Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageAnd there they came — the desperate, the debt-ridden, the bitter of soul — all rallying to him. He became their captain, and the number who gathered to him was about four hundred men.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GEveryone who was in distress, everyone in debt, and everyone bitter of being gathered to him — and he became their commander. There were with him about four hundred men.
KJV
King James VersionAnd every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleAnd all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
Footnotes
*Mar nephesh* (מַר נֶפֶשׁ, "bitter of being/soul") — the same phrase used of Hannah in her anguish before YHWH (1 Sam 1:10). These are not merely financially ruined men; they are men whose inner life has been wrung dry. *Nephesh* spans throat, breath, life-force, and self — so "bitter of being" captures the visceral totality that the English "discontented" flattens entirely. FOG renders the embodied rawness of the term; FOG Message uses "bitter of soul" to preserve the inner-life resonance in more familiar register.
