English Nuances
Reproach breaks my heart, I grow ill: I hope for consolation, and there is none, and for comforters, and do not find them. Psalm 69:21 [Hebrew Bible] Robert Alter
Consolation – Look at this verse in two other translations (verse 20 in English Bibles):
Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. ESV
Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. NIV
Is there is difference in the meaning? Is “consolation” the same as “pity” or “sympathy”?
Here’s the lexicon’s comment on nûd:
nûd basically denotes a going back and forth. It is applied to a physical movement or an attitude. Cf. Arabaic nāda“move to and fro” (as the head of one falling asleep). The two connotations of our word are evidenced by its parallels and synonyms. First, our word is parallel to nḥm (Isa 51:19) “to comfort,” “be sorry for someone or one’s self,” and ḥml (Jer 15:5) “to spare,” “have compassion on.” Secondly, cf. nûaʿ “wander unstably,” “move unsteadily,” “wag one’s head mockingly” (Gen 4:12).[1]
We should also note that this is a verb in the Hebrew text, not a noun like all of these translations. The verb is qāwâ, which Alter correctly translates as “hope,” rather than the alternative, “look for.” However, the second meaning of qāwâis “wait.” If we translated this as “I wait,” then we can use nûd as the second verb, i.e., “I wait wandering unstably.” Now the picture emerges. David is so distressed that he can’t sit still. He paces back and forth, and in his pacing he hopes God will answer. This isn’t a request for “pity.” And it isn’t an effort to find “sympathy.” It’s the behavioral description of intense anxiety. None of the “nouns” capture the action. In typical Hebrew style, emotions are expressed in physical acts. Body idioms are quintessential Hebraic. Can you relate?
What happens to you when life completely overwhelms? Do you sit quietly and wait for God’s answer? Or do you cry, moan, pace, ring your hands, feel stomach upsets, collapse? I’ve spent some time on the floor when there were no words to say at all. Perhaps I haven’t spent enough time there. It’s easy to think that all we need is comfort, pity, or sympathy. But those nice cognitive terms don’t really capture our bodily destruction. David’s word does. Spiritual life in Hebrew is physical. Shout, cry, scream, fall down, wail, moan, whimper—whatever it takes from the bottom of the pit.
Topical Index: nûd, back and forth, comfort, sympathy, pity, wait, hope, qāwâ, Psalm 69:21
[1] Coppes, L. J. (1999). 1319 נוּד. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 560). Chicago: Moody Press.
