Psalms 42:3

42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; ¹ 

all day long they say to me, ²  “Where is your God?”

Psalms 80:5

80:5 You have given them tears as food; ³ 

you have made them drink tears by the measure. ⁴ 

Job 3:24

3:24 For my sighing comes in place of ⁵  my food, ⁶ 

and my groanings ⁷  flow forth like water. ⁸ 

Lamentations 3:48-49

3:48 Streams ⁹  of tears flow from my eyes ¹⁰ 

because my people ¹¹  are destroyed. ¹² 

ע (Ayin)

3:49 Tears flow from my eyes ¹³  and will not stop;

there will be no break ¹⁴ 

[42:3]  ¹ tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”

[42:3]  ² tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.

[80:5]  ³ tn Heb “you have fed them the food of tears.”

[80:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “[by] the third part [of a measure].” The Hebrew term שָׁלִישׁ (shalish, “third part [of a measure]”) occurs only here and in Isa 40:12.

[3:24]  ⁵ tn For the prepositional לִפְנֵי (lifne), the temporal meaning “before” (“my sighing comes before I eat”) makes very little sense here (as the versions have it). The meaning “in place of, for” fits better (see 1 Sam 1:16, “count not your handmaid for a daughter of Belial”).

[3:24]  ⁶ sn The line means that Job’s sighing, which results from the suffering (metonymy of effect) is his constant, daily food. Parallels like Ps 42:3 which says “my tears have been my bread/food” shows a similar figure.

[3:24]  ⁷ tn The word normally describes the “roaring” of a lion (Job 4:10); but it is used for the loud groaning or cries of those in distress (Pss 22:1; 32:3).

[3:24]  ⁸ tn This second colon is paraphrased in the LXX to say, “I weep being beset with terror.” The idea of “pouring forth water” while groaning can be represented by “I weep.” The word “fear, terror” anticipates the next verse.

[3:48]  ⁹ tn Heb “canals.” The phrase “canals of water” (eye water = tears) is an example of hyperbole. The English idiom “streams of tears” is also hyperbolic.

[3:48]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my eyes flow down with canals of water.”

[3:48]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the daughter of my people,” or “the Daughter, my people.”

[3:48]  ¹² tn Heb “because of the destruction of [the daughter of my people].”

[3:49]  ¹³ tn Heb “my eye flows.” The term “eye” is a metonymy of association, standing for the “tears” which flow from one’s eyes.

[3:49]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “without stopping.” The noun הַפוּגָה (hafugah, “stop”) is a hapax legomenon (word that occurs only once in Hebrew scriptures). The form of the noun is unusual, probably being derived from the denominative Hiphil verbal stem of the root פּוּג (pug, “to grow weary, ineffective; numb, become cold”).