Job 2:13

2:13 Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain ¹  was very great. ² 

Isaiah 3:26

3:26 Her gates will mourn and lament;

deprived of her people, she will sit on the ground. ³ 

Isaiah 47:1

Babylon Will Fall

47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,

O virgin ⁴  daughter Babylon!

Sit on the ground, not on a throne,

O daughter of the Babylonians!

Indeed, ⁵  you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

Isaiah 52:2

52:2 Shake off the dirt! ⁶ 

Get up, captive ⁷  Jerusalem!

Take off the iron chains around your neck,

O captive daughter Zion!

Lamentations 2:10

י (Yod)

2:10 The elders of Daughter Zion

sit ⁸  on the ground in silence. ⁹ 

They have thrown dirt on their heads;

They have dressed in sackcloth. ¹⁰ 

Jerusalem’s young women ¹¹  stare down at the ground. ¹² 

[2:13]  ¹ tn The word כְּאֵב (kÿ’ev) means “pain” – both mental and physical pain. The translation of “grief” captures only part of its emphasis.

[2:13]  ² sn The three friends went into a more severe form of mourning, one that is usually reserved for a death. E. Dhorme says it is a display of grief in its most intense form (Job, 23); for one of them to speak before the sufferer spoke would have been wrong.

[3:26]  ³ tn Heb “she will be empty, on the ground she will sit.” Jerusalem is personified as a destitute woman who sits mourning the empty city.

[47:1]  ⁴ tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).

[47:1]  ⁵ tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).

[52:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “Shake yourself free from the dirt.”

[52:2]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has שְּׂבִי (shÿvi), which some understand as a feminine singular imperative from יָשַׁב (yashav, “sit”). The LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and the Targum support the MT reading (the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does indirectly). Some interpret this to mean “take your throne”: The Lord exhorts Jerusalem to get up from the dirt and sit, probably with the idea of sitting in a place of honor (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:361). However, the form is likely a corruption of שְׁבִיָּה (shÿviyyah, “captive”), which appears in the parallel line.

[2:10]  ⁸ tc Consonantal ישׁבו (yshvy) is vocalized by the MT as יֵשְׁבוּ (yeshvu), Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine plural from יָשַׁב (yashav, “to sit”): “they sit on the ground.” However, the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Greek Septuagint, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate) reflect an alternate vocalization tradition of יָשְׁבוּ (yashvu), Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine plural from שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”): “they return to the ground (= the grave).” The parallelism with the following line favors the MT.

[2:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “they sit on the ground, they are silent.” Based on meter, the two verbs יִדְּמוּ…יֵשְׁבוּ (yeshvu…yidÿmu, “they sit…they are silent”) are in the same half of the line. Joined without a ו (vav) conjunction they form a verbal hendiadys. The first functions in its full verbal sense while the second functions adverbially: “they sit in silence.” The verb יִדְּמוּ (yidÿmu) may mean to be silent or to wail.

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they have girded themselves with sackcloth.”

[2:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the virgins of Jerusalem.” The term “virgins” is a metonymy of association, standing for single young women who are not yet married. These single women are in grief because their potential suitors have been killed. The elders, old men, and young women function together as a merism for all of the survivors (F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Lamentations [IBC], 92).

[2:10]  ¹² tn Heb “have bowed down their heads to the ground.”