[9:22] 1 tc The LXX omits the phrase “It is all one.” Modern scholars either omit it or transpose it for clarity.
[9:22] 2 tn The relationships of these clauses is in some question. Some think that the poet has inverted the first two, and so they should read, “That is why I have said: ‘It is all one.’” Others would take the third clause to be what was said.
[9:23] 3 tc The LXX contains a paraphrase: “for the worthless die, but the righteous are laughed to scorn.”
[9:23] 4 sn This bold anthropomorphism means that by his treatment of the despair of the innocent, God is in essence mocking them.
[9:23] 5 tn The term מַסַּת (massat), a hapax legomenon, was translated “trial” in the older versions; but it is not from נָסָה (nasah, “to tempt; to test; to try”), but from מָסַס (masas, “to flow”). It is used in the Niphal to speak of the heart “melting” in suffering. So the idea behind this image is that of despair. This is the view that most interpreters adopt; it requires no change of the text whatsoever.
