4:3 Look, 7 you have instructed 8 many;
you have strengthened 9 feeble hands. 10
4:4 Your words have supported 11 those
who stumbled, 12
and you have strengthened the knees
that gave way. 13
1 sn Here and in the remainder of the verse the second person pronouns are singular, so only Peter is in view. The name “Simon” has been supplied as a form of direct address to make this clear in English.
2 sn That your faith may not fail. Note that Peter’s denials are pictured here as lapses, not as a total absence of faith.
3 tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
4 tn Or “turned around.”
5 sn Strengthen your brothers refers to Peter helping to strengthen their faith. Jesus quite graciously restores Peter “in advance,” even with the knowledge of his approaching denials.
6 tn Heb “command”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “charge Joshua.”
7 tn The deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) summons attention; it has the sense of “consider, look.”
8 tn The verb יָסַר (yasar) in the Piel means “to correct,” whether by words with the sense of teach, or by chastening with the sense of punish, discipline. The double meaning of “teach” and “discipline” is also found with the noun מוּסָר (musar).
9 tn The parallelism again uses a perfect verb in the first colon and an imperfect in the second; but since the sense of the line is clearly what Job has done in the past, the second verb may be treated as a preterite, or a customary imperfect – what Job repeatedly did in the past (GKC 315 §107.e). The words in this verse may have double meanings. The word יָסַר (yasar, “teach, discipline”) may have the idea of instruction and correction, but also the connotation of strength (see Y. Hoffmann, “The Use of Equivocal Words in the First Speech of Eliphaz [Job IV–V],” VT 30 [1980]: 114-19).
10 tn The “feeble hands” are literally “hands hanging down.” This is a sign of weakness, helplessness, or despondency (see 2 Sam 4:1; Isa 13:7).
11 tn Both verbs in this line are imperfects, and probably carry the same nuance as the last verb in v. 3, namely, either customary imperfect or preterite. The customary has the aspect of stressing that this was what Job used to do.
12 tn The form is the singular active participle, interpreted here collectively. The verb is used of knees that give way (Isa 35:3; Ps 109:24).
13 tn The expression is often translated as “feeble knees,” but it literally says “the bowing [or “tottering”] knees.” The figure is one who may be under a heavy load whose knees begin to shake and buckle (see also Heb 12:12).
14 tn Heb “Behold.”
15 tc So most Hebrew
16 tn Heb “my lord,” here a title of polite address. Cf. v. 19.
17 tn Heb “How is the servant of this my lord able to speak with this my lord?”
18 tn Heb “does not stand.”
19 tn Heb “He added and touched me.” The construction is a verbal hendiadys.
20 tn Heb “treasured man.”
21 tn Heb “my lord may speak.”
22 sn The antecedent of the pronoun “I” is the angel, not Daniel. The traditional chapter division at this point, and the presence of a chronological note in the verse similar to ones used elsewhere in the book to position Daniel’s activities in relation to imperial affairs, sometimes lead to confusion on this matter.
23 tn Grk “Having spent”; the participle ποιήσας (poihsas) is taken temporally.
24 sn Galatia refers to either (1) the region of the old kingdom of Galatia in the central part of Asia Minor, or (2) the Roman province of Galatia, whose principal cities in the 1st century were Ancyra and Pisidian Antioch. The exact extent and meaning of this area has been a subject of considerable controversy in modern NT studies.
25 sn Phrygia was a district in central Asia Minor west of Pisidia. See Acts 16:6.
26 tn Or “he was obligated.”
27 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.
28 tn Or “propitiation.”