2:4 But 1 Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for 2 skin! 3 Indeed, a man will give up 4 all that he has to save his life! 5
2:20 At that time 6 men will throw
their silver and gold idols,
which they made for themselves to worship, 7
into the caves where rodents and bats live, 8
10:3 What will you do on judgment day, 9
when destruction arrives from a distant place?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 19 we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,
1 tn The form is the simply preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive. However, the speech of Satan is in contrast to what God said, even though in narrative sequence.
2 tn The preposition בְּעַד (bÿ’ad) designates interest or advantage arising from the idea of protection for (“for the benefit of”); see IBHS 201-2 §11.2.7a.
3 sn The meaning of the expression is obscure. It may come from the idea of sacrificing an animal or another person in order to go free, suggesting the expression that one type of skin that was worth less was surrendered to save the more important life. Satan would then be saying that Job was willing for others to die for him to go free, but not himself. “Skin” would be a synecdoche of the part for the whole (like the idiomatic use of skin today for a person in a narrow escape). The second clause indicates that God has not even scratched the surface because Job has been protected. His “skin” might have been scratched, but not his flesh and bone! But if his life had been put in danger, he would have responded differently.
4 tc The LXX has “make full payment, pay a full price” (LSJ 522 s.v. ἐκτίνω).
5 tn Heb “Indeed, all that a man has he will give for his life.”
6 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
7 tn Or “bow down to.”
8 tn Heb “to the shrews and to the bats.” On the meaning of חֲפַרְפָּרָה (khafarparah, “shrew”), see HALOT 341 s.v. חֲפַרְפָּרָה. The BHS text as it stands (לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, perot lakhpor), makes no sense. Based on Theodotion’s transliteration and a similar reading in the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa, most scholars suggest that the MT mistakenly divided a noun (a hapax legomenon) that should be translated “moles,” “shrews,” or “rodents.”
9 tn Heb “the day of visitation” (so KJV, ASV), that is, the day when God arrives to execute justice on the oppressors.
10 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
11 tn Heb “reject” (so NIV); NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT “throw away.”
12 tn Heb “the idols of their idols of silver and their idols of gold which your hands made for yourselves [in] sin.” חָטָא (khata’, “sin”) is understood as an adverbial accusative of manner. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:573, n. 4.
13 sn In Ezek 11:19, 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.
14 tn Grk “a man,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to refer to both men and women.
15 sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.
16 sn On the roof. Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.
17 sn The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There will be no time to come down from the roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.
18 tn The word here translated “dung” was often used in Greek as a vulgar term for fecal matter. As such it would most likely have had a certain shock value for the readers. This may well be Paul’s meaning here, especially since the context is about what the flesh produces.
19 tn Grk “having such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”