Job 1:6-12

Satan’s Accusation of Job ¹ 

1:6 Now the day came when ²  the sons of God ³  came to present themselves before ⁴  the Lord – and Satan ⁵  also arrived among them. 1:7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” ⁶  And Satan answered the Lord, ⁷  “From roving about ⁸  on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” ⁹  1:8 So the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered ¹⁰  my servant Job? There ¹¹  is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away ¹²  from evil.”

1:9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Is it for nothing that Job fears God? ¹³  1:10 Have you ¹⁴  not made a hedge ¹⁵  around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed ¹⁶  the work of his hands, and his livestock ¹⁷  have increased ¹⁸  in the land. 1:11 But ¹⁹  extend your hand and strike ²⁰  everything he has, and he will no doubt ²¹  curse you ²²  to your face!”

1:12 So the Lord said to Satan, “All right then, ²³  everything he has is ²⁴  in your power. ²⁵  Only do not extend your hand against the man himself!” ²⁶  So Satan went out ²⁷  from the presence of the Lord. ²⁸ 

Zechariah 3:1

Vision Four: The Priest

3:1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest ²⁹  standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan ³⁰  standing at his right hand to accuse him.

Matthew 13:19

13:19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one ³¹  comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; ³²  this is the seed sown along the path.

Acts 5:3

5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled ³³  your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of ³⁴  the land?

Acts 5:2

5:2 He ³⁵  kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought ³⁶  only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet.

Colossians 2:11

2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ³⁷  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ³⁸  of the fleshly body, ³⁹  that is, ⁴⁰  through the circumcision done by Christ.

Colossians 4:3-4

4:3 At the same time pray ⁴¹  for us too, that ⁴²  God may open a door for the message ⁴³  so that we may proclaim ⁴⁴  the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁴⁵  4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ⁴⁶ 

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:9

2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ⁴⁷  in bodily form,

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁴⁸  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁴⁹ 

Colossians 1:8

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Revelation 12:9

12:9 So ⁵⁰  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

Revelation 20:2-3

20:2 He ⁵¹  seized the dragon – the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan – and tied him up for a thousand years. 20:3 The angel ⁵²  then ⁵³  threw him into the abyss and locked ⁵⁴  and sealed it so that he could not deceive the nations until the one thousand years were finished. (After these things he must be released for a brief period of time.)

Revelation 20:7

Satan’s Final Defeat

20:7 Now ⁵⁵  when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison

Revelation 20:10

20:10 And the devil who deceived ⁵⁶  them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, ⁵⁷  where the beast and the false prophet are ⁵⁸  too, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever.

[1:6]  ¹ sn The text draws the curtain of heaven aside for the reader to understand the background of this drama. God extols the virtue of Job, but Satan challenges the reasons for it. He receives permission to try to dislodge Job from his integrity. In short, God is using Job to prove Satan’s theory wrong.

[1:6]  ² tn The beginning Hebrew expression “and there was – the day” indicates that “there came a day when” or more simply “the day came when.” It emphasizes the particular day. The succeeding clause is then introduced with a preterite with the with vav (ו) consecutive (see E. Dhorme, Job, 5).

[1:6]  ³ sn The “sons of God” in the OT is generally taken to refer to angels. They are not actually “sons” of Elohim; the idiom is a poetic way of describing their nature and relationship to God. The phrase indicates their supernatural nature, and their submission to God as the sovereign Lord. It may be classified as a genitive that expresses how individuals belong to a certain class or type, i.e., the supernatural (GKC 418 §128.v). In the pagan literature, especially of Ugarit, “the sons of God” refers to the lesser gods or deities of the pantheon. See H. W. Robinson, “The Council of Yahweh,” JTS 45 (1943): 151-57; G. Cooke, “The Sons of (the) God(s),” ZAW 76 (1964): 22-47; M. Tsevat, “God and the Gods in the Assembly,” HUCA 40-41 (1969/70): 123-37.

[1:6]  ⁴ tn The preposition עַל (’al) in this construction after a verb of standing or going means “before” (GKC 383 §119.cc).

