Job 38:15

38:15 Then from the wicked the light is withheld,

and the arm raised in violence ¹  is broken. ² 

Psalms 10:5

10:5 He is secure at all times. ³ 

He has no regard for your commands; ⁴ 

he disdains all his enemies. ⁵ 

Ezekiel 30:21

30:21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm ⁶  of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁷  Look, it has not been bandaged for healing or set with a dressing so that it might become strong enough to grasp a sword.

Zechariah 11:16

11:16 Indeed, I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not take heed to the sheep headed to slaughter, will not seek the scattered, and will not heal the injured. ⁸  Moreover, he will not nourish the one that is healthy but instead will eat the meat of the fat sheep ⁹  and tear off their hooves.

¹ tn Heb “the raised arm.” The words “in violence” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

² sn What is active at night, the violence symbolized by the raised arm, is broken with the dawn. G. R. Driver thought the whole verse referred to stars, and that the arm is the navigator’s term for the line of stars (“Two astronomical passages in the Old Testament,” JTS 4 [1953]: 208-12).

³ tn Heb “they are firm, his ways, at every time.” The verb חַיִל (khayil, “be firm, be strong”) occurs only here and in Job 20:21, where it has the sense “endure.”

⁴ tc Heb “[on a] height, your judgments from before him.” If the MT is retained, then the idea may be that God’s “judgments” are high above (i.e., not recognized) by the wicked man. However, the syntax is awkward. The translation assumes an emendation of מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) to סָרוּ (saru, “[your judgments] are turned aside”), the final mem (ם) being dittographic (note the initial mem on the immediately following word [מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, mishÿfatekha, “your judgments”). “Judgments” probably refers here to God’s laws or commands, rather than his judicial decisions or acts of judgment.

⁵ tn Heb “all his enemies, he snorts against them.” This may picture the wicked man defiantly challenging his enemies because he is confident of success. Another option is to take יָפִיחַ (yafiakh) from the root יָפַח (yafakh, “to testify”) and translate “he testifies against all his enemies,” implying that he gets the upper hand over them in legal battles. The noun יָפֵחַ (yafeakh, “witness”) is attested in biblical Hebrew (see Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3). The verb, however, is not clearly attested.

⁶ sn The expression “breaking the arm” indicates the removal of power (Ps 10:15; 37:17; Job 38:15; Jer 48:25).

⁷ sn This may refer to the event recorded in Jer 37:5.

⁸ tn Heb “the broken” (so KJV, NASB; NRSV “the maimed”).

⁹ tn Heb “the fat [ones].” Cf. ASV “the fat sheep”; NIV “the choice sheep.”