16:7 When a person’s 12 ways are pleasing to the Lord, 13
he 14 even reconciles his enemies to himself. 15
1 tn Heb “and they journeyed.”
2 tn Heb “and the fear of God was upon the cities which were round about them.” The expression “fear of God” apparently refers (1) to a fear of God (objective genitive; God is the object of their fear). (2) But it could mean “fear from God,” that is, fear which God placed in them (cf. NRSV “a terror from God”). Another option (3) is that the divine name is used as a superlative here, referring to “tremendous fear” (cf. NEB “were panic-stricken”; NASB “a great terror”).
3 tn Heb “which are in your midst.”
4 sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the
5 tn Heb “This is my covenant that you must keep between me and you and your descendants after you.”
6 sn For a discussion of male circumcision as the sign of the covenant in this passage see M. V. Fox, “The Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Light of the Priestly ‘ot Etiologies,” RB 81 (1974): 557-96.
7 tn The use of the independent personal pronoun here emphasizes the subject of the verb: “Have you not put up a hedge.”
8 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.
9 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).
10 tn Or “substance.” The herds of livestock may be taken by metonymy of part for whole to represent possessions or prosperity in general.
11 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).
12 tn Heb “ways of a man.”
13 tn The first line uses an infinitive in a temporal clause, followed by its subject in the genitive case: “in the taking pleasure of the
14 tn The referent of the verb in the second colon is unclear. The straightforward answer is that it refers to the person whose ways please the
15 tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”
16 tn BDAG 384 s.v. ἐπιτίθημι 2 has “to set upon, attack, lay a hand on” here, but “assault” is a contemporary English equivalent very close to the meaning of the original.
17 tn Or “injure.”