Psalms 10:2

10:2 The wicked arrogantly chase the oppressed; ¹ 

the oppressed are trapped ²  by the schemes the wicked have dreamed up. ³ 

Psalms 10:14

10:14 You have taken notice, ⁴ 

for ⁵  you always see ⁶  one who inflicts pain and suffering. ⁷ 

The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; ⁸ 

you deliver ⁹  the fatherless. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 42:21

42:21 They said to one other, ¹¹  “Surely we’re being punished ¹²  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ¹³  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ¹⁴  has come on us!”

Job 19:2-3

19:2 “How long will you torment me ¹⁵ 

and crush ¹⁶  me with your words? ¹⁷ 

19:3 These ten times ¹⁸  you have been reproaching me; ¹⁹ 

you are not ashamed to attack me! ²⁰ 

Job 19:21-22

19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me,

for the hand of God has struck me.

19:22 Why do you pursue me like God does? ²¹ 

Will you never be satiated with my flesh? ²² 

Matthew 27:35-46

27:35 When ²³  they had crucified ²⁴  him, they divided his clothes by throwing dice. ²⁵  27:36 Then they sat down and kept guard over him there. 27:37 Above ²⁶  his head they put the charge against him, ²⁷  which read: ²⁸  “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” 27:38 Then two outlaws were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 27:39 Those ²⁹  who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads 27:40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ³⁰  If you are God’s Son, come down ³¹  from the cross!” 27:41 In ³²  the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ³³  and elders ³⁴  – were mocking him: ³⁵  27:42 “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down ³⁶  now from the cross, we will believe in him! 27:43 He trusts in God – let God, if he wants to, deliver him now ³⁷  because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!” 27:44 The ³⁸  robbers who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. ³⁹ 

Jesus’ Death

27:45 Now from noon until three, ⁴⁰  darkness came over all the land. ⁴¹  27:46 At ⁴²  about three o’clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, ⁴³  “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁴ 

[10:2]  ¹ tn Heb “because of the pride of [the] wicked he burns [i.e. hotly pursues] [the] oppressed.” The singular forms רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) and עָנִי (’aniy, “oppressed”) are collective and representative, as indicated in the next line, which uses plural verb forms to describe the actions of both.

[10:2]  ² tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 2 describe either what typically happens (from the psalmist’s perspective) or what the psalmist was experiencing at the time he offered this prayer.

[10:2]  ³ tn Heb “they are trapped in the schemes which they have thought up.” The referents of the two pronominal suffixes on the verbs have been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent of the first suffix (“they”) is taken as the oppressed, while the referent of the second (“they”) is taken to be the wicked (cf. NIV, which renders “wicked” in the previous line as a collective singular). Others take the referent of both occurrences of “they” in the line to be the wicked (cf. NRSV, “let them be caught in the schemes they have devised”).

[10:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “you see.” One could translate the perfect as generalizing, “you do take notice.”

[10:14]  ⁵ tn If the preceding perfect is taken as generalizing, then one might understand כִּי (ki) as asseverative: “indeed, certainly.”

[10:14]  ⁶ tn Here the imperfect emphasizes God’s typical behavior.

[10:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “destruction and suffering,” which here refers metonymically to the wicked, who dish out pain and suffering to their victims.

[10:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “to give into your hand, upon you, he abandons, [the] unfortunate [one].” The syntax is awkward and the meaning unclear. It is uncertain who or what is being given into God’s hand. Elsewhere the idiom “give into the hand” means to deliver into one’s possession. If “to give” goes with what precedes (as the accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests), then this may refer to the wicked man being delivered over to God for judgment. The present translation assumes that “to give” goes with what follows (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). The verb יַעֲזֹב (ya’azov) here has the nuance “entrust” (see Gen 39:6; Job 39:11); the direct object (“[his] cause”) is implied.

[10:14]  ⁹ tn Or “help.”

[10:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[for] one who is fatherless, you are a deliverer.” The noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9).

