Ester 1:10
Konteks1:10 On the seventh day, as King Ahasuerus was feeling the effects of the wine, 1 he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who attended him, 2
Mazmur 135:15-18
Konteks135:15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold,
they are man-made. 3
135:16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see,
135:17 and ears, but cannot hear.
Indeed, they cannot breathe. 4
135:18 Those who make them will end up 5 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
Habakuk 2:19
Konteks2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead 6 –
he who says 7 to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’
Can it give reliable guidance? 8
It is overlaid with gold and silver;
it has no life’s breath inside it.
Habakuk 1:1
Konteks1:1 The following is the message 9 which God revealed to Habakkuk the prophet: 10
[1:10] 1 tn Heb “as the heart of the king was good with the wine.” Here the proper name (King Ahasuerus) has been substituted for the title in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[1:10] 2 tn Heb “King Ahasuerus”; here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons. Cf. similarly NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT “King Xerxes.”
[135:15] 3 tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”
[135:17] 4 tn Heb “indeed, there is not breath in their mouth.” For the collocation אַף אֵין (’af ’en, “indeed, there is not”) see Isa 41:26. Another option is to take אַף as “nose” (see Ps 115:6), in which case one might translate, “a nose, [but] they have no breath in their mouths.”
[135:18] 5 tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”
[135:18] sn Because the idols are lifeless, they cannot help their worshipers in times of crisis. Consequently the worshipers end up as dead as the gods in which they trust.
[2:19] 6 tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.
[2:19] 7 tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.
[2:19] 8 tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).
[1:1] 9 tn Heb “The burden” (so KJV, ASV). The Hebrew term מַשָּׂא (masa’), usually translated “oracle” (NAB, NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “utterance” (BDB 672 s.v. III מַשָּׂא), in prophetic literature is a technical term introducing a message from the
[1:1] 10 tn Heb “The message [traditionally, “burden”] which Habakkuk the prophet saw.”