18:12 So Saul feared David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.
37:12 Evil men plot against the godly 1
and viciously attack them. 2
37:13 The Lord laughs in disgust 3 at them,
for he knows that their day is coming. 4
37:14 Evil men draw their swords
and prepare their bows,
to bring down 5 the oppressed and needy,
and to slaughter those who are godly. 6
4:4 Then I considered 7 all the skillful work 8 that is done:
Surely it is nothing more than 9 competition 10 between one person and another. 11
This also is profitless – like 12 chasing the wind.
1 tn Or “innocent.” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and the typical godly individual are in view.
2 tn Heb “and gnashes at him with his teeth” (see Ps 35:16). The language may picture the evil men as wild animals. The active participles in v. 12 are used for purposes of dramatic description.
3 tn Heb “laughs.” As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter (see 2:4). The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes the action from the perspective of an eye-witness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.
4 tn Heb “for he sees that his day is coming.” As the following context makes clear (vv. 15, 17, 19-20), “his day” refers to the time when God will destroy evildoers.
5 tn Heb “to cause to fall.”
6 tn Heb “the upright in way,” i.e., those who lead godly lives.
7 tn Heb “saw.”
8 tn Heb “all the toil and all the skill.” This Hebrew clause (אֶת־כָּל־עָמָל וְאֵת כָּל־כִּשְׁרוֹן, ’et-kol-’amal vÿ’et kol-kishron) is a nominal hendiadys (a figurative expression in which two independent phrases are used to connote the same thing). The second functions adverbially, modifying the first, which retains its full nominal function: “all the skillful work.”
9 tn The phrase “nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
10 tn The noun קִנְאַה (qin’ah, “competition”) has a wide range of meanings: “zeal; jealousy; envy; rivalry; competition; suffering; animosity; anger; wrath” (HALOT 1110 s.v.; BDB 888 s.v.). Here, as in 9:6, it denotes “rivalry” (BDB 888 s.v. 1) or “competitive spirit” (HALOT 1110 s.v. 1.b). The LXX rendered it ζῆλος (zhlos, “envy; jealousy”). The English versions reflect this broad range: “rivalry” (NEB, NAB, NASB), “envy” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, MLB, NIV, NJPS), and “jealousy” (Moffatt).
11 tn Heb “a man and his neighbor.”
12 tn The word “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Grk “you do well.”
14 tn Grk “believe and tremble.” The words “with fear” are implied.