Ratapan 1:20

ר (Resh)

1:20 Look, O Lord! I am distressed; ¹ 

my stomach is in knots! ² 

My heart is pounding ³  inside me.

Yes, I was terribly rebellious! ⁴ 

Out in the street the sword bereaves a mother of her children; ⁵ 

Inside the house death is present. ⁶ 

Yesaya 59:2-13

59:2 But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God;

your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. ⁷ 

59:3 For your hands are stained with blood

and your fingers with sin;

your lips speak lies,

your tongue utters malicious words.

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ⁸ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ⁹  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ¹⁰ 

and give birth to sin.

59:5 They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake

and spin a spider’s web.

Whoever eats their eggs will die,

a poisonous snake is hatched. ¹¹ 

59:6 Their webs cannot be used for clothing;

they cannot cover themselves with what they make.

Their deeds are sinful;

they commit violent crimes. ¹² 

59:7 They are eager to do evil, ¹³ 

quick to shed innocent blood. ¹⁴ 

Their thoughts are sinful;

they crush and destroy. ¹⁵ 

59:8 They are unfamiliar with peace;

their deeds are unjust. ¹⁶ 

They use deceitful methods,

and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. ¹⁷ 

Israel Confesses its Sin

59:9 For this reason deliverance ¹⁸  is far from us ¹⁹ 

and salvation does not reach us.

We wait for light, ²⁰  but see only darkness; ²¹ 

we wait for ²²  a bright light, ²³  but live ²⁴  in deep darkness. ²⁵ 

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

we grope like those who cannot see; ²⁶ 

we stumble at noontime as if it were evening.

Though others are strong, we are like dead men. ²⁷ 

59:11 We all growl like bears,

we coo mournfully like doves;

we wait for deliverance, ²⁸  but there is none,

for salvation, but it is far from us.

59:12 For you are aware of our many rebellious deeds, ²⁹ 

and our sins testify against us;

indeed, we are aware of our rebellious deeds;

we know our sins all too well. ³⁰ 

59:13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord;

we turned back from following our God.

We stir up ³¹  oppression and rebellion;

we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ³² 

[1:20]  ¹ tn Heb “because I have distress” (כִּי־צַר־לִי, ki-tsar-li).

[1:20]  ² tn Heb “my bowels burn” or “my bowels are in a ferment.” The verb חֳמַרְמָרוּ (khamarmaru) is an unusual form and derived from a debated root: Poalal perfect 3rd person common plural from III חָמַר (khamar, “to be red,” HALOT 330 s.v. III חמר) or Pe`al`al perfect 3rd person common plural from I חָמַר (khamar, “to ferment, boil up,” BDB 330 s.v. I חָמַר). The Poalal stem of this verb occurs only three times in OT: with פָּנִים (panim, “face,” Job 16:16) and מֵעִים (me’im, “bowels,” Lam 1:20; 2:11). The phrase מֵעַי חֳמַרְמָרוּ (me’ay khamarmaru) means “my bowels burned” (HALOT 330 s.v.) or “my bowels are in a ferment,” as a euphemism for lower-intestinal bowel problems (BDB 330 s.v.). This phrase also occurs in later rabbinic literature (m. Sanhedrin 7:2). The present translation, “my stomach is in knots,” is not a literal equivalent to this Hebrew idiom; however, it is an attempt to approximate the equivalent English idiom.

[1:20]  ³ tn The participle נֶהְפַּךְ (nehpakh), Niphal participle masculine singular הָפַךְ (hafakh, “to turn over”) functions verbally, referring to progressive present-time action (from the speaker’s viewpoint). The verb הָפַךְ (hafakh) is used here to describe emotional distress (e.g., Ezek 4:8).

[1:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “because I was very rebellious.” The Hebrew uses an emphatic construction in which the root מָרַה (marah, “to rebel”) is repeated: מָרוֹ מָרִיתִי (maro mariti), Qal infinitive absolute from מָרָה (marah) followed by Qal perfect 1st person common singular from מָרָה (marah). When an infinitive absolute is used with a finite verb of the same root, it affirms the verbal idea (e.g., Gen 2:17; 18:10; 22:17; 31:15; 46:4; Num 16:13; 23:11; Judg 4:9; 15:13; 20:39; 1 Sam 2:30; 9:6; 2 Sam 24:24; Isa 6:9; Ezek 16:4). See IBHS 585-86 §35.3.1f.

[1:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the street the sword bereaves.” The words “a mother of her children” are supplied in the translation as a clarification.

[1:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the house it is like death.”

[59:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and your sins have caused [his] face to be hidden from you so as not to hear.”

[59:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

[59:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “that which is pressed in hatches [as] a snake.”

[59:6]  ¹² tn Heb “their deeds are deeds of sin, and the work of violence [is] in their hands.”

[59:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “their feet run to evil.”

[59:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they quickly pour out innocent blood.”

[59:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their thoughts are thoughts of sin, destruction and crushing [are] in their roadways.”

[59:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their pathways.”

[59:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “their paths they make crooked, everyone who walks in it does not know peace.”

[59:9]  ¹⁸ tn מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), which refers to “justice” in the earlier verses, here refers to “justice from God,” or “vindication.” Because the people are unjust, God refuses to vindicate them before their enemies. See v. 11.

[59:9]  ¹⁹ sn The prophet speaks on behalf of the sinful nation and confesses its sins.

[59:9]  ²⁰ sn Light here symbolizes prosperity and blessing.

[59:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “but, look, darkness”; NIV “but all is darkness.”

[59:9]  ²² tn The words “we wait for” are supplied in the translation; the verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[59:9]  ²³ tn The plural noun form may indicate degree here.

[59:9]  ²⁴ tn Or “walk about”; NCV “all we have is darkness.”

[59:9]  ²⁵ tn The plural noun form may indicate degree here.

[59:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “like there are no eyes.”

[59:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb among the strong, like dead men.”

[59:11]  ²⁸ tn See the note at v. 9.

[59:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for many are our rebellious deeds before you.”

[59:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] our rebellious deeds (are) with us, and our sins, we know them.”

[59:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[59:13]  ³² tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”