Job 33:19-21

33:19 Or a person is chastened ¹  by pain on his bed,

and with the continual strife of his bones, ² 

33:20 so that his life loathes food,

and his soul rejects appetizing fare. ³ 

33:21 His flesh wastes away from sight,

and his bones, which were not seen,

are easily visible. ⁴ 

Psalms 6:2-6

6:2 Have mercy on me, ⁵  Lord, for I am frail!

Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ⁶ 

6:3 I am absolutely terrified, ⁷ 

and you, Lord – how long will this continue? ⁸ 

6:4 Relent, Lord, rescue me! ⁹ 

Deliver me because of your faithfulness! ¹⁰ 

6:5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death, ¹¹ 

In Sheol who gives you thanks? ¹² 

6:6 I am exhausted as I groan;

all night long I drench my bed in tears; ¹³ 

my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 38:2-8

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹⁵  me,

and your hand presses me down. ¹⁶ 

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ¹⁷ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ¹⁸ 

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ¹⁹ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

38:5 My wounds ²⁰  are infected and starting to smell, ²¹ 

because of my foolish sins. ²² 

38:6 I am dazed ²³  and completely humiliated; ²⁴ 

all day long I walk around mourning.

38:7 For I am overcome with shame ²⁵ 

and my whole body is sick. ²⁶ 

38:8 I am numb with pain and severely battered; ²⁷ 

I groan loudly because of the anxiety I feel. ²⁸ 

[33:19]  ¹ tc The MT has the passive form, and so a subject has to be added: “[a man] is chastened.” The LXX has the active form, indicating “[God] chastens,” but the object “a man” has to be added. It is understandable why the LXX thought this was active, within this sequence of verbs; and that is why it is the inferior reading.

[33:19]  ² tc The Kethib “the strife of his bones is continual,” whereas the Qere has “the multitude of his bones are firm.” The former is the better reading in this passage. It indicates that the pain is caused by the ongoing strife.

[33:20]  ³ tn Heb “food of desire.” The word “rejects” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[33:21]  ⁴ tc Heb “are laid bare.” This is the Qere reading; the Kethib means “bare height.” Gordis reverses the word order: “his bones are bare [i.e., crushed] so that they cannot be looked upon.” But the sense of that is not clear.

[6:2]  ⁵ tn Or “show me favor.”

[6:2]  ⁶ tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.

[6:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and you, Lord, how long?” The suffering psalmist speaks in broken syntax. He addresses God, but then simply cries out with a brief, but poignant, question: How long will this (= his suffering) continue?

[6:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “my being,” or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:4]  ¹⁰ sn Deliver me because of your faithfulness. Though the psalmist is experiencing divine discipline, he realizes that God has made a commitment to him in the past, so he appeals to God’s faithfulness in his request for help.

[6:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for there is not in death your remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זֵכֶר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 30:4; 97:12. “Death” here refers to the realm of death where the dead reside. See the reference to Sheol in the next line.

[6:5]  ¹² tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[6:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”

[6:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”

[38:2]  ¹⁵ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[38:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[38:5]  ²⁰ sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.

[38:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).

[38:5]  ²² tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”

[38:6]  ²³ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[38:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for my loins are filled with shame.” The “loins” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. The present translation assumes that נִקְלֶה (niqleh) is derived from קָלָה (qalah, “be dishonored”). Some derive it instead from a homonymic root קָלָה (qalah), meaning “to roast.” In this case one might translate “fever” (cf. NEB “my loins burn with fever”).

[38:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh” (see v. 3).

[38:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I am numb and crushed to excess.”

[38:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I roar because of the moaning of my heart.”