Discovery BoxIsaiah 37:1
Context37:1 When King Hezekiah heard this, 1 he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.
Isaiah 37:1
Context37:1 When King Hezekiah heard this, 2 he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.
Isaiah 8:1
Context8:1 The Lord told me, “Take a large tablet 3 and inscribe these words 4 on it with an ordinary stylus: 5 ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’ 6
Isaiah 8:1
Context8:1 The Lord told me, “Take a large tablet 7 and inscribe these words 8 on it with an ordinary stylus: 9 ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’ 10
Isaiah 9:3
Context9:3 You 11 have enlarged the nation;
you give them great joy. 12
They rejoice in your presence
as harvesters rejoice;
as warriors celebrate 13 when they divide up the plunder.
Isaiah 9:2
Context9:2 (9:1) The people walking in darkness
see a bright light; 14
light shines
on those who live in a land of deep darkness. 15
Isaiah 6:1
Context6:1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, 16 I saw the sovereign master 17 seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.
Psalms 27:5
Context27:5 He will surely 18 give me shelter 19 in the day of danger; 20
he will hide me in his home; 21
he will place me 22 on an inaccessible rocky summit. 23
Psalms 62:1-3
ContextFor the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.
62:1 For God alone I patiently wait; 25
he is the one who delivers me. 26
62:2 He alone is my protector 27 and deliverer.
He is my refuge; 28 I will not be upended. 29
62:3 How long will you threaten 30 a man?
All of you are murderers, 31
as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence. 32
Psalms 74:10
Context74:10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
Psalms 76:1-3
ContextFor the music director; to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of Asaph, a song.
76:1 God has revealed himself in Judah; 34
in Israel his reputation 35 is great.
he dwells in Zion. 37
76:3 There he shattered the arrows, 38
the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war. 39 (Selah)
Psalms 123:1-4
ContextA song of ascents. 41
123:1 I look up 42 toward you,
the one enthroned 43 in heaven.
123:2 Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress, 44
so my eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.
123:3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!
For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some. 45
of the taunts of the self-assured,
of the contempt of the proud.
Psalms 143:6
Context143:6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; 47
my soul thirsts for you in a parched 48 land. 49
Joel 2:17-20
Context2:17 Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep
from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. 50
Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people;
please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked,
to become a proverb 51 among the nations.
Why should it be said 52 among the peoples,
“Where is their God?”
2:18 Then the Lord became 53 zealous for his land;
he had compassion on his people.
2:19 The Lord responded 54 to his people,
“Look! I am about to restore your grain 55
as well as fresh wine and olive oil.
You will be fully satisfied. 56
I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.
2:20 I will remove the one from the north 57 far from you.
I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place.
Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea, 58
and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. 59
His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” 60
Indeed, the Lord 61 has accomplished great things.
[37:1] 1 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
[37:1] 2 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
[8:1] 3 sn Probably made of metal, wood, or leather. See HALOT 193 s.v. גִּלָּיוֹן.
[8:1] 4 tn Heb “write” (so KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV).
[8:1] 5 tn Heb “with the stylus of a man.” The significance of the qualifying genitive “a man” is uncertain. For various interpretations see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:219, n. 1.
[8:1] 6 tn Heb “quickly, [the] plunder; it hurries, [the] loot.” The first word (מַהֵר, maher) is either a Piel imperative (“hurry [to]”) or infinitive (“hurrying,” or “quickly”). The third word (חָשׁ, khash) is either a third masculine singular perfect or a masculine singular participle, in either case from the root חוּשׁ (khush, “hurry”). Perhaps it is best to translate, “One hastens to the plunder, one hurries to the loot.” In this case מַהֵר is understood as an infinitive functioning as a verb, the subject of חוּשׁ is taken as indefinite, and the two nouns are understood as adverbial accusatives. As we discover in v. 3, this is the name of the son to be born to Isaiah through the prophetess.
[8:1] 7 sn Probably made of metal, wood, or leather. See HALOT 193 s.v. גִּלָּיוֹן.
[8:1] 8 tn Heb “write” (so KJV, ASV, NIV, NRSV).
