Rut 1:20-21

1:20 But she replied ¹  to them, ²  “Don’t call me ‘Naomi’! ³  Call me ‘Mara’ ⁴  because the Sovereign One ⁵  has treated me very harshly. ⁶  1:21 I left here full, ⁷  but the Lord has caused me to return empty-handed. ⁸  Why do you call me ‘Naomi,’ seeing that ⁹  the Lord has opposed me, ¹⁰  and the Sovereign One ¹¹  has caused me to suffer?” ¹² 

Yeremia 4:19

4:19 I said, ¹³ 

“Oh, the feeling in the pit of my stomach! ¹⁴ 

I writhe in anguish.

Oh, the pain in my heart! ¹⁵ 

My heart pounds within me.

I cannot keep silent.

For I hear the sound of the trumpet; ¹⁶ 

the sound of the battle cry pierces my soul! ¹⁷ 

Yeremia 9:1

9:1 (8:23) ¹⁸  I wish that my head were a well full of water ¹⁹ 

and my eyes were a fountain full of tears!

If they were, I could cry day and night

for those of my dear people ²⁰  who have been killed.

Yeremia 13:17

13:17 But if you will not pay attention to this warning, ²¹ 

I will weep alone because of your arrogant pride.

I will weep bitterly and my eyes will overflow with tears ²² 

because you, the Lord’s flock, ²³  will be carried ²⁴  into exile.”

Lukas 1:2

1:2 like the accounts ²⁵  passed on ²⁶  to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word ²⁷  from the beginning. ²⁸ 

[1:20]  ¹ tn Heb “said.” For stylistic reasons the present translation employs “replied” here.

[1:20]  ² tn The third person feminine plural form of the pronominal suffix indicates the women of the village (see v. 19) are the addressees.

[1:20]  ³ sn The name Naomi means “pleasant.”

[1:20]  ⁴ sn The name Mara means “bitter.”

[1:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “Shaddai”; traditionally “the Almighty.” The etymology and meaning of this divine name is uncertain. It may be derived from: (1) שָׁדַד (shadad, “to be strong”), cognate to Arabic sdd, meaning “The Strong One” or “Almighty”; (2) שָׁדָה (shadah, “mountain”), cognate to Akkadian shadu, meaning “The Mountain Dweller” or “God of the Mountains”; (3) שָׁדַד (shadad, “to devastate”) and שַׁד (shad, “destroyer”), Akkadian Shedum, meaning “The Destroyer” or “The Malevolent One”; or (4) שֶׁ (she, “who”) plus דִּי (diy, “sufficient”), meaning “The One Who is Sufficient” or “All-Sufficient One” (HALOT 1420-22 s.v. שַׁדַּי, שַׁדָּי). In terms of use, Shaddai (or El Shaddai) is presented as the sovereign king/judge of the world who grants life/blesses and kills/judges. In Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he blesses/protects and also takes away life/happiness. In light of Naomi’s emphasis on God’s sovereign, malevolent deprivation of her family, one can understand her use of this name for God. For discussion of this divine name, see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72.

[1:20]  ⁶ tn Or “caused me to be very bitter”; NAB “has made it very bitter for me.”

[1:21]  ⁷ sn I left here full. That is, with a husband and two sons.

[1:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “but empty the Lord has brought me back.” The disjunctive clause structure (vav + adverb + verb + subject) highlights the contrast between her former condition and present situation. Cf. TEV “has brought me back without a thing.”

[1:21]  sn Empty-handed. This statement is highly ironic, for ever-loyal Ruth stands by her side even as she speaks these words. These words reflect Naomi’s perspective, not the narrator’s, for Ruth will eventually prove to be the one who reverses Naomi’s plight and “fills” her “emptiness.” Naomi’s perspective will prove to be inaccurate and the women will later correct Naomi’s faulty view of Ruth’s value (see 4:15).

[1:21]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive clause structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) here introduces either an attendant circumstance (“when the Lord has opposed me”) or an explanation (“seeing that the Lord has opposed me”).

[1:21]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX reads “humbled me” here, apparently understanding the verb as a Piel (עָנָה, ’anah) from a homonymic root meaning “afflict.” However, עָנָה (“afflict”) never introduces its object with בְּ (bet); when the preposition בְּ is used with this verb, it is always adverbial (“in, with, through”). To defend the LXX reading one would have to eliminate the preposition.

[1:21]  tn Heb “has testified against me” (KJV, ASV both similar); NAB “has pronounced against me.” The idiom עָנַה בִי (’anah viy, “testify against”) is well attested elsewhere in legal settings (see BDB 773 s.v. עָנָה Qal.3.a; HALOT 852 s.v. I ענה qal.2). Naomi uses a legal metaphor and depicts the Lord as testifying against her in court.

[1:21]  ¹¹ sn The divine name translated Sovereign One is שַׁדַּי (shadday, “Shaddai”). See further the note on this term in Ruth 1:20.

[1:21]  ¹² tn Or “brought disaster upon me”; NIV “brought misfortune (calamity NRSV) upon me”; NLT “has sent such tragedy.”

[4:19]  ¹³ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are used to mark the shift from the Lord’s promise of judgment to Jeremiah’s lament concerning it.

[4:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “My bowels! My bowels!”

[4:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the walls of my heart!”

[4:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[4:19]  ¹⁷ tc The translation reflects a different division of the last two lines than that suggested by the Masoretes. The written text (the Kethib) reads “for the sound of the ram’s horn I have heard [or “you have heard,” if the form is understood as the old second feminine singular perfect] my soul” followed by “the battle cry” in the last line. The translation is based on taking “my soul” with the last line and understanding an elliptical expression “the battle cry [to] my soul.” Such an elliptical expression is in keeping with the elliptical nature of the exclamations at the beginning of the verse (cf. the literal translations of the first two lines of the verse in the notes on the words “stomach” and “heart”).

[9:1]  ¹⁸ sn Beginning with 9:1, the verse numbers through 9:26 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 9:1 ET = 8:23 HT, 9:2 ET = 9:1 HT, 9:3 ET = 9:2 HT, etc., through 9:26 ET = 9:25 HT. Beginning with 10:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[9:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I wish that my head were water.”

[9:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[13:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “If you will not listen to it.” For the use of the feminine singular pronoun to refer to the idea(s) expressed in the preceding verse(s), see GKC 440-41 §135.p.

[13:17]  ²² tn Heb “Tearing [my eye] will tear and my eye will run down [= flow] with tears.”

[13:17]  sn The depth of Jeremiah’s sorrow for the sad plight of his people, if they refuse to repent, is emphasized by the triple repetition of the word “tears” twice in an emphatic verbal expression (Hebrew infinitive before finite verb) and once in the noun.

[13:17]  ²³ tn Heb “because the Lord’s flock will…” The pronoun “you” is supplied in the translation to avoid the shift in English from the second person address at the beginning to the third person affirmation at the end. It also helps explain the metaphor of the people of Israel as God’s flock for some readers who may be unfamiliar with that metaphor.

[13:17]  ²⁴ tn The verb is once again in the form of “as good as done” (the Hebrew prophetic perfect).

[1:2]  ²⁵ tn Grk “even as”; this compares the recorded tradition of 1:1 with the original eyewitness tradition of 1:2.

[1:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “delivered.”

[1:2]  ²⁷ sn The phrase eyewitnesses and servants of the word refers to a single group of people who faithfully passed on the accounts about Jesus. The language about delivery (passed on) points to accounts faithfully passed on to the early church.

[1:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “like the accounts those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word passed on to us.” The location of “in the beginning” in the Greek shows that the tradition is rooted in those who were with Jesus from the start.