a harp is not entirely clear. Perhaps his sighs of mourning resemble a harp in sound, or his constant sighing is like the repetitive strumming of a harp.

[16:11]  ² tn The verb is supplied in the translation; “sighs” in the preceding line does double duty in the parallel structure.

[16:11]  ³ tn Heb “Kir Heres” (so ASV, NRSV, TEV, CEV), a variant name for “Kir Hareseth” (see v. 7).

[21:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “my waist is filled with shaking [or “anguish”].”

[21:3]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps, “bent over [in pain]”; cf. NRSV “I am bowed down.”

[30:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

[5:6]  ⁸ tn Aram “[the king’s] brightness changed for him.”

[5:6]  ⁹ tn Aram “his thoughts were alarming him.”

[5:6]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “his loins went slack.”

[8:27]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word here is נִהְיֵיתִי (nihyetiy). Its meaning is not entirely clear. Hebrew הָיָה (hayah) normally has meanings such as “to be” or “become.” Here, however, it describes Daniel’s emotional and physical response to the enigmatic vision that he has seen. It is parallel to the following verb, which refers to illness, and seems to refer to a state of utter exhaustion due to the amazing things that Daniel has just seen. The LXX lacks the word. On the meaning of the word see further, BDB 227-28 s.v. הָיָה Niph.2; DCH 2:540 s.v. היה I Ni.3.

[2:10]  ¹² tn Heb “Emptiness and devastation and being laid waste.” Several English versions attempt to reproduce the assonance, alliteration, and paronomasia of three similarly sounding Hebrew words: בּוּקַָה וּמְבוּקָה וּמְבֻלָּקָה (buqah umÿvuqah umÿvullaqah; NJPS “Desolation, devastation, and destruction!”; NRSV: “Devastation, desolation, and destruction!”).

[2:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and melting heart.”

[2:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and tottering of knees.”

[2:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and shaking in all of the loins.”

[2:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all of their faces.”

[2:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “gather” or “withdraw.” The Piel perfect קִבְּצוּ (qibbÿtsu) from קָבַץ (qavats, “to gather”) may be nuanced in the intensive sense “to gather glow; to glow [in excitement]” (HALOT 1063 s.v. קבץ pi. 4) or the privative sense “to take away, withdraw” (BDB 868 s.v. קָבַץ Pi.3). The phrase קִבְּצוּ פָארוּר (qibbÿtsu pa’rur) is very difficult; it occurs only here and in Joel 2:6 which also describes the fearful facial reaction to an invading army. It probably means: (1) to grow red in fear; (2) to grow pale in fear; or (3) to turn ashen in fear. This difficult phrase may be translated by the modern English idioms: “every face grows pale” or “every face flushes red in fear.”

[2:10]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term פָּארוּר (pa’rur) occurs only here and in Joel 2:6 where it also describes a fearful facial reaction. The meaning of פָּארוּר is debated and numerous etymologies have been suggested: (1) From פָּרוּר (parur, “cooking pot”; HALOT 964 s.v. פָּרוּר): LXX τὸ πρόσωπον πάντων ὡς πρόσκαυμα ξύτρας (to proswpon pantwn Jw" proskauma xutra", “all their faces are like a blackened/burned pot”); Vulgate et facies omnium sicut nigredo ollae (“all their faces are like a black pot”); Targum Jonathan (“covered with black like a pot”). This approach is adopted by the KJV and AV: “the faces of them all gather blackness.” (2) From פְּאֵר (pÿ’er, “beauty”). Taking קָבַץ (qavats) in a private sense (“gather in”), several scholars propose: “to draw in beauty, withdraw color,” hence: “their faces grow pale” (NASB, NIV); see K&D 26:192-93; A. Haldar, Studies in the Book of Nahum, 59. (3) From פָּרַר (parar, “break in pieces”). Due to fear, their faces have gathered wrinkles. (4) From IV פּרר (“to boil”), related to Arabic ’pr and Syriac npr (“to boil”): “their faces glow red in excitement” (HALOT 860 s.v.). (5) From פּאר (“grey, ash grey”): “their faces turn grey” (J. J. Gluck, “parur – paárur: A Case of Biblical Paronomasia,” OTWSA 12 [1969]: 21-26). The NJPS translation appears to adopt this approach: “all faces turn ashen.”

[3:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my insides trembled.”

[3:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “decay entered my bones.”

[3:16]  ²¹ tc Heb “beneath me I shook, which….” The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher) appears to be a relative pronoun, but a relative pronoun does not fit here. The translation assumes a reading אֲשֻׁרָי (’ashuray, “my steps”) as well as an emendation of the preceding verb to a third plural form.

[3:16]  ²² tn The translation assumes that אָנוּחַ (’anuakh) is from the otherwise unattested verb נָוָח (navakh, “sigh”; see HALOT 680 s.v. II נוח; so also NEB). Most take this verb as נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”) and translate, “I wait patiently” (cf. NIV).

[3:16]  ²³ tn Heb “to come up toward.”