Job 1:21

1:21 He said, “Naked ¹  I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. ²  The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. ³  May the name of the Lord ⁴  be blessed!”

Psalms 90:3

90:3 You make mankind return ⁵  to the dust, ⁶ 

and say, “Return, O people!”

Psalms 104:2

104:2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.

He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,

Psalms 104:14-15

104:14 He provides grass ⁷  for the cattle,

and crops for people to cultivate, ⁸ 

so they can produce food from the ground, ⁹ 

104:15 as well as wine that makes people feel so good, ¹⁰ 

and so they can have oil to make their faces shine, ¹¹ 

as well as food that sustains people’s lives. ¹² 

Romans 14:2

14:2 One person believes in eating everything, but the weak person eats only vegetables.

[1:21]  ¹ tn The adjective “naked” is functioning here as an adverbial accusative of state, explicative of the state of the subject. While it does include the literal sense of nakedness at birth, Job is also using it symbolically to mean “without possessions.”

[1:21]  ² sn While the first half of the couplet is to be taken literally as referring to his coming into this life, this second part must be interpreted only generally to refer to his departure from this life. It is parallel to 1 Tim 6:7, “For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either.”

[1:21]  ³ tn The two verbs are simple perfects. (1) They can be given the nuance of gnomic imperfect, expressing what the sovereign God always does. This is the approach taken in the present translation. Alternatively (2) they could be referring specifically to Job’s own experience: “Yahweh gave [definite past, referring to his coming into this good life] and Yahweh has taken away” [present perfect, referring to his great losses]. Many English versions follow the second alternative.

[1:21]  ⁴ sn Some commentators are troubled by the appearance of the word “Yahweh” on the lips of Job, assuming that the narrator inserted his own name for God into the story-telling. Such thinking is based on the assumption that Yahweh was only a national god of Israel, unknown to anyone else in the ancient world. But here is a clear indication that a non-Israelite, Job, knew and believed in Yahweh.

[90:3]  ⁵ tn In this context the shortened prefix form does not function as a preterite, but indicates what is typical of the world.

[90:3]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term דַּכָּא (daka’) carries the basic sense of “crushed.” Elsewhere it refers to those who are “crushed” in spirit or contrite of heart (see Ps 34:18; Isa 57:15). If one understands this nuance here, then v. 3 is observing that God leads mankind to repentance (the term שׁוּב, shuv, “return,” which appears twice in this verse, is sometimes used of repentance.) However, the following context laments mankind’s mortality and the brevity of life, so it is doubtful if v. 3 should be understood so positively. It is more likely that דַּכָּא here refers to “crushed matter,” that is, the dust that fills the grave (see HALOT 221 s.v. s.v. I דַּכָּא; BDB 194 s.v. דַּכָּא). In this case one may hear an echo of Gen 3:19.

[104:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”

[104:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).

[104:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”

[104:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and wine [that] makes the heart of man happy.”

[104:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to make [the] face shine from oil.” The Hebrew verb צָהַל (tsahal, “to shine”) occurs only here in the OT. It appears to be an alternate form of צָהַר (tsahar), a derivative from צָהָרִים (tsaharim, “noon”).

[104:15]  ¹² tn Heb “and food [that] sustains the heart of man.”