Lamentations 2:20

Jerusalem Speaks:

ר (Resh)

2:20 Look, O Lord! Consider! ¹ 

Whom have you ever afflicted ²  like this?

Should women eat their offspring, ³ 

their healthy infants? ⁴ 

Should priest and prophet

be killed in the Lord’s ⁵  sanctuary?

Lamentations 5:1

The People of Jerusalem Pray:

5:1 ⁶ O Lord, reflect on ⁷  what has happened to us;

consider ⁸  and look at ⁹  our disgrace.

Psalms 80:14-16

80:14 O God, invincible warrior, ¹⁰  come back!

Look down from heaven and take notice!

Take care of this vine,

80:15 the root ¹¹  your right hand planted,

the shoot you made to grow! ¹² 

80:16 It is burned ¹³  and cut down.

They die because you are displeased with them. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 102:19-20

102:19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above; ¹⁵ 

from heaven the Lord will look toward earth, ¹⁶ 

102:20 in order to hear the painful cries of the prisoners,

and to set free those condemned to die, ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 62:6-7

62:6 I ¹⁸  post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;

they should keep praying all day and all night. ¹⁹ 

You who pray to ²⁰  the Lord, don’t be silent!

62:7 Don’t allow him to rest until he reestablishes Jerusalem, ²¹ 

until he makes Jerusalem the pride ²²  of the earth.

Isaiah 63:15

63:15 Look down from heaven and take notice,

from your holy, majestic palace!

Where are your zeal ²³  and power?

Do not hold back your tender compassion! ²⁴ 

Isaiah 64:1

64:1 (63:19b) ²⁵  If only you would tear apart the sky ²⁶  and come down!

The mountains would tremble ²⁷  before you!

Daniel 9:16-19

9:16 O Lord, according to all your justice, ²⁸  please turn your raging anger ²⁹  away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For due to our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by all our neighbors.

9:17 “So now, our God, accept ³⁰  the prayer and requests of your servant, and show favor to ³¹  your devastated sanctuary for your own sake. ³²  9:18 Listen attentively, ³³  my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins ³⁴  and the city called by your name. ³⁵  For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, ³⁶  but because your compassion is abundant. 9:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, pay attention, and act! Don’t delay, for your own sake, O my God! For your city and your people are called by your name.” ³⁷ 

[2:20]  ¹ tn Heb “Look, O Lord! See!” When used in collocation with verbs of cognition, רָאָה (ra’ah) means “to see for oneself” or “to take notice” (1 Sam 26:12). The parallelism between seeing and understanding is often emphasized (e.g., Exod 16:6; Isa 5:19; 29:15; Job 11:11; Eccl 6:5). See also 1:11 and cf. 1:9, 12, 20; 3:50, 59, 60; 5:1.

[2:20]  ² tn For the nuance “afflict” see the note at 1:12.

[2:20]  ³ tn Heb “their fruit.” The term פְּרִי (pÿri, “fruit”) is used figuratively to refer to children as the fruit of a mother’s womb (e.g., Gen 30:2; Deut 7:13; 28:4, 11, 18, 53; 30:9; Pss 21:11; 127:3; 132:11; Isa 13:18; Mic 6:7).

[2:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “infants of healthy childbirth.” The genitive-construct phrase עֹלֲלֵי טִפֻּחִים (’olale tippukhim) functions as an attributive genitive construction: “healthy newborn infants.” The noun טִפֻּחִים (tippukhim) appears only here. It is related to the verb טָפַח (tafakh), meaning “to give birth to a healthy child” or “to raise children” depending on whether the Arabic or Akkadian cognate is emphasized. For the related verb, see below at 2:22.

[2:20]  ⁵ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) as at the beginning of the verse. See the tc note at 1:14.

[5:1]  ⁶ sn The speaking voice is now that of a choir singing the community’s lament in the first person plural. The poem is not an alphabetic acrostic like the preceding chapters but has 22 verses, the same as the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

[5:1]  ⁷ tn The basic meaning of זָכַר (zakhar) is “to remember, call to mind” (HALOT 270 s.v. I זכר). Although often used of recollection of past events, זָכַר (zakhar, “to remember”) can also describe consideration of present situations: “to consider, think about” something present (BDB 270 s.v. 5), hence “reflect on,” the most appropriate nuance here. Verses 1-6 describe the present plight of Jerusalem. The parallel requests הַבֵּיט וּרְאֵה (habbet urÿ’eh, “Look and see!”) have a present-time orientation as well. See also 2:1; 3:19-20.