[8:1] 9 tn Heb “with the stylus of a man.” The significance of the qualifying genitive “a man” is uncertain. For various interpretations see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:219, n. 1.
[8:1] 10 tn Heb “quickly, [the] plunder; it hurries, [the] loot.” The first word (מַהֵר, maher) is either a Piel imperative (“hurry [to]”) or infinitive (“hurrying,” or “quickly”). The third word (חָשׁ, khash) is either a third masculine singular perfect or a masculine singular participle, in either case from the root חוּשׁ (khush, “hurry”). Perhaps it is best to translate, “One hastens to the plunder, one hurries to the loot.” In this case מַהֵר is understood as an infinitive functioning as a verb, the subject of חוּשׁ is taken as indefinite, and the two nouns are understood as adverbial accusatives. As we discover in v. 3, this is the name of the son to be born to Isaiah through the prophetess.
[9:3] 11 sn The Lord is addressed directly in vv. 3-4.
[9:3] 12 tc The Hebrew consonantal text reads “You multiply the nation, you do not make great the joy.” The particle לֹא (lo’, “not”) is obviously incorrect; the marginal reading has לוֹ (lo, “to him”). In this case, one should translate, “You multiply the nation, you increase his (i.e., their) joy.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one emends הַגּוֹי לוֹ (hagoy lo, “the nation, to him”) to הַגִּילָה (haggilah, “the joy,” a noun attested in Isa 65:18), which corresponds to הַשִּׂמְחָה (hasimkhah, “the joy”) later in the verse (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:386). As attractive as this reading is, it has not textual evidence supporting it. The MT reading (accepting the marginal reading “to him” for the negative particle “not”) affirms that Yahweh caused the nation to grow in population and increased their joy.
[9:3] 13 tn Heb “as they are happy.” The word “warriors” is supplied in the translation to clarify the word picture. This last simile comes close to reality, for vv. 4-5 indicate that the people have won a great military victory over their oppressors.
[9:2] 14 sn The darkness symbolizes judgment and its effects (see 8:22); the light represents deliverance and its effects, brought about by the emergence of a conquering Davidic king (see vv. 3-6).
[9:2] 15 tn Traditionally צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has been interpreted as a compound noun, meaning “shadow of death” (so KJV, ASV, NIV), but usage indicates that the word, though it sometimes refers to death, means “darkness.” The term should probably be repointed as an abstract noun צַלְמוּת (tsalmut). See the note at Ps 23:4.
[6:1] 16 sn That is, approximately 740
[6:1] 17 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 11 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[27:5] 18 tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.
[27:5] 19 tn Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”
[27:5] 22 tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.
[27:5] 23 tn Heb “on a rocky summit he lifts me up.” The
[62:1] 24 sn Psalm 62. The psalmist expresses his unwavering confidence in God’s justice and in his ability to protect his people.
[62:1] 25 tn Heb “only for God [is] there silence [to] my soul.”
[62:1] 26 tn Heb “from him [is] my deliverance.”
[62:2] 27 tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”
[62:2] 28 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
[62:2] 29 tn The Hebrew text adds רַבָּה (rabbah, “greatly”) at the end of the line. It is unusual for this adverb to follow a negated verb. Some see this as qualifying the assertion to some degree, but this would water down the affirmation too much (see v. 6b, where the adverb is omitted). If the adverb has a qualifying function, it would suggest that the psalmist might be upended, though not severely. This is inconsistent with the confident mood of the psalm. The adverb probably has an emphatic force here, “I will not be greatly upended” meaning “I will not be annihilated.”
[62:3] 30 tn The verb form is plural; the psalmist addresses his enemies. The verb הוּת occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “shout at.”
[62:3] 31 tn The Hebrew text has a Pual (passive) form, but the verb form should be vocalized as a Piel (active) form. See BDB 953-54 s.v. רָצַח.
[62:3] 32 tn Heb “like a bent wall and a broken fence.” The point of the comparison is not entirely clear. Perhaps the enemies are depicted as dangerous, like a leaning wall or broken fence that is in danger of falling on someone (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:69).
