1 Samuel 1:10

1:10 She was very upset ¹  as she prayed to the Lord, and she was weeping uncontrollably. ² 

Ayub 10:1

An Appeal for Revelation

10:1 “I ³  am weary ⁴  of my life;

I will complain without restraint; ⁵ 

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Amsal 14:10

14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness, ⁶ 

and with its joy no one else ⁷  can share. ⁸ 

Amsal 18:14

18:14 A person’s spirit ⁹  sustains him through sickness –

but who can bear ¹⁰  a crushed spirit? ¹¹ 

[1:10]  ¹ tn Heb “she [was in] bitterness of soul.”

[1:10]  ² tn Heb “and weeping, she was weeping.” The infinitive absolute emphasizes the extent of her sorrow. The imperfect verbal form emphasizes the continuation of the action in past time.

[10:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew has נַפְשִׁי (nafshi), usually rendered “my soul.”

[10:1]  ⁴ tn The verb is pointed like a Qal form but is originally a Niphal from קוּט (qut). Some wish to connect the word to Akkadian cognates for a meaning “I am in anguish”; but the meaning “I am weary” fits the passage well.

[10:1]  ⁵ tn The verb עָזַב (’azav) means “to abandon.” It may have an extended meaning of “to let go” or “to let slip.” But the expression “abandon to myself” means to abandon all restraint and give free course to the complaint.

[14:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “bitterness of its soul.”

[14:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “stranger” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[14:10]  ⁸ tn The verb is the Hitpael of II עָרַב (’arav), which means “to take in pledge; to give in pledge; to exchange.” Here it means “to share [in].” The proverb is saying that there are joys and sorrows that cannot be shared. No one can truly understand the deepest feelings of another.

[18:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “the spirit of a man.” Because the verb of this clause is a masculine form, some have translated this line as “with spirit a man sustains,” but that is an unnecessary change.

[18:14]  ¹⁰ sn This is a rhetorical question, asserting that very few can cope with depression.

[18:14]  ¹¹ sn The figure of a “crushed spirit” (ASV, NAB, NCV, NRSV “a broken spirit,” comparing depression to something smashed or crushed) suggests a broken will, a loss of vitality, despair, and emotional pain. In physical sickness one can fall back on the will to live; but in depression even the will to live is gone.