31:31 if 1 the members of my household 2 have never said, 3
‘If only there were 4 someone
who has not been satisfied from Job’s 5 meat!’ –
27:2 When evil men attack me 6
to devour my flesh, 7
when my adversaries and enemies attack me, 8
they stumble and fall. 9
37:12 Evil men plot against the godly 10
and viciously attack them. 11
37:14 Evil men draw their swords
and prepare their bows,
to bring down 12 the oppressed and needy,
and to slaughter those who are godly. 13
27:3 A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,
but vexation 14 by a fool is more burdensome 15 than the two of them.
27:4 Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming, 16
but who can stand before jealousy? 17
23:12 When morning came, 18 the Jews formed 19 a conspiracy 20 and bound themselves with an oath 21 not to eat or drink anything 22 until they had killed Paul. 23:13 There were more than forty of them who formed this conspiracy. 23
1 tn Now Job picks up the series of clauses serving as the protasis.
2 tn Heb “the men of my tent.” In context this refers to members of Job’s household.
3 sn The line is difficult to sort out. Job is saying it is sinful “if his men have never said, ‘O that there was one who has not been satisfied from his food.’” If they never said that, it would mean there were people out there who needed to be satisfied with his food.
4 tn The optative is again expressed with “who will give?”
5 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “draw near to me.”
7 sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).
8 tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.
9 tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”
10 tn Or “innocent.” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and the typical godly individual are in view.
11 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.
12 tn Heb “to cause to fall.”
13 tn Heb “the upright in way,” i.e., those who lead godly lives.
14 tn The subject matter is the vexation produced by a fool. The term כַּעַס (ca’as) means “vexation” (ASV); provocation” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); “anger” (KJV “wrath”) and usually refers to undeserved treatment. Cf. NLT “the resentment caused by a fool.”
15 sn The contrast is made between dealing with the vexation of a fool and physical labor (moving stones and sand). More tiring is the vexation of a fool, for the mental and emotional effort it takes to deal with it is more draining than physical labor. It is, in the sense of this passage, almost unbearable.
16 tn Heb “fierceness of wrath and outpouring [= flood] of anger.” A number of English versions use “flood” here (e.g., NASB, NCV, NLT).
17 tn The Hebrew term translated “jealousy” here probably has the negative sense of “envy” rather than the positive sense of “zeal.” It is a raging emotion (like “anger” and “wrath,” this word has nuances of heat, intensity) that defies reason at times and can be destructive like a consuming fire (e.g., 6:32-35; Song 8:6-7). The rhetorical question is intended to affirm that no one can survive a jealous rage. (Whether one is the subject who is jealous or the object of the jealousy of someone else is not so clear.)
18 tn Grk “when it was day.”
19 tn Grk “forming a conspiracy, bound.” The participle ποιήσαντες (poihsantes) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
20 tn L&N 30.72 has ‘some Jews formed a conspiracy’ Ac 23:12”; BDAG 979 s.v. συστροφή 1 has “Judeans came together in a mob 23:12. But in the last pass. the word may also mean – 2. the product of a clandestine gathering, plot, conspiracy” (see also Amos 7:10; Ps 63:3).
21 tn Or “bound themselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone…pleonastically ἀναθέματι ἀ. ἑαυτόν Ac 23:14…ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.” On such oaths see m. Shevi’it 3:1-5. The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
22 tn The word “anything” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
23 tn L&N 30.73 defines συνωμοσία (sunwmosia) as “a plan for taking secret action someone or some institution, with the implication of an oath binding the conspirators – ‘conspiracy, plot.’ …‘there were more than forty of them who formed this conspiracy’ Ac 23:13.”