6:24 “But woe 1 to you who are rich, for you have received 2 your comfort 3 already.
21:13 They live out 4 their years in prosperity
and go down 5 to the grave 6 in peace.
21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We do not want to 7 know your ways. 8
22:18 But it was he 9 who filled their houses
with good things –
yet the counsel of the wicked 10
was far from me. 11
17:14 Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, 12
from the murderers of this world! 13
They enjoy prosperity; 14
you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. 15
They have many children,
and leave their wealth to their offspring. 16
37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men 17
growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. 18
37:36 But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared! 19
I looked for them, but they could not be found.
49:11 Their grave becomes their permanent residence,
their eternal dwelling place. 20
They name their lands after themselves, 21
73:7 Their prosperity causes them to do wrong; 22
their thoughts are sinful. 23
73:12 Take a good look! This is what the wicked are like, 24
those who always have it so easy and get richer and richer. 25
73:13 I concluded, 26 “Surely in vain I have kept my motives 27 pure
and maintained a pure lifestyle. 28
73:14 I suffer all day long,
and am punished every morning.”
73:15 If I had publicized these thoughts, 29
I would have betrayed your loyal followers. 30
73:16 When I tried to make sense of this,
it was troubling to me. 31
73:17 Then I entered the precincts of God’s temple, 32
and understood the destiny of the wicked. 33
73:18 Surely 34 you put them in slippery places;
you bring them down 35 to ruin.
73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!
Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! 36
3:1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, 38 rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.
1 sn Jesus promises condemnation (woe) to those who are callous of others, looking only to their own comforts. On Luke and the rich see 1:53; 12:16; 14:12; 16:1, 21-22; 18:23; 19:2; 21:1. These woes are unique to Luke.
2 sn Ironically the language of reward shows that what the rich have received is all they will get. This result looks at a current situation, just as the start of the beatitudes did. The rest of the conclusions to the woes look to the future at the time of judgment.
3 tn Grk “your consolation.”
4 tc The Kethib has “they wear out” but the Qere and the versions have יְכַלּוּ (yÿkhallu, “bring to an end”). The verb כָּלָה (kalah) means “to finish; to complete,” and here with the object “their days,” it means that they bring their life to a (successful) conclusion. Both readings are acceptable in the context, with very little difference in the overall meaning (which according to Gordis is proof the Qere does not always correct the Kethib).
5 tc The MT has יֵחָתּוּ (yekhattu, “they are frightened [or broken]”), taking the verb from חָתַת (khatat, “be terrified”). But most would slightly repoint it to יֵחָתוּ (yekhatu), an Aramaism, “they go down,” from נָחַת (nakhat, “go down”). See Job 17:16.
6 tn The word רֶגַע (rega’) has been interpreted as “in a moment” or “in peace” (on the basis of Arabic raja`a, “return to rest”). Gordis thinks this is a case of talhin – both meanings present in the mind of the writer.
7 tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”
8 sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.
9 tn The pronoun is added for this emphasis; it has “but he” before the verb.
10 tn See Job 10:3.
11 tc The LXX has “from him,” and this is followed by several commentators. But the MT is to be retained, for Eliphaz is recalling the words of Job. Verses 17 and 18 are deleted by a number of commentators as a gloss because they have many similarities to 21:14-16. But Eliphaz is recalling what Job said, in order to say that the prosperity to which Job alluded was only the prelude to a disaster he denied (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 156).
12 tc Heb “from men [by] your hand,
13 tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”
14 tn Heb “their portion, in life.”
15 tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”
16 tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”
17 tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.
18 tn Heb “being exposed [?] like a native, luxuriant.” The Hebrew form מִתְעָרֶה (mit’areh) appears to be a Hitpael participle from עָרָה (’arah, “be exposed”), but this makes no sense in this context. Perhaps the form is a dialectal variant of מִתְעָלָה (“giving oneself an air of importance”; see Jer 51:3), from עָלָה (’alah, “go up”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 296). The noun אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh, “native, full citizen”) refers elsewhere to people, but here, where it is collocated with “luxuriant, green,” it probably refers to a tree growing in native soil.
19 tn Heb “and he passes by and, look, he is not [there].” The subject of the verb “passes by” is probably indefinite, referring to any passerby. Some prefer to change the form to first person, “and I passed by” (cf. NEB; note the first person verbal forms in preceding verse and in the following line).