[5:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “Look!” Although often used in reference to visual perception, נָבַט (navat, “to look”) can also refer to cognitive consideration and mental attention shown to a situation: “to regard” (e.g., 1 Sam 16:7; 2 Kgs 3:14), “to pay attention to, consider” (e.g., Isa 22:8; Isa 51:1, 2).

[5:1]  ⁹ tn Although normally used in reference to visual sight, רָאָה (ra’ah) is often used in reference to cognitive processes and mental observation. See the note on “Consider” at 2:20.

[80:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “O God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. See also vv. 4, 7 for a similar construction.

[80:15]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן emends the form to כַּנָּהּ (kannah, “its shoot”).

[80:15]  ¹² tn Heb “and upon a son you strengthened for yourself.” In this context, where the extended metaphor of the vine dominates, בֵּן (ben, “son”) probably refers to the shoots that grow from the vine. Cf. Gen 49:22.

[80:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “burned with fire.”

[80:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “because of the rebuke of your face they perish.”

[102:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from the height of his sanctuary.”

[102:19]  ¹⁶ tn The perfect verbal forms in v. 19 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 18.

[102:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the sons of death.” The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 79:11) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.

[62:6]  ¹⁸ sn The speaker here is probably the prophet.

[62:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all day and all night continually they do not keep silent.” The following lines suggest that they pray for the Lord’s intervention and restoration of the city.

[62:6]  ²⁰ tn Or “invoke”; NIV “call on”; NASB, NRSV “remind.”

[62:7]  ²¹ tn “Jerusalem” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; note the following line.

[62:7]  ²² tn Heb “[the object of] praise.”

[63:15]  ²³ tn This probably refers to his zeal for his people, which motivates him to angrily strike out against their enemies.

[63:15]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “the agitation of your intestines and your compassion to me they are held back.” The phrase “agitation of your intestines” is metonymic, referring to the way in which one’s nervous system reacts when one feels pity and compassion toward another. אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”) is awkward in this context, where the speaker represents the nation and, following the introduction (see v. 7), utilizes first person plural forms. The translation assumes an emendation to the negative particle אַל (’al). This also necessitates emending the following verb form (which is a plural perfect) to a singular jussive (תִתְאַפָּק, tit’appaq). The Hitpael of אָפַק (’afaq) also occurs in 42:14.

[64:1]  ²⁵ sn In BHS the chapter division occurs in a different place from the English Bible: 64:1 ET (63:19b HT) and 64:2-12 (64:1-11 HT). Beginning with 65:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[64:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[64:1]  ²⁷ tn Or “quake.” נָזֹלּוּ (nazollu) is from the verbal root זָלַל (zalal, “quake”; see HALOT 272 s.v. II זלל). Perhaps there is a verbal allusion to Judg 5:5, the only other passage where this verb occurs. In that passage the poet tells how the Lord’s appearance to do battle caused the mountains to shake.

[9:16]  ²⁸ tn Or “righteousness.”

[9:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “your anger and your rage.” The synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of God’s anger. This is best expressed in English by making one of the terms adjectival (cf. NLT “your furious anger”; CEV “terribly angry”).

[9:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “hear.” Here the verb refers to hearing favorably, accepting the prayer and responding positively.

[9:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “let your face shine.” This idiom pictures God smiling in favor. See Pss 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19.

[9:17]  ³² tn Heb “for the sake of my Lord.” Theodotion has “for your sake.” Cf. v. 19.

[9:18]  ³³ tn Heb “turn your ear.”

[9:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “desolations.” The term refers here to the ruined condition of Judah’s towns.

[9:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “over which your name is called.” Cf. v. 19. This expression implies that God is the owner of his city, Jerusalem. Note the use of the idiom in 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1; Amos 9:12.

[9:18]  ³⁶ tn Heb “praying our supplications before you.”

[9:19]  ³⁷ tn Heb “for your name is called over your city and your people.” See the note on this expression in v 18.