Hakim-hakim 9:15

9:15 The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to choose ¹  me as your king, then come along, find safety under my branches! ²  Otherwise ³  may fire blaze from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’

Hakim-hakim 9:20

9:20 But if not, may fire blaze from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo! May fire also blaze from the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo and consume Abimelech!”

Hakim-hakim 9:2

9:2 “Tell ⁴  all the leaders of Shechem this: ‘Why would you want ⁵  to have seventy men, all Jerub-Baal’s sons, ruling over you, when you can have just one ruler? Recall that I am your own flesh and blood.’” ⁶ 

1 Samuel 11:1

Saul Comes to the Aid of Jabesh

11:1 ⁷ Nahash ⁸  the Ammonite marched ⁹  against Jabesh Gilead. All the men of Jabesh Gilead said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us and we will serve you.”

1 Samuel 20:21

20:21 When I send a boy after them, I will say, “Go and find the arrows.” If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; ¹⁰  get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem.

Ayub 31:3

31:3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust,

and disaster for those who work iniquity?

Yeremia 49:20

49:20 So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Edom,

what I intend to do to ¹¹  the people who live in Teman. ¹² 

Their little ones will be dragged off.

I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done. ¹³ 

Yeremia 50:45

50:45 So listen to what I, the Lord, have planned against Babylon,

what I intend to do to the people who inhabit the land of Babylonia. ¹⁴ 

Their little ones will be dragged off.

I will completely destroy their land because of what they have done.

[9:15]  ¹ tn Heb “are about to anoint [with oil].”

[9:15]  ² tn Heb “in my shade.”

[9:15]  ³ tn Heb “If not.”

[9:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “Speak into the ears of.”

[9:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “What good is it to you?”

[9:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “your bone and your flesh.”

[11:1]  ⁷ tc 4QSam^a and Josephus (Ant. 6.68-71) attest to a longer form of text at this point. The addition explains Nahash’s practice of enemy mutilation, and by so doing provides a smoother transition to the following paragraph than is found in the MT. The NRSV adopts this reading, with the following English translation: “Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.” This reading should not be lightly dismissed; it may in fact provide a text superior to that of the MT and the ancient versions. But the external evidence for it is so limited as to induce caution; the present translation instead follows the MT. However, for a reasonable case for including this reading in the text see the discussions in P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 199, and R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 103.

[11:1]  ⁸ sn The name “Nahash” means “serpent” in Hebrew.

[11:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “went up and camped”; NIV, NRSV “went up and besieged.”

[20:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from you and here.”

[49:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Therefore listen to the plan of the Lord which he has planned against Edom, and the purposes which he has purposed against…” The first person has again been adopted in the translation to avoid the shift from the first person address in v. 19 to the third person in v. 20, a shift that is common in Hebrew poetry, particularly Hebrew prophecy, but which is not common in contemporary English literature.

[49:20]  ¹² sn Teman here appears to be a poetic equivalent for Edom, a common figure of speech in Hebrew poetry where the part is put for the whole. “The people of Teman” is thus equivalent to all the people of Edom.

[49:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “They will surely drag them off, namely the young ones of the flock. He will devastate their habitation [or their sheepfold] on account of them.” The figure of the lion among the flock of sheep appears to be carried on here where the people are referred to as a flock and their homeland is referred to as a sheepfold. It is hard, however, to carry the figure over here into the translation, so the figures have been interpreted instead. Both of these last two sentences are introduced by a formula that indicates a strong affirmative oath (i.e., they are introduced by אִם לֹא [’im lo’; cf. BDB 50 s.v. אִם 1.b(2)]). The subject of the verb “they will drag them off” is the indefinite third plural which may be taken as a passive in English (cf. GKC 460 §144.g). The subject of the last line is the Lord which has been rendered in the first person for stylistic reasons (see the translator’s note on the beginning of the verse).

[50:45]  ¹⁴ tn The words “of Babylonia” are not in the text but are implicit from the context. They have been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[50:45]  sn The verbs in vv. 22-25 are all descriptive of the present, but all of this is really to take place in the future. Hebrew poetry has a way of rendering future actions as though they were already accomplished. The poetry of this section makes it difficult, however, to render the verbs as future as the present translation has regularly done.