Psalms 68:6

68:6 God settles those who have been deserted in their own homes; ¹ 

he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity. ² 

But sinful rebels live in the desert. ³ 

Psalms 68:18

68:18 You ascend on high, ⁴ 

you have taken many captives. ⁵ 

You receive tribute ⁶  from ⁷  men,

including even sinful rebels.

Indeed the Lord God lives there! ⁸ 

Psalms 106:43

106:43 Many times he delivered ⁹  them,

but they had a rebellious attitude, ¹⁰ 

and degraded themselves ¹¹  by their sin.

Isaiah 63:10-11

63:10 But they rebelled and offended ¹²  his holy Spirit, ¹³ 

so he turned into an enemy

and fought against them.

63:11 His people remembered the ancient times. ¹⁴ 

Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,

along with the shepherd of ¹⁵  his flock?

Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, ¹⁶ 

Lamentations 3:39-42

3:39 Why should any living person ¹⁷  complain

when punished for his sins? ¹⁸ 

נ (Nun)

3:40 Let us carefully examine our ways, ¹⁹ 

and let us return to the Lord.

3:41 Let us lift up our hearts ²⁰  and our hands

to God in heaven:

3:42 “We ²¹  have blatantly rebelled; ²² 

you ²³  have not forgiven.”

Lamentations 5:15-17

5:15 Our hearts no longer have any joy; ²⁴ 

our dancing is turned to mourning.

5:16 The crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

5:17 Because of this, our hearts are sick; ²⁵ 

because of these things, we can hardly see ²⁶  through our tears. ²⁷ 

[68:6]  ¹ tn Heb “God causes the solitary ones to dwell in a house.” The participle suggests this is what God typically does.

[68:6]  ² tn Heb “he brings out prisoners into prosperity.” Another option is to translate, “he brings out prisoners with singing” (cf. NIV). The participle suggests this is what God typically does.

[68:6]  ³ tn Or “in a parched [land].”

[68:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.

[68:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”

[68:18]  ⁶ tn Or “gifts.”

[68:18]  ⁷ tn Or “among.”

[68:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “so that the Lord God might live [there].” Many take the infinitive construct with -לְ (lamed) as indicating purpose here, but it is unclear how the offering of tribute enables the Lord to live in Zion. This may be an occurrence of the relatively rare emphatic lamed (see HALOT 510-11 s.v. II לְ, though this text is not listed as an example there). If so, the statement corresponds nicely to the final line of v. 16, which also affirms emphatically that the Lord lives in Zion.

[106:43]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“he would deliver”).

[106:43]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “but they rebelled in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“they would have a rebellious attitude”).

[106:43]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they sank down.” The Hebrew verb מָכַךְ (makhakh, “to lower; to sink”) occurs only here in the Qal.

[63:10]  ¹² tn Or “grieved, hurt the feelings of.”

[63:10]  ¹³ sn The phrase “holy Spirit” occurs in the OT only here (in v. 11 as well) and in Ps 51:11 (51:13 HT), where it is associated with the divine presence.

[63:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he remembered the days of antiquity, Moses, his people.” The syntax of the statement is unclear. The translation assumes that “his people” is the subject of the verb “remembered.” If original, “Moses” is in apposition to “the days of antiquity,” more precisely identifying the time period referred to. However, the syntactical awkwardness suggests that “Moses” may have been an early marginal note (perhaps identifying “the shepherd of his flock” two lines later) that has worked its way into the text.

[63:11]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text has a plural form, which if retained and taken as a numerical plural, would probably refer to Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite tribal leaders at the time of the Exodus. Most prefer to emend the form to the singular (רָעָה, ra’ah) and understand this as a reference just to Moses.

[63:11]  ¹⁶ sn See the note at v. 10.

[3:39]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew word here is אָדָם (’adam) which can mean “man” or “person.” The second half of the line is more personalized to the speaking voice of the defeated soldier using גֶּבֶר (gever, “man”). See the note at 3:1.

[3:39]  ¹⁸ tc Kethib reads the singular חֶטְאוֹ (khet’o, “his sin”), which is reflected in the LXX. Qere reads the plural חֲטָאָיו (khata’ayv, “his sins”) which is preserved in many medieval Hebrew mss and reflected in the other early versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate). The external and internal evidence are not decisive in favor of either reading.

[3:40]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Let us test our ways and examine.” The two verbs וְנַחְקֹרָה…נַחְפְּשָׂה (nakhpÿsah…vÿnakhqorah, “Let us test and let us examine”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal force: “Let us carefully examine our ways.”

[3:41]  ²⁰ tc The MT reads the singular noun לְבָבֵנוּ (lÿvavenu, “our heart”) but the ancient versions (LXX, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate) and many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural noun לְבָבֵינוּ (lÿvavenu, “our hearts”). Hebrew regularly places plural pronouns on singular nouns used as a collective (135 times on the singular “heart” and only twice on the plural “hearts”). The plural “hearts” in any Hebrew construction is actually rather rare. The LXX renders similar Hebrew constructions (singular “heart” plus a plural pronoun) with the plural “hearts” about 1/3 of the time, therefore it cannot be considered evidence for the reading. The Vulgate may have been influenced by the LXX. Although a distributive sense is appropriate for a much higher percentage of passages using the plural “hearts” in the LXX, no clear reason for the differentiation in the LXX has emerged. Likely the singular Hebrew form is original but the meaning is best represented in English with the plural.

[3:42]  ²¹ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “We – we have sinned….” Given the contrast with the following, it means “For our part, we have sinned….” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “we” followed by a short pause.

[3:42]  ²² tn Heb “We have revolted and we have rebelled.” The two verbs פָשַׁעְנוּ וּמָרִינוּ (pasha’nu umarinu, “we have revolted and we have rebelled”) form a verbal hendiadys in which the synonyms emphasize the single idea.

[3:42]  ²³ tn The Heb emphasiszes the pronoun “You – you have not forgiven.” Given the contrast with the preceding, it means “For your part, you have not forgiven.” A poetic reading in English would place vocal emphasis on “you” followed by a short pause.

[5:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the joy of our heart has ceased.”

[5:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “are faint” or “are sick.” The adjective דַּוָּי (davvay, “faint”) is used in reference to emotional sorrow (e.g., Isa 1:5; Lam 1:22; Jer 8:18). The related adjective דָּוֶה (daveh) means “(physically) sick” and “(emotionally) sad,” while the related verb דָּוָה (davah) means “to be sad.” The cognate Aramaic term means “sorrow,” and the cognate Syriac term refers to “misery.”

[5:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “our eyes are dim.” The physical description of losing sight is metaphorical, perhaps for being blinded by tears or more abstractly for being unable to see (= envision) any hope. The collocation “darkened eyes” is too rare to clarify the nuance.

[5:17]  ²⁷ tn The phrase “through our tears” is added in the translation for the sake of clarification.