20 tc Heb “their inward part [is] their houses [are] permanent, their dwelling places for a generation and a generation.” If one follows the MT, then קֶרֶב (qerev, “inward part”) must refer to the seat of these people’s thoughts (for other examples of this use of the term, see BDB 899 s.v., though BDB prefers an emendation in this passage). In this case all three lines of v. 11 expose these people’s arrogant assumption that they will last forever, which then stands in sharp contrast to reality as summarized in v. 12. In this case one might translate the first two lines, “they think that their houses are permanent and that their dwelling places will last forever” (cf. NASB). Following the lead of several ancient versions, the present translation assumes an emendation of קִרְבָּם (qirbam, “their inward part”) to קְבָרִים (qÿvarim, “graves”). This assumes that the letters bet (ב) and resh (ר) were accidentally transposed in the MT. In this case the first two lines support the point made in v. 10, while the third line of v. 11 stands in contrast to v. 12. The phrase בֵּית עוֹלָם (bet ’olam, “permanent house”) is used of a tomb in Eccl 12:5 (as well as in Phoenician tomb inscriptions, see DNWSI 1:160 for a list of texts) and מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan, “dwelling place”) refers to a tomb in Isa 22:16. Cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV.
21 sn Naming their lands after themselves is a claim of possession.
22 tc The MT reads “it goes out from fatness their eye,” which might be paraphrased, “their eye protrudes [or “bulges”] because of fatness.” This in turn might refer to their greed; their eyes “bug out” when they see rich food or produce (the noun חֵלֶב [khelev, “fatness”] sometimes refers to such food or produce). However, when used with the verb יָצָא (yatsa’, “go out”) the preposition מִן (“from”) more naturally indicates source. For this reason it is preferable to emend עֵינֵמוֹ (’enemo, “their eye”) to עֲוֹנָמוֹ, (’avonamo, “their sin”) and read, “and their sin proceeds forth from fatness,” that is, their prosperity gives rise to their sinful attitudes. If one follows this textual reading, another interpretive option is to take חֵלֶב (“fatness”) in the sense of “unreceptive, insensitive” (see its use in Ps 17:10). In this case, the sin of the wicked proceeds forth from their spiritual insensitivity.
23 tn Heb “the thoughts of [their] heart [i.e., mind] cross over” (i.e., violate God’s moral boundary, see Ps 17:3).
24 tn Heb “Look, these [are] the wicked.”
25 tn Heb “the ones who are always at ease [who] increase wealth.”
26 tn The words “I concluded” are supplied in the translation. It is apparent that vv. 13-14 reflect the psalmist’s thoughts at an earlier time (see vv. 2-3), prior to the spiritual awakening he describes in vv. 17-28.
27 tn Heb “heart,” viewed here as the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.
28 tn Heb “and washed my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The reference to “hands” suggests actions.
29 tn Heb “If I had said, ‘I will speak out like this.’”
30 tn Heb “look, the generation of your sons I would have betrayed.” The phrase “generation of your [i.e., God’s] sons” occurs only here in the OT. Some equate the phrase with “generation of the godly” (Ps 14:5), “generation of the ones seeking him” (Ps 24:6), and “generation of the upright” (Ps 112:2). In Deut 14:1 the Israelites are referred to as God’s “sons.” Perhaps the psalmist refers here to those who are “Israelites” in the true sense because of their loyalty to God (note the juxtaposition of “Israel” with “the pure in heart” in v. 1).
31 tn Heb “and [when] I pondered to understand this, troubling it [was] in my eyes.”
32 tn The plural of the term מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash) probably refers to the temple precincts (see Ps 68:35; Jer 51:51).
33 tn Heb “I discerned their end.” At the temple the psalmist perhaps received an oracle of deliverance announcing his vindication and the demise of the wicked (see Ps 12) or heard songs of confidence (for example, Ps 11), wisdom psalms (for example, Pss 1, 37), and hymns (for example, Ps 112) that describe the eventual downfall of the proud and wealthy.
34 tn The use of the Hebrew term אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) here literarily counteracts its use in v. 13. The repetition draws attention to the contrast between the two statements, the first of which expresses the psalmist’s earlier despair and the second his newly discovered confidence.
35 tn Heb “cause them to fall.”
36 tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”
37 tn Grk “whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly and glory is their shame, these who think of earthly things.”
38 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.
39 tn Or “as stars in the universe.”