Ratapan 3:37

מ (Mem)

3:37 Whose command was ever fulfilled ¹ 

unless the Lord ²  decreed it?

Ratapan 3:58

ר (Resh)

3:58 O Lord, ³  you championed ⁴  my cause, ⁵ 

you redeemed my life.

[3:37]  ¹ tn Heb “Who is this, he spoke and it came to pass?” The general sense is to ask whose commands are fulfilled. The phrase “he spoke and it came to pass” is taken as an allusion to the creation account (see Gen 1:3).

[3:37]  ² tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[3:58]  ³ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) as in the following verse. See the tc note at 1:14.

[3:58]  ⁴ tn This verb, like others in this stanza, could be understood as a precative (“Plead”).

[3:58]  ⁵ tn Heb “the causes of my soul.” The term נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= my soul) for the whole person (= me).