[76:1] 33 sn Psalm 76. The psalmist depicts God as a mighty warrior who destroys Israel’s enemies.
[76:1] 34 tn Or “God is known in Judah.”
[76:1] 35 tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
[76:2] 36 sn Salem is a shorter name for Jerusalem (see Gen 14:18).
[76:2] 37 tn Heb “and his place of refuge is in Salem, and his lair in Zion.” God may be likened here to a lion (see v. 4).
[76:3] 38 tn Heb “flames of the bow,” i.e., arrows.
[76:3] 39 tn Heb “shield and sword and battle.” “Battle” probably here stands by metonymy for the weapons of war in general.
[123:1] 40 sn Psalm 123. The psalmist, speaking for God’s people, acknowledges his dependence on God in the midst of a crisis.
[123:1] 41 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.
[123:1] 42 tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”
[123:1] 43 tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12).
[123:2] 44 sn Servants look to their master for food, shelter, and other basic needs.
[123:3] 45 tn Heb “for greatly we are filled [with] humiliation.”
[123:4] 46 tn Heb “greatly our soul is full to it.”
[143:6] 47 tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.
[143:6] 48 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.
[143:6] 49 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).
[2:17] 50 tn Heb “between the vestibule and the altar.” The vestibule was located at the entrance of the temple and the altar was located at the other end of the building. So “between the vestibule and the altar” is a merism referring to the entire structure. The priestly lament permeates the entire house of worship.
[2:17] 51 tn For the MT reading לִמְשָׁל (limshol, an infinitive, “to rule”), one should instead read לְמָשָׁל (lÿmashal, a noun, “to a byword”). While the consonantal Hebrew text permits either, the context suggests that the concern here is more one of not wanting to appear abandoned by God to ongoing economic depression rather than one of concern over potential political subjection of Israel (cf. v. 19). The possibility that the form in the MT is an infinitive construct of the denominative verb II מָשַׁל (mashal, “to utter a proverb”) does not seem likely because of the following preposition (Hebrew בְּ [bÿ], rather than עַל [’al]).
[2:17] 52 tn Heb “Why will they say?”
[2:18] 53 tn The time-frame entertained by the verbs of v.18 constitutes a crux interpretum in this chapter. The Hebrew verb forms used here are preterites with vav consecutive and are most naturally understood as describing a past situation. However, some modern English versions render these verbs as futures (e.g., NIV, NASV), apparently concluding that the context requires a future reference. According to Joüon 2:363 §112.h, n.1 Ibn Ezra explained the verbs of Joel 2:18 as an extension of the so-called prophetic perfect; as such, a future fulfillment was described with a past tense as a rhetorical device lending certainty to the fulfillment. But this lacks adequate precedent and is very unlikely from a syntactical standpoint. It seems better to take the verbs in the normal past sense of the preterite. This would require a vantage point for the prophet at some time after the people had responded favorably to the Lord’s call for repentance and after the Lord had shown compassion and forgiveness toward his people, but before the full realization of God’s promises to restore productivity to the land. In other words, it appears from the verbs of vv. 18-19 that at the time of Joel’s writing this book the events of successive waves of locust invasion and conditions of drought had almost run their course and the people had now begun to turn to the Lord.
[2:19] 54 tn Heb “answered and said.”
[2:19] 55 tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.
[2:19] 56 tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXIIc) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied” (the reading of the MT, LXX).
[2:20] 57 sn The allusion to the one from the north is best understood as having locusts in view. It is not correct to say that this reference to the enemy who came form the north excludes the possibility of a reference to locusts and must be understood as human armies. Although locust plagues usually approached Palestine from the east or southeast, the severe plague of 1915, for example, came from the northeast.
[2:20] 58 tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.
[2:20] 59 tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.
[2:20] 60 sn Heb “and his foul smell will ascend.” The foul smell probably refers to the unpleasant odor of decayed masses of dead locusts. The Hebrew word for “foul smell” is found only here in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for “stench” appears only here and in Isa 34:3 and Amos 4:10. In the latter references it refers to the stench of dead corpses on a field of battle.
[2:20] 61 tn The Hebrew text does not have “the
