Yesaya 29:10

29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you

a strong urge to sleep deeply. ¹ 

He has shut your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

Yesaya 59:10

59:10 We grope along the wall like the blind,

we grope like those who cannot see; ² 

we stumble at noontime as if it were evening.

Though others are strong, we are like dead men. ³ 

Yeremia 15:9

15:9 The mother who had seven children ⁴  will grow faint.

All the breath will go out of her. ⁵ 

Her pride and joy will be taken from her in the prime of their life.

It will seem as if the sun had set while it was still day. ⁶ 

She will suffer shame and humiliation. ⁷ 

I will cause any of them who are still left alive

to be killed in war by the onslaughts of their enemies,” ⁸ 

says the Lord.

Amos 8:9-10

8:9 In that day,” says the sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun set at noon,

and make the earth dark in the middle of the day. ⁹ 

8:10 I will turn your festivals into funerals, ¹⁰ 

and all your songs into funeral dirges.

I will make everyone wear funeral clothes ¹¹ 

and cause every head to be shaved bald. ¹² 

I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; ¹³ 

when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. ¹⁴ 

[29:10]  ¹ tn Heb “a disposition [or “spirit”] of deep sleep.” Through this mixed metaphor (sleep is likened to a liquid which one pours and in turn symbolizes spiritual dullness) the prophet emphasizes that God himself has given the people over to their spiritual insensitivity as a form of judgment.

[59:10]  ² tn Heb “like there are no eyes.”

[59:10]  ³ tn Heb among the strong, like dead men.”

[15:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “who gave birth to seven.”

[15:9]  sn To have seven children was considered a blessing and a source of pride and honor (Ruth 4:15; 1 Sam 2:5).

[15:9]  ⁵ tn The meaning of this line is debated. Some understand this line to mean “she has breathed out her life” (cf., e.g., BDB 656 s.v. נָפַח and 656 s.v. ֶנפֶשׁ 1.c). However, as several commentaries have noted (e.g., W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:341; J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 109) it makes little sense to talk about her suffering shame and embarrassment if she has breathed her last. Both the Greek and Latin versions understand “soul” not as the object but as the subject and the idea being one of fainting under despair. This idea seems likely in light of the parallelism. Bright suggests the phrase means either “she gasped out her breath” or “her throat gasped.” The former is more likely. One might also render “she fainted dead away,” but that idiom might not be familiar to all readers.

[15:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “Her sun went down while it was still day.”

[15:9]  sn The sun was the source of light and hence has associations with life, prosperity, health, and blessing. The premature setting of the sun which brought these seems apropos as metaphor for the loss of her children which were not only a source of joy, help, and honor. Two references where “sun” is used figuratively, Ps 84:11 (84:12 HT) and Mal 4:2, may be helpful here.

[15:9]  ⁷ sn She has lost her position of honor and the source of her pride. For the concepts here see 1 Sam 2:5.

[15:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will deliver those of them that survive to the sword before their enemies.” The referent of “them” is ambiguous. Does it refer to the children of the widow (nearer context) or the people themselves (more remote context, v. 7)? Perhaps it was meant to include both. Verse seven spoke of the destruction of the people and the killing off of the children.

[8:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “in a day of light.”

[8:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “mourning.”

[8:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.”

[8:10]  sn Mourners wore sackcloth (funeral clothes) as an outward expression of grief.

[8:10]  ¹² tn Heb “and make every head bald.” This could be understood in a variety of ways, while the ritual act of mourning typically involved shaving the head (although occasionally the hair could be torn out as a sign of mourning).

[8:10]  sn Shaving the head or tearing out one’s hair was a ritual act of mourning. See Lev 21:5; Deut 14:1; Isa 3:24; 15:2; Jer 47:5; 48:37; Ezek 7:18; 27:31; Mic 1:16.

[8:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”

[8:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and its end will be like a bitter day.” The Hebrew preposition כְּ (kaf) sometimes carries the force of “in every respect,” indicating identity rather than mere comparison.