So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your gods! Maybe the gods will notice us, so that we won't perish."
(20) Calvin is quite right here. The verb תשעתי occurs only here in Hithpael; and once as a verb in Kal, Jeremiah 5:28, ותשע, they “shine,” applied to fat men, and once as a participle, applied to iron, תושע לזרב, “bright iron,” or iron brightened, or made to shine, Ezekiel 27:19. It occurs as a noun in three other places, תשע, Song of Solomon 5:14, תותשע in Job 12:5, and תוחשע in Psalms 146:4. The idea of shining, brightness, or splendor, comports better with the context than that of thought, as given in our version in the two last places. It occurs once in its Chaldec form in Daniel 6:3, and there, no doubt, it means thought, or intention, or design. Following the usual import of the Hithpael conjugation, we may render the word here, “It may be, that God will himself shine upon us;” which means “will show himself gracious to us.” The Septuagint gives the sense, but not the ideal meaning of the verb, διασωση, may save, and so does Pagininus, placeatur — may be pacified. Both Newcome and Henderson are wrong here: they follow our common version. Dathius retains the right idea, “se nobis clementem exhibeat.” — Ed. 