Deuteronomy 24:13

24:13 You must by all means ¹  return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just ²  deed by the Lord your God.

Job 29:13

29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, ³ 

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; ⁴ 

Job 31:20

31:20 whose heart did not bless me ⁵ 

as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep, ⁶ 

¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “by all means.”

² tn Or “righteous” (so NIV, NLT).

³ tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320).

⁴ tn The verb אַרְנִן (’arnin) is from רָנַן (ranan, “to give a ringing cry”) but here “cause to give a ringing cry,” i.e., shout of joy. The rejoicing envisioned in this word is far greater than what the words “sing” or “rejoice” suggest.

⁵ tn The MT has simply “if his loins did not bless me.” In the conditional clause this is another protasis. It means, “if I saw someone dying and if he did not thank me for clothing them.” It is Job’s way of saying that whenever he saw a need he met it, and he received his share of thanks – which prove his kindness. G. R. Driver has it “without his loins having blessed me,” taking “If…not” as an Aramaism, meaning “except” (AJSL 52 [1935/36]: 164f.).

⁶ tn This clause is interpreted here as a subordinate clause to the first half of the verse. It could also be a separate clause: “was he not warmed…?”