7:12 Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. 1 He named it Ebenezer, 2 saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.”
5:17 “Therefore, 4 blessed 5 is the man whom God corrects, 6
so do not despise the discipline 7 of the Almighty. 8
5:18 For 9 he 10 wounds, 11 but he also bandages;
he strikes, but his hands also heal.
5:19 He will deliver you 12 from six calamities;
yes, in seven 13 no evil will touch you.
5:20 In time of famine 14 he will redeem you from death,
and in time of war from the power of the sword. 15
5:21 You will be protected 16 from malicious gossip, 17
and will not be afraid of the destruction 18 when it comes.
5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine 19
and need not 20 be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
34:19 The godly 21 face many dangers, 22
but the Lord saves 23 them 24 from each one of them.
46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, 25
all you who are left from the family of Israel, 26
you who have been carried from birth, 27
you who have been supported from the time you left the womb. 28
26:2 “Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, 30 I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,
1 tn Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “Jeshanah.”
2 sn The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. TEV); NLT adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.
3 tn Or “Go, and may the
4 tn The particle “therefore” links this section to the preceding; it points this out as the logical consequence of the previous discussion, and more generally, as the essence of Job’s suffering.
5 tn The word אַשְׁרֵי (’ashre, “blessed”) is often rendered “happy.” But “happy” relates to what happens. “Blessed” is a reference to the heavenly bliss of the one who is right with God.
6 tn The construction is an implied relative clause. The literal rendering would simply be “the man God corrects him.” The suffix on the verb is a resumptive pronoun, completing the use of the relative clause. The verb יָכַח (yakhakh) is a legal term; it always has some sense of a charge, dispute, or conflict. Its usages show that it may describe a strife breaking out, a charge or quarrel in progress, or the settling of a dispute (Isa 1:18). The derived noun can mean “reproach; recrimination; charge” (13:6; 23:4). Here the emphasis is on the consequence of the charge brought, namely, the correction.
7 tn The noun מוּסַר (musar) is parallel to the idea of the first colon. It means “discipline, correction” (from יָסַר, yasar). Prov 3:11 says almost the same thing as this line.
8 sn The name Shaddai occurs 31 times in the book. This is its first occurrence. It is often rendered “Almighty” because of the LXX and some of the early fathers. The etymology and meaning of the word otherwise remains uncertain, in spite of attempts to connect it to “mountains” or “breasts.”
9 sn Verses 18-23 give the reasons why someone should accept the chastening of God – the hand that wounds is the same hand that heals. But, of course, the lines do not apply to Job because his suffering is not due to divine chastening.
10 tn The addition of the independent pronoun here makes the subject emphatic, as if to say, “For it is he who makes….”
11 tn The imperfect verbs in this verse describe the characteristic activities of God; the classification as habitual imperfect fits the idea and is to be rendered with the English present tense.
12 tn The verb is the Hiphil imperfect of נָצַל (natsal, “deliver”). These verbs might have been treated as habitual imperfects if it were not for the use of the numerical images – “six calamities…in seven.” So the nuance is specific future instead.
13 tn The use of a numerical ladder as we have here – “six // seven” is frequent in wisdom literature to show completeness. See Prov 6:16; Amos 1:3, Mic 5:5. A number that seems to be sufficient for the point is increased by one, as if to say there is always one more. By using this Eliphaz simply means “in all troubles” (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 56).
14 sn Targum Job here sees an allusion to the famine of Egypt and the war with Amalek.
15 tn Heb “from the hand of the sword.” This is idiomatic for “the power of the sword.” The expression is also metonymical, meaning from the effect of the sword, which is death.
16 tn The Hebrew verb essentially means “you will be hidden.” In the Niphal the verb means “to be hidden, to be in a hiding place,” and protected (Ps 31:20).
17 tn Heb “from the lash [i.e., whip] of the tongue.” Sir 26:9 and 51:2 show usages of these kinds of expressions: “the lash of the tongue” or “the blow of the tongue.” The expression indicates that a malicious gossip is more painful than a blow.
18 tn The word here is שׁוֹד (shod); it means “destruction,” but some commentators conjecture alternate readings: שׁוֹאָה (sho’ah, “desolation”); or שֵׁד (shed, “demon”). One argument for maintaining שׁוֹד (shod) is that it fits the assonance within the verse שׁוֹד…לָשׁוֹן…שׁוֹט (shot…lashon…shod).
19 tc The repetition of “destruction” and “famine” here has prompted some scholars to delete the whole verse. Others try to emend the text. The LXX renders them as “the unrighteous and the lawless.” But there is no difficulty in having the repetition of the words as found in the MT.
20 tn The negated jussive is used here to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen (GKC 322 §109.e).
21 tn The Hebrew text uses the singular form; the representative or typical godly person is envisioned.
22 tn Or “trials.”
23 tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the
24 tn Heb “him,” agreeing with the singular form in the preceding line.
25 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”
26 tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”
27 tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”
28 tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”
29 tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.
30 sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.
31 tn Or “speak no longer.”
32 tn Or “greatly annoyed,” “provoked.”
33 tn Or “proclaiming.”
34 tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.