Job 1:11

1:11 But ¹  extend your hand and strike ²  everything he has, and he will no doubt ³  curse you ⁴  to your face!”

Job 19:20-21

19:20 My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; ⁵ 

I have escaped ⁶  alive ⁷  with only the skin of my teeth.

19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me,

for the hand of God has struck me.

Job 19:1

Job’s Reply to Bildad ⁸ 

19:1 Then Job answered:

Job 21:17

How Often Do the Wicked Suffer?

21:17 “How often ⁹  is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?

How often does their ¹⁰  misfortune come upon them?

How often does God apportion pain ¹¹  to them ¹²  in his anger?

Psalms 32:3-4

32:3 When I refused to confess my sin, ¹³ 

my whole body wasted away, ¹⁴ 

while I groaned in pain all day long.

32:4 For day and night you tormented me; ¹⁵ 

you tried to destroy me ¹⁶  in the intense heat ¹⁷  of summer. ¹⁸  (Selah)

Psalms 38:2-7

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹⁹  me,

and your hand presses me down. ²⁰ 

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ²¹ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ²² 

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ²³ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

38:5 My wounds ²⁴  are infected and starting to smell, ²⁵ 

because of my foolish sins. ²⁶ 

38:6 I am dazed ²⁷  and completely humiliated; ²⁸ 

all day long I walk around mourning.

38:7 For I am overcome with shame ²⁹ 

and my whole body is sick. ³⁰ 

Psalms 39:10

39:10 Please stop wounding me! ³¹ 

You have almost beaten me to death! ³² 

[1:11]  ¹ tn The particle אוּלָם (’ulam, “but”) serves to restrict the clause in relation to the preceding clause (IBHS 671-73 §39.3.5e, n. 107).

[1:11]  ² tn The force of the imperatives in this sentence are almost conditional – if God were to do this, then surely Job would respond differently.

[1:11]  ³ sn The formula used in the expression is the oath formula: “if not to your face he will curse you” meaning “he will surely curse you to your face.” Satan is so sure that the piety is insincere that he can use an oath formula.

[1:11]  ⁴ tn See the comments on Job 1:5. Here too the idea of “renounce” may fit well enough; but the idea of actually cursing God may not be out of the picture if everything Job has is removed. Satan thinks he will denounce God.

[19:20]  ⁵ tn The meaning would be “I am nothing but skin and bones” in current English idiom. Both lines of this verse need attention. The first half seems to say, “My skin and my flesh sticks to my bones.” Some think that this is too long, and that the bones can stick to the skin, or the flesh, but not both. Dhorme proposes “in my skin my flesh has rotted away” (רָקַב, raqav). This involves several changes in the line, however. He then changes the second line to read “and I have gnawed my bone with my teeth” (transferring “bone” from the first half and omitting “skin”). There are numerous other renderings of this; some of the more notable are: “I escape, my bones in my teeth” (Merx); “my teeth fall out” (Duhm); “my teeth fall from my gums” (Pope); “my bones protrude in sharp points” (Kissane). A. B. Davidson retains “the skin of my teeth,” meaning “gums. This is about the last thing that Job has, or he would not be able to speak. For a detailed study of this verse, D. J. A. Clines devotes two full pages of textual notes (Job [WBC], 430-31). He concludes with “My bones hang from my skin and my flesh, I am left with only the skin of my teeth.”

[19:20]  ⁶ tn Or “I am left.”

[19:20]  ⁷ tn The word “alive” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[19:1]  ⁸ sn Job is completely stunned by Bildad’s speech, and feels totally deserted by God and his friends. Yet from his despair a new hope emerges with a stronger faith. Even though he knows he will die in his innocence, he knows that God will vindicate him and that he will be conscious of the vindication. There are four parts to this reply: Job’s impatience with the speeches of his friends (2-6), God’s abandonment of Job and his attack (7-12), Job’s forsaken state and appeal to his friends (13-22), and Job’s confidence that he will be vindicated (23-29).

[21:17]  ⁹ tn The interrogative “How often” occurs only with the first colon; it is supplied for smoother reading in the next two.

[21:17]  ¹⁰ tn The pronominal suffix is objective; it re-enforces the object of the preposition, “upon them.” The verb in the clause is בּוֹא (bo’) followed by עַל (’al), “come upon [or against],” may be interpreted as meaning attack or strike.

[21:17]  ¹¹ tn חֲבָלִים (khavalim) can mean “ropes” or “cords,” but that would not go with the verb “apportion” in this line. The meaning of “pangs (as in “birth-pangs”) seems to fit best here. The wider meaning would be “physical agony.”

[21:17]  ¹² tn The phrase “to them” is understood and thus is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[32:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “when I was silent.”

[32:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my bones became brittle.” The psalmist pictures himself as aging and growing physically weak. Trying to cover up his sin brought severe physical consequences.

[32:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “your hand was heavy upon me.”

[32:4]  ¹⁶ tc Heb “my [?] was turned.” The meaning of the Hebrew term לְשַׁד (lÿshad) is uncertain. A noun לָשָׁד (lashad, “cake”) is attested in Num 11:8, but it would make no sense to understand that word in this context. It is better to emend the form to לְשֻׁדִּי (lÿshuddiy, “to my destruction”) and understand “your hand” as the subject of the verb “was turned.” In this case the text reads, “[your hand] was turned to my destruction.” In Lam 3:3 the author laments that God’s “hand” was “turned” (הָפַךְ, hafakh) against him in a hostile sense.

[32:4]  ¹⁷ tn The translation assumes that the plural form indicates degree. If one understands the form as a true plural, then one might translate, “in the times of drought.”

[32:4]  ¹⁸ sn Summer. Perhaps the psalmist suffered during the hot season and perceived the very weather as being an instrument of divine judgment. Another option is that he compares his time of suffering to the uncomfortable and oppressive heat of summer.

[38:2]  ¹⁹ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[38:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ²² tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:4]  ²³ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[38:5]  ²⁴ sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.

[38:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).

[38:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”

[38:6]  ²⁷ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[38:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for my loins are filled with shame.” The “loins” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. The present translation assumes that נִקְלֶה (niqleh) is derived from קָלָה (qalah, “be dishonored”). Some derive it instead from a homonymic root קָלָה (qalah), meaning “to roast.” In this case one might translate “fever” (cf. NEB “my loins burn with fever”).

[38:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh” (see v. 3).

[39:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “remove from upon me your wound.”

[39:10]  ³² tn Heb “from the hostility of your hand I have come to an end.”