12. "He scattered us among the nations." The Edomites, like the neighboring Jews Phoenicians and Philistines, sold Jewish captives into slavery to the Greeks and Egyptians (see Amos I:6 and 9, Joel III:2-8). Such a sale of Jewish captives is what the writer means here.

13. Thou hast sold thy people without profit, and hast not raised their price;

13. "You have sold your people without profit, and you have not raised their prices." The sale of Jews into slavery and captivity is compared to an unprofitable barter: "without profit" or with a loss. The Edomites paid very little in plundering the borders of Judah, and the Jews could not offer them any significant resistance, since the best forces suitable for war were at that time in the north in the army of David, and therefore the sacrifices on the part of the enemies could be the most insignificant. "Did not raise prices" is a continuation of the comparison. There were no buyers for the Jews, who could raise their price by offering demand for them. This means that the number of captives captured by the Edomites was very large, so that they sold them for a pittance.

14. He has given us over to be reproached by our neighbors, to be mocked and reproached by those who live around us; 15. Thou hast made us a parable among the nations, a nod of the head among the foreigners. 16. All day long my shame is before me, and shame covers my face 17. From the voice of the reviler and slanderer, from the eyes of the enemy and the avenger;

14–17. As slaves, the Jews could not expect and did not receive humane treatment; they were mocked and mocked by those who sold them and who bought them.

18. All these things have come upon us, but we have not forgotten you, nor have we broken your covenant. 19. Our heart has not turned back, and our feet have not deviated from your way, 20. when you crushed us in the land of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death.

20. "In the land of dragons" or jackals. These animals like to feed on corpses. Such corpses were Jews who had fallen into slavery, and jackals were their captors. The image of the disenfranchised and helpless position of the Jew in slavery.

21. If we were to forget the name of our God and stretch out our hands to a strange god, 22. would not God have sought this? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22. The Lord "knoweth the secrets of the heart"—knows that the Jews were true worshippers of Him, and did not deviate from false gods.

23. But for your sake we are slain every day, they count us as sheep destined to be slaughtered. 24. Arise, that you are sleeping, O Lord! Awake, do not reject forever.

24. "Arise that you sleep, O Lord!" God's watchfulness over the Jews signifies His active help, and the deprivation of this help is depicted as a state opposite to wakefulness, likened to sleep.

25. Why do you hide your face, forgetting our sorrow and our oppression? 26. For our soul is humbled to dust, our womb is clung to the earth.

26. "Our soul is humbled to dust, our womb is clung to the ground" – we are bent to the ground, overwhelmed by sorrow and the calamity we have experienced.

27. Arise to our aid and deliver us for the sake of Your mercy.