Discovery BoxPsalms 35:15
Context35:15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together;
they gathered together to ambush me. 1
They tore at me without stopping to rest. 2
Micah 4:6-7
Context4:6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame,
and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. 3
4:7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, 4
and those far off 5 into a mighty nation.
The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,
from that day forward and forevermore.” 6
[35:15] 1 tn Heb “they gathered together against me, stricken [ones], and I did not know.” The Hebrew form נֵכִים (nekhim, “stricken ones” ?) is problematic. Some suggest an emendation to נָכְרִים[כְ] (kÿnokhÿrim, “foreigners”) or “like foreigners,” which would fit with what follows, “[like] foreigners that I do not recognize.” Perhaps the form should be read as a Qal active participle, נֹכִים (nokhim, “ones who strike”) from the verbal root נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike”). The Qal of this verb is unattested in biblical Hebrew, but the peal (basic) stem appears in Old Aramaic (J. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire [BibOr], 114; DNWSI 1:730.) In this case one might translate, “attackers gathered together against me though I was not aware of it” (cf. NASB “smiters”; NEB, NRSV “ruffians”; NIV “attackers”).
[35:15] 2 tn Heb “they tore and did not keep quiet.” By using the verb “tear,” the psalmist likens his enemies to a wild animal (see Hos 13:8). In v. 17 he compares them to hungry young lions.
[4:6] 3 sn The exiles of the nation are compared to lame and injured sheep.
[4:7] 4 tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”
[4:7] 5 tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (hala’, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannil’ah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (la’ah).
