Job 1:5

1:5 When ¹  the days of their feasting were finished, ²  Job would send ³  for them and sanctify ⁴  them; he would get up early ⁵  in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to ⁶  the number of them all. For Job thought, “Perhaps ⁷  my children ⁸  have sinned and cursed ⁹  God in their hearts.” This was Job’s customary practice. ¹⁰ 

Job 1:21

1:21 He said, “Naked ¹¹  I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. ¹²  The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. ¹³  May the name of the Lord ¹⁴  be blessed!”

Job 2:9

2:9 Then ¹⁵  his wife said to him, “Are you still holding firmly to your integrity? ¹⁶  Curse ¹⁷  God, and die!” ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 8:21

8:21 They will pass through the land ¹⁹  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ²⁰  and they will curse their king and their God ²¹  as they look upward.

Malachi 3:13-14

Resistance to the Lord through Self-sufficiency

3:13 “You have criticized me sharply,” ²²  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 ²³  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ²⁴ 

Revelation 16:9

16:9 Thus ²⁵  people ²⁶  were scorched by the terrible heat, ²⁷  yet ²⁸  they blasphemed the name of God, who has ruling authority ²⁹  over these plagues, and they would not repent and give him glory.

Revelation 16:11

16:11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings ³⁰  and because of their sores, ³¹  but nevertheless ³²  they still refused to repent ³³  of their deeds.

Revelation 16:21

16:21 And gigantic hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds ³⁴  each, fell from heaven ³⁵  on people, ³⁶  but they ³⁷  blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it ³⁸  was so horrendous. ³⁹ 

[1:5]  ¹ tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator “and it happened” or “and it came to pass,” which need not be translated. The particle כִּי (ki, “when”) with the initial verbal form indicates it is a temporal clause.

[1:5]  ² tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of נָקַף (naqaf, “go around”), here it means “to make the round” or “complete the circuit” (BDB 668-69 s.v. II נָקַף Hiph). It indicates that when the feasting had made its circuit of the seven sons, then Job would sanctify them.

[1:5]  ³ tn The form is a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive. The same emphasis on repeated or frequent action continues here in this verse. The idea here is that Job would send for them, because the sanctification of them would have consisted of washings and changes of garments as well as the sacrifices (see Gen 35:2; 1 Sam 16:5).

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Or “purify.”

[1:5]  ⁵ tn The first verb could also be joined with the next to form a verbal hendiadys: “he would rise early and he would sacrifice” would then simply be “he would sacrifice early in the morning” (see M. Delcor, “Quelques cas de survivances du vocabulaire nomade en hébreu biblique,” VT 25 [1975]: 307-22). This section serves to explain in more detail how Job sanctified his children.

[1:5]  ⁶ tn The text does not have “according to”; the noun “number” is an accusative that defines the extent of his actions (GKC 373-74 §118.e, h).

[1:5]  ⁷ tn The clause stands as an accusative to the verb, here as the direct object introduced with “perhaps” (IBHS 645-46 §38.8d).

[1:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “sons,” but since the three daughters are specifically mentioned in v. 4, “children” has been used in the translation. In this patriarchal culture, however, it is possible that only the sons are in view.

[1:5]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb is בָּרַךְ (barakh), which means “to bless.” Here is a case where the writer or a scribe has substituted the word “curse” with the word “bless” to avoid having the expression “curse God.” For similar euphemisms in the ancient world, see K. A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament, 166. It is therefore difficult to know exactly what Job feared they might have done. The opposite of “bless” would be “curse,” which normally would convey disowning or removing from blessing. Some commentators try to offer a definition of “curse” from the root in the text, and noting that “curse” is too strong, come to something like “renounce.” The idea of blaspheming is probably not meant; rather, in their festivities they may have said things that renounced God or their interest in him. Job feared this momentary turning away from God in their festivities, perhaps as they thought their good life was more important than their religion.

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect expresses continual action in past time, i.e., a customary imperfect (GKC 315 §107.e).

[1:21]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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.

[2:9]  ¹⁵ tn The versions have some information here that is interesting, albeit fanciful. The Targum calls her “Dinah.” The LXX has “when a long time had passed.” But the whole rendering of the LXX is paraphrastic: “How long will you hold out, saying, ‘Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance?’ for behold, your memorial is abolished from the earth, even your sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows, and you yourself sit down to spend the night in the open air among the corruption of worms, and I am a wanderer and a servant from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting sun, that I may rest from my labors and pains that now beset me, but say some word against the Lord and die.”

[2:9]  ¹⁶ sn See R. D. Moore, “The Integrity of Job,” CBQ 45 (1983): 17-31. The reference of Job’s wife to his “integrity” could be a precursor of the conclusion reached by Elihu in 32:2 where he charged Job with justifying himself rather than God.

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is literally בָּרַךְ, (barakh, “bless”). As in the earlier uses, the meaning probably has more to do with renouncing God than of speaking a curse. The actual word may be taken as a theological euphemism for the verb קִלֵּל (qillel, “curse”). If Job’s wife had meant that he was trying to justify himself rather than God, “bless God” might be translated “speak well of God,” the resolution accepted by God in 42:7-8 following Job’s double confession of having spoken wrongly of God (40:3-5; 42:1-6).

[2:9]  ¹⁸ tn The imperative with the conjunction in this expression serves to express the certainty that will follow as the result or consequence of the previous imperative (GKC 324-25 §110.f).

[8:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.

[8:21]  ²⁰ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[8:21]  ²¹ tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).

[3:13]  ²² tn Heb “your words are hard [or “strong”] against me”; cf. NIV “said harsh things against me”; TEV, NLT “said terrible things about me.”

[3:14]  ²³ tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

[3:14]  ²⁴ sn The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the Lord. The reason, of course, is that it was blatantly hypocritical.

[16:9]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of the bowl poured on the sun.

[16:9]  ²⁶ tn Grk “men,” but this is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") and refers to both men and women.

[16:9]  ²⁷ tn On this phrase BDAG 536 s.v. καῦμα states, “burning, heat Rv 7:16…καυματίζεσθαι κ. μέγα be burned with a scorching heat 16:9.”

[16:9]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[16:9]  ²⁹ tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.

[16:11]  ³⁰ tn Grk “pains” (the same term in Greek [πόνος, ponos] as the last word in v. 11, here translated “sufferings” because it is plural). BDAG 852 s.v. 2 states, “ἐκ τοῦ π. in pain…Rv 16:10; pl. (Gen 41:51; Jos., C. Ap. 2, 146; Test. Jud. 18:4) ἐκ τῶν π. …because of their sufferings vs. 11.”

[16:11]  ³¹ tn Or “ulcerated sores” (see 16:2).

[16:11]  ³² tn Grk “and they did not repent.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but nevertheless” to express the contrast here.

[16:11]  ³³ tn Grk “they did not repent” The addition of “still refused” reflects the hardness of people’s hearts in the context.

[16:21]  ³⁴ tn Here BDAG 988 s.v. ταλαντιαῖος states, “weighing a talent…χάλαζα μεγάλη ὡς ταλαντιαία a severe hailstorm with hailstