Psalms 31:9

31:9 Have mercy on me, for I am in distress!

My eyes grow dim ¹  from suffering. ² 

I have lost my strength. ³ 

Psalms 31:2

31:2 Listen to me! ⁴ 

Quickly deliver me!

Be my protector and refuge, ⁵ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ⁶ 

Psalms 26:1

Psalm 26 ⁷ 

By David.

26:1 Vindicate me, O Lord,

for I have integrity, ⁸ 

and I trust in the Lord without wavering.

Job 2:7-8

Job’s Integrity in Suffering

2:7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted ⁹  Job with a malignant ulcer ¹⁰  from the sole of his feet to the top of his head. ¹¹  2:8 Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape ¹²  himself ¹³  with while he was sitting ¹⁴  among the ashes. ¹⁵ 

Job 33:19-22

33:19 Or a person is chastened ¹⁶  by pain on his bed,

and with the continual strife of his bones, ¹⁷ 

33:20 so that his life loathes food,

and his soul rejects appetizing fare. ¹⁸ 

33:21 His flesh wastes away from sight,

and his bones, which were not seen,

are easily visible. ¹⁹ 

33:22 He ²⁰  draws near to the place of corruption,

and his life to the messengers of death. ²¹ 

Isaiah 1:5-6

1:5 ²² Why do you insist on being battered?

Why do you continue to rebel? ²³ 

Your head has a massive wound, ²⁴ 

your whole body is weak. ²⁵ 

1:6 From the soles of your feet to your head,

there is no spot that is unharmed. ²⁶ 

There are only bruises, cuts,

and open wounds.

They have not been cleansed ²⁷  or bandaged,

nor have they been treated ²⁸  with olive oil. ²⁹ 

[31:9]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

[31:9]  ² tn Cf. Ps 6:7, which has a similar line.

[31:9]  ³ tn Heb “my breath and my stomach [grow weak].” Apparently the verb in the previous line (“grow dim, be weakened”) is to be understood here. The Hebrew term נפשׁ can mean “life,” or, more specifically, “throat, breath.” The psalmist seems to be lamenting that his breathing is impaired because of the physical and emotional suffering he is forced to endure.

[31:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[31:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”

[31:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”

[26:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 26. The author invites the Lord to test his integrity, asserts his innocence and declares his loyalty to God.

[26:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “for I in my integrity walk.”

[2:7]  ⁹ tn The verb is נָכָה (nakhah, “struck, smote”); it can be rendered in this context as “afflicted.”

[2:7]  ¹⁰ sn The general consensus is that Job was afflicted with a leprosy known as elephantiasis, named because the rough skin and the swollen limbs are animal-like. The Hebrew word שְׁחִין (shÿkhin, “boil”) can indicate an ulcer as well. Leprosy begins with such, but so do other diseases. Leprosy normally begins in the limbs and spreads, but Job was afflicted everywhere at once. It may be some other disease also characterized by such a malignant ulcer. D. J. A. Clines has a thorough bibliography on all the possible diseases linked to this description (Job [WBC], 48). See also HALOT 1460 s.v. שְׁחִין.

[2:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “crown.”

[2:8]  ¹² tn The verb גָּרַד (garad) is a hapax legomenon (only occurring here). Modern Hebrew has retained a meaning “to scrape,” which is what the cognate Syriac and Arabic indicate. In the Hitpael it would mean “scrape himself.”

[2:8]  ¹³ sn The disease required constant attention. The infection and pus had to be scraped away with a piece of broken pottery in order to prevent the spread of the infection. The skin was so disfigured that even his friends did not recognize him (2:12). The book will add that the disease afflicted him inwardly, giving him a foul breath and a loathsome smell (19:17, 20). The sores bred worms; they opened and ran, and closed and tightened (16:8). He was tormented with dreams (7:14). He felt like he was choking (7:14). His bones were racked with burning pain (30:30). And he was not able to rise from his place (19:18). The disease was incurable; but it would last for years, leaving the patient longing for death.

[2:8]  ¹⁴ tn The construction uses the disjunctive vav (ו) with the independent pronoun with the active participle. The construction connects this clause with what has just been said, making this a circumstantial clause.

[2:8]  ¹⁵ sn Among the ashes. It is likely that the “ashes” refers to the place outside the city where the rubbish was collected and burnt, i.e., the ash-heap (cf. CEV). This is the understanding of the LXX, which reads “dung-hill outside the city.”

[33:19]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “food of desire.” The word “rejects” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[33:21]  ¹⁹ 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.

[33:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “his soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, “life”] draws near.”

[33:22]  ²¹ tn The MT uses the Hiphil participle, “to those who cause death.” This seems to be a reference to the belief in demons that brought about death, an idea not mentioned in the Bible itself. Thus many proposals have been made for this expression. Hoffmann and Budde divide the word into לְמוֹ מֵתִּים (lÿmo metim) and simply read “to the dead.” Dhorme adds a couple of letters to get לִמְקוֹם מֵתִּים (limqom metim, “to the place [or abode] of the dead”).

[1:5]  ²² sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).

[1:5]  ²³ tn Heb “Why are you still beaten? [Why] do you continue rebellion?” The rhetorical questions express the prophet’s disbelief over Israel’s apparent masochism and obsession with sin. The interrogative construction in the first line does double duty in the parallelism. H. Wildberger (Isaiah, 1:18) offers another alternative by translating the two statements with one question: “Why do you still wish to be struck that you persist in revolt?”

[1:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”

[1:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and all the heart is faint.” The “heart” here stands for bodily strength and energy, as suggested by the context and usage elsewhere (see Jer 8:18; Lam 1:22).

[1:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “there is not in it health”; NAB “there is no sound spot.”

[1:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “pressed out.”

[1:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “softened” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “soothed.”

[1:6]  ²⁹ sn This verse describes wounds like those one would receive in battle. These wounds are comprehensive and without remedy.