3:13 “You have criticized me sharply,” 1 says the Lord, “but you ask, ‘How have we criticized you?’ 3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped 2 by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? 3 3:15 So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. 4 In fact, those who challenge 5 God escape!’”
3:16 Then those who respected 6 the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. 7 A scroll 8 was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name. 3:17 “They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. 9 I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 3:18 Then once more you will see that I make a distinction between 10 the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not.
1 tn Heb “your words are hard [or “strong”] against me”; cf. NIV “said harsh things against me”; TEV, NLT “said terrible things about me.”
2 tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”
3 sn The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the
4 tn Heb “built up” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “prosper”; NLT “get rich.”
5 tn Or “test”; NRSV, CEV “put God to the test.”
6 tn Or “fear” (so NAB); NRSV “revered”; NCV “honored.”
7 tn Heb “heard and listened”; NAB “listened attentively.”
8 sn The scroll mentioned here is a “memory book” (סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן, sefer zikkaron) in which the
9 sn The Hebrew word סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah, “special property”) is a technical term referring to all the recipients of God’s redemptive grace, especially Israel (Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18). The
10 tn Heb “you will see between.” Cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT “see the difference.”