[1:6]  ⁵ sn The word means “adversary” or with the article “the adversary” – here the superhuman adversary or Satan. The word with the article means that the meaning of the word should receive prominence. A denominative verb meaning “to act as adversary” occurs. Satan is the great accuser of the saints (see Zech 3 where “Satan was standing there to ‘satanize’ Joshua the priest”; and see Rev 12 which identifies him with the Serpent in Genesis). He came among the angels at this time because he is one of them and has access among them. Even though fallen, Satan has yet to be cast down completely (see Rev 12).

[1:7]  ⁶ tn The imperfect may be classified as progressive imperfect; it indicates action that although just completed is regarded as still lasting into the present (GKC 316 §107.h).

[1:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “answered the Lord and said” (also in v. 9). The words “and said” here and in v. 9 have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:7]  ⁸ tn The verb שׁוּט (shut) means “to go or rove about” (BDB 1001-2 s.v.). Here the infinitive construct serves as the object of the preposition.

[1:7]  ⁹ tn The Hitpael (here also an infinitive construct after the preposition) of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh) means “to walk to and fro, back and forth, with the sense of investigating or reconnoitering (see e.g. Gen 13:17).

[1:8]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew has “have you placed your heart on Job?” This means “direct your mind to” (cf. BDB 963 s.v. I שׂוּם 2.b).

[1:8]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew conjunction כִּי (ki) need not be translated in this case or it might be taken as emphatic (cf. IBHS 665 §39.3.4e): “Certainly there is no one like him.”

[1:8]  ¹² tn The same expressions that appeared at the beginning of the chapter appear here in the words of God. In contrast to that narrative report about Job, the emphasis here is on Job’s present character, and so the participle form is translated here asa gnomic or characteristic present (“turns”). It modifies “man” as one who is turning from evil.

[1:9]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew form has the interrogative ה (he) on the adverb חִנָּם (khinnam, “gratis”), a derivative either of the verb חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”), or its related noun חֵן (khen, “grace, favor”). The adverb has the sense of “free; gratis; gratuitously; for nothing; for no reason” (see BDB 336 s.v. חִנָּם). The idea is that Satan does not disagree that Job is pious, but that Job is loyal to God because of what he receives from God. He will test the sincerity of Job.

[1:10]  ¹⁴ tn The use of the independent personal pronoun here emphasizes the subject of the verb: “Have you not put up a hedge.”

[1:10]  ¹⁵ tn The verb שׂוּךְ (sukh) means “to hedge or fence up, about” something (BDB 962 s.v. I שׂוּךְ). The original idea seems to have been to surround with a wall of thorns for the purpose of protection (E. Dhorme, Job, 7). The verb is an implied comparison between making a hedge and protecting someone.

[1:10]  ¹⁶ sn Here the verb “bless” is used in one of its very common meanings. The verb means “to enrich,” often with the sense of enabling or empowering things for growth or fruitfulness. See further C. Westermann, Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church (OBT).

[1:10]  ¹⁷ tn Or “substance.” The herds of livestock may be taken by metonymy of part for whole to represent possessions or prosperity in general.

[1:10]  ¹⁸ tn The verb פָּרַץ (parats) means “to break through.” It has the sense of abundant increase, as in breaking out, overflowing (see also Gen 30:30 and Exod 1:12).

[1:11]  ¹⁹ tn The particle אוּלָם (’ulam, “but”) serves to restrict the clause in relation to the preceding clause (IBHS 671-73 §39.3.5e, n. 107).

[1:11]  ²⁰ tn The force of the imperatives in this sentence are almost conditional – if God were to do this, then surely Job would respond differently.

[1:11]  ²¹ sn The formula used in the expression is the oath formula: “if not to your face he will curse you” meaning “he will surely curse you to your face.” Satan is so sure that the piety is insincere that he can use an oath formula.

[1:11]  ²² tn See the comments on Job 1:5. Here too the idea of “renounce” may fit well enough; but the idea of actually cursing God may not be out of the picture if everything Job has is removed. Satan thinks he will denounce God.

