Acts 10:47

10:47 “No one can withhold the water for these people to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, ¹  can he?” ² 

Job 9:12-14

9:12 If he snatches away, ³  who can turn him back? ⁴ 

Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

9:13 God does not restrain his anger; ⁵ 

under him the helpers of Rahab ⁶  lie crushed. ⁷ 

The Impossibility of Facing God in Court

9:14 “How much less, ⁸  then, can I answer him ⁹ 

and choose my words ¹⁰  to argue ¹¹  with ¹²  him! ¹³ 

Job 33:13

33:13 Why do you contend against him,

that he does not answer all a person’s ¹⁴  words?

Job 40:2

40:2 “Will the one who contends ¹⁵  with the Almighty correct him? ¹⁶ 

Let the person who accuses God give him an answer!”

Job 40:8-9

40:8 Would you indeed annul ¹⁷  my justice?

Would you declare me guilty so that you might be right?

40:9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, ¹⁸ 

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

Daniel 4:35

4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. ¹⁹ 

He does as he wishes with the army of heaven

and with those who inhabit the earth.

No one slaps ²⁰  his hand

and says to him, ‘What have you done?’

Romans 9:20-26

9:20 But who indeed are you – a mere human being ²¹  – to talk back to God? ²²  Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ²³  9:21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay ²⁴  one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? ²⁵  9:22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects ²⁶  of wrath ²⁷  prepared for destruction? ²⁸  9:23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects ²⁹  of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory – 9:24 even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 9:25 As he also says in Hosea:

“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ³⁰  ‘My beloved.’” ³¹ 

9:26 “And in the very place ³²  where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” ³³ 

[10:47]  ¹ tn Grk “just as also we.” The auxiliary verb in English must be supplied. This could be either “have” (NIV, NRSV) or “did” (NASB). “Did” is preferred here because the comparison Peter is making concerns not just the fact of the present possession of the Spirit (“they received the Spirit we now possess”), but the manner in which the Gentiles in Cornelius’ house received the Spirit (“they received the Spirit in the same manner we did [on the day of Pentecost]”).

[10:47]  ² tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ question, “can he?” The question is rhetorical. Peter was saying these Gentiles should be baptized since God had confirmed they were his.

[9:12]  ³ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 133) surveys the usages and concludes that the verb חָתַף (khataf) normally describes the wicked actions of a man, especially by treachery or trickery against another. But a verb חָתַף (khataf) is found nowhere else; a noun “robber” is found in Prov 23:28. Dhorme sees no reason to emend the text, because he concludes that the two verbs are synonymous. Job is saying that if God acts like a plunderer, there is no one who can challenge what he does.

[9:12]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperfect (potential again) from שׁוּב (shuv). In this stem it can mean “turn back, refute, repel” (BDB 999 s.v. Hiph.5).

[9:13]  ⁵ sn The meaning of the line is that God’s anger will continue until it has accomplished its purpose (23:13-14).

[9:13]  ⁶ sn “Rahab” is not to be confused with the harlot of the same name from Jericho. “Rahab” is identified with Tiamat of the Babylonian creation epic, or Leviathan of the Canaanite myths. It is also used in parallelism to the sea (26:12), or the Red Sea (Ps 74:13), and so comes to symbolize Egypt (Isa 30:7). In the Babylonian Creation Epic there is reference to the helpers of Tiamat. In the Bible the reference is only to the raging sea, which the Lord controlled at creation.

[9:13]  ⁷ tn The verb שָׁחַח (shakhakh) means “to be prostrate” or “to crouch.” Here the enemies are prostrate under the feet of God – they are crushed.

[9:14]  ⁸ tn The construction אַף כִּי־אָנֹכִי (’af ki ’anokhi) is an expression that means either “how much more” or “how much less.” Here it has to mean “how much less,” for if powerful forces like Rahab are crushed beneath God’s feet, how could Job contend with him?

[9:14]  ⁹ tn The imperfect verb here is to be taken with the nuance of a potential imperfect. The idea of “answer him” has a legal context, i.e., answering God in a court of law. If God is relentless in his anger toward greater powers, then Job realizes it is futile for him.

[9:14]  ¹⁰ sn In a legal controversy with God it would be essential to choose the correct words very carefully (humanly speaking); but the calmness and presence of mind to do that would be shattered by the overwhelming terror of God’s presence.

[9:14]  ¹¹ tn The verb is supplied in this line.

[9:14]  ¹² tn The preposition אִם (’im, “with”) carries the idea of “in contest with” in a number of passages (compare vv. 2, 3; 16:21).

[9:14]  ¹³ tn The LXX goes a different way after changing the first person to the third: “Oh then that he would hearken to me, or judge my cause.”

[33:13]  ¹⁴ tc The MT has “all his words.” This must refer to “man” in the previous verse. But many wish to change it to “my words,” since it would be summarizing Job’s complaint to God.

[40:2]  ¹⁵ tn The form רֹב (rov) is the infinitive absolute from the verb רִיב (riv, “contend”). Dhorme wishes to repoint it to make it the active participle, the “one who argues with the Almighty.”

[40:2]  ¹⁶ tn The verb יִסּוֹר (yissor) is found only here, but comes from a common root meaning “to correct; to reprove.” Several suggestions have been made to improve on the MT. Dhorme read it יָסוּר (yasur) in the sense of “to turn aside; to yield.” Ehrlich read this emendation as “to come to an end.” But the MT could be read as “to correct; to instruct.”

[40:8]  ¹⁷ tn The verb פָּרַר (parar) means “to annul; to break; to frustrate.” It was one thing for Job to claim his own integrity, but it was another matter altogether to nullify God’s righteousness in the process.

[40:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “do you have an arm like God?” The words “as powerful as” have been supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[4:35]  ¹⁹ tc The present translation reads כְּלָא (kÿla’), with many medieval Hebrew MSS, rather than כְּלָה (kÿlah) of BHS.

[4:35]  ²⁰ tn Aram “strikes against.”

[9:20]  ²¹ tn Grk “O man.”

[9:20]  ²² tn Grk “On the contrary, O man, who are you to talk back to God?”

[9:20]  ²³ sn A quotation from Isa 29:16; 45:9.

[9:21]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump.”

[9:21]  ²⁵ tn Grk “one vessel for honor and another for dishonor.”

[9:22]  ²⁶ tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.

[9:22]  ²⁷ tn Or “vessels destined for wrath.” The genitive ὀργῆς (orghs) could be taken as a genitive of destination.

[9:22]  ²⁸ tn Or possibly “objects of wrath that have fit themselves for destruction.” The form of the participle could be taken either as a passive or middle (reflexive). ExSyn 417-18 argues strongly for the passive sense (which is followed in the translation), stating that “the middle view has little to commend it.” First, καταρτίζω (katartizw) is nowhere else used in the NT as a direct or reflexive middle (a usage which, in any event, is quite rare in the NT). Second, the lexical force of this verb, coupled with the perfect tense, suggests something of a “done deal” (against some commentaries that see these vessels as ready for destruction yet still able to avert disaster). Third, the potter-clay motif seems to have one point: The potter prepares the clay.

[9:23]  ²⁹ tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.

[9:25]  ³⁰ tn Grk “and her who was not beloved, ‘Beloved.’”

[9:25]  ³¹ sn A quotation from Hos 2:23.

[9:26]  ³² tn Grk “And it will be in the very place.”

[9:26]  ³³ sn A quotation from Hos 1:10.