[42:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ¹² tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

[42:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ¹⁴ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.

[19:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “torment my soul,” with “soul” representing the self or individual. The MT has a verb from יָגָה (yagah, “to afflict; to torment”). This is supported by the versions. But the LXX has “to tire” which is apparently from יָגַע (yaga’). The form in the MT is unusual because it preserves the final (original) yod in the Hiphil (see GKC 214 §75.gg). So this unusual form has been preserved, and is the correct reading. A modal nuance for the imperfect fits best here: “How long do you intend to do this?”

[19:2]  ¹⁶ tn The MT has דָּכָא (dakha’), “to crush” in the Piel. The LXX, however, has a more general word which means “to destroy.”

[19:2]  ¹⁷ tn The LXX adds to the verse: “only know that the Lord has dealt with me thus.”

[19:3]  ¹⁸ sn The number “ten” is a general expression to convey that this has been done often (see Gen 31:7; Num 14:22).

[19:3]  ¹⁹ tn The Hiphil of the verb כָּלַם (kalam) means “outrage; insult; shame.” The verbs in this verse are prefixed conjugations, and may be interpreted as preterites if the reference is to the past time. But since the action is still going on, progressive imperfects work well.

[19:3]  ²⁰ tn The second half of the verse uses two verbs, the one dependent on the other. It could be translated “you are not ashamed to attack me” (see GKC 385-86 §120.c), or “you attack me shamelessly.” The verb חָכַר (hakhar) poses some difficulties for both the ancient versions and the modern commentators. The verb seems to be cognate to Arabic hakara, “to oppress; to ill-treat.” This would mean that there has been a transformation of ח (khet) to ה (he). Three Hebrew mss actually have the ח (khet). This has been widely accepted; other suggestions are irrelevant.

[19:22]  ²¹ sn Strahan comments, “The whole tragedy of the book is packed into these extraordinary words.”

[19:22]  ²² sn The idiom of eating the pieces of someone means “slander” in Aramaic (see Dan 3:8), Arabic and Akkadian.

[27:35]  ²³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:35]  ²⁴ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[27:35]  ²⁵ tn Grk “by throwing the lot” (probably by using marked pebbles or broken pieces of pottery). A modern equivalent, “throwing dice,” was chosen here because of its association with gambling. According to L&N 6.219 a term for “dice” is particularly appropriate.

[27:37]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:37]  ²⁷ sn Mention of the inscription is an important detail, because the inscription would normally give the reason for the execution. It shows that Jesus was executed for claiming to be a king. It was also probably written with irony from the executioners’ point of view.

[27:37]  ²⁸ tn Grk “was written.”

[27:39]  ²⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:40]  ³⁰ sn There is rich irony in the statements of those who were passing by, “save yourself!” and “come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life.

[27:40]  ³¹ tc ‡ Many important witnesses (א* A D pc it sy^[s],p) read καί (kai, here with the force of “then”) before κατάβηθι (katabhqi, “come down”). The shorter reading may well be due to homoioarcton, but judging by the diverse external evidence (א² B L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) it is equally possible that the shorter reading is original (and is so considered for this translation). NA²⁷ puts the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[27:41]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:41]  ³³ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[27:41]  ³⁴ tn Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

[27:41]  ³⁵ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said.”

[27:42]  ³⁶ tn Here the aorist imperative καταβάτω (katabatw) has been translated as a conditional imperative. This fits the pattern of other conditional imperatives (imperative + καί + future indicative) outlined by ExSyn 489.

[27:43]  ³⁷ sn An allusion to Ps 22:8.

[27:44]  ³⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:44]  ³⁹ sn Matthew’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).

[27:45]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “from the sixth hour to the ninth hour.”

[27:45]  ⁴¹ sn This imagery has parallels to the Day of the Lord: Joel 2:10; Amos 8:9; Zeph 1:15.

[27:46]  ⁴² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:46]  ⁴³ tn Grk “with a loud voice, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[27:46]  ⁴⁴ sn A quotation from Ps 22:1.