[1:12]  ²³ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) introduces a foundational clause upon which the following volitional clause is based.

[1:12]  ²⁴ tn The versions add a verb here: “delivered to” or “abandoned to” the hand of Satan.

[1:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in your hand.” The idiom means that it is now Satan’s to do with as he pleases.

[1:12]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew word order emphatically holds out Job’s person as the exception: “only upon him do not stretch forth your hand.”

[1:12]  ²⁷ tn The Targum to Job adds “with permission” to show that he was granted leave from God’s presence.

[1:12]  ²⁸ sn So Satan, having received his permission to test Job’s sincerity, goes out from the Lord’s presence. But Satan is bound by the will of the Most High not to touch Job himself. The sentence gives the impression that Satan’s departure is with a certain eagerness and confidence.

[3:1]  ²⁹ sn Joshua the high priest mentioned here is the son of the priest Jehozadak, mentioned also in Hag 1:1 (cf. Ezra 2:2; 3:2, 8; 4:3; 5:2; 10:18; Neh 7:7; 12:1, 7, 10, 26). He also appears to have been the grandfather of the high priest contemporary with Nehemiah ca. 445 b.c. (Neh 12:10).

[3:1]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew term הַשָּׂטָן (hassatan, “the satan”) suggests not so much a personal name (as in almost all English translations) but an epithet, namely, “the adversary.” This evil being is otherwise thus described in Job 1 and 2 and 1 Chr 21:1. In this last passage the article is dropped and “the satan” becomes “Satan,” a personal name.

[13:19]  ³¹ sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Mark 4:15 has “Satan,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

[13:19]  ³² sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

[5:3]  ³³ sn This is a good example of the Greek verb fill (πληρόω, plhrow) meaning “to exercise control over someone’s thought and action” (cf. Eph 5:18).

[5:3]  ³⁴ tn The words “from the sale of” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the meaning, since the phrase “proceeds from the land” could possibly be understood as crops rather than money from the sale.

[5:2]  ³⁵ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[5:2]  ³⁶ tn The participle ἐνέγκας (enenka") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[2:11]  ³⁷ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ³⁸ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

[2:11]  ³⁹ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

[2:11]  ⁴⁰ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

[4:3]  ⁴¹ tn Though προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) is an adverbial participle related to the previous imperative, προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite), it is here translated as an independent clause due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[4:3]  ⁴² tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been rendered as substantival here, indicating the content of the prayer rather than the purpose for it. These two ideas are very similar and difficult to differentiate in this passage, but the conjunction ἵνα following a verb of praying is generally regarded as giving the content of the prayer.

[4:3]  ⁴³ tn Grk “that God may open for us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ.” The construction in Greek is somewhat awkward in this clause. The translation attempts to simplify this structure somewhat and yet communicate exactly what Paul is asking for.

[4:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “so that we may speak.”

[4:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “in prison.”

[4:4]  ⁴⁶ tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.

[2:9]  ⁴⁷ sn In him all the fullness of deity lives. The present tense in this verse (“lives”) is significant. Again, as was stated in the note on 1:19, this is not a temporary dwelling, but a permanent one. Paul’s point is polemical against the idea that the fullness of God dwells anywhere else, as the Gnostics believed, except in Christ alone. At the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity assumed humanity, and is forever the God-man.

[2:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[12:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the war in heaven.

[20:2]  ⁵¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[20:3]  ⁵² tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel introduced in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:3]  ⁵³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[20:3]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “and shut.” While the lexical force of the term is closer to “shut,” it is acceptable to render the verb ἔκλεισεν (ekleisen) as “locked” here in view of the mention of the key in the previous verse.

[20:7]  ⁵⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[20:10]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “misled.”

[20:10]  ⁵⁷ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[20:10]  ⁵⁸ tn The verb in this clause is elided. In keeping with the previous past tenses some translations supply a past tense verb here (“were”), but in view of the future tense that follows (“they will be tormented”), a present tense verb was used to provide a transition from the previous past tense to the future tense that follows.