3:34 Your hands 1 were not bound,
and your feet were not put into irons.
You fell the way one falls before criminals.”
All the people 2 wept over him again.
3:2 Now sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon, born to Ahinoam the Jezreelite.
107:10 They sat in utter darkness, 6
bound in painful iron chains, 7
107:14 He brought them out of the utter darkness, 8
and tore off their shackles.
1 tc The translation follows many medieval Hebrew manuscripts and several ancient versions in reading “your hands,” rather than “your hand.”
2 tc 4QSama lacks the words “all the people.”
3 tn Heb “the king.”
4 tn The plural form is used in the Hebrew text to indicate honor and authority.
5 tn Heb “mount Solomon my son on the mule that belongs to me and take him down to Gihon.”
6 tn Heb “those who sat in darkness and deep darkness.” Synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of “darkness” experienced by the exiles. The Hebrew term צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet, “deep darkness”) has traditionally been understood as a compound noun, meaning “shadow of death” (צֵל + מָוֶת [tsel + mavet]; see BDB 853 s.v. צַלְמָוֶת; cf. NASB). Other authorities prefer to vocalize the form צַלְמוּת (tsalmut) and understand it as an abstract noun (from the root צלם) meaning “darkness.” An examination of the word’s usage favors the latter derivation. It is frequently associated with darkness/night and contrasted with light/morning (see Job 3:5; 10:21-22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:1; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:8). In some cases the darkness described is associated with the realm of death (Job 10:21-22; 38:17), but this is a metaphorical application of the word and does not reflect its inherent meaning. In Ps 107:10 the word refers metonymically to a dungeon, which in turn metaphorically depicts the place of Israel’s exile (see vv. 2-3).
7 tn Heb “those bound in suffering and iron.” “Suffering and iron” is a hendiadys (like English “good and angry”), where both words contribute to one idea. In this case the first word characterizes the second; the iron (chains) contribute to the prisoners’ pain and suffering.
8 tn Heb “darkness and deep darkness.” See the note on the word “darkness” in v. 10.