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20 The Lord’s anointed—our very lifebreath!—[a]
    was caught in their snares,
He in whose shade we thought
    to live among the nations.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 4:20 Our very lifebreath: lit., “the breath of our nostrils,” that is, the king. This expression occurs in Egyptian texts of the late second millennium B.C., and may have survived as a royal epithet in the Jerusalem court. After the disaster of 598 B.C. (2 Kgs 24:1–17), Jerusalem could have hoped to live in peace amidst her neighbors; but they (vv. 21–22) as well as Babylon turned against her to ensure her total devastation in 587 B.C.

20 The Lord’s anointed,(A) our very life breath,
    was caught in their traps.(B)
We thought that under his shadow(C)
    we would live among the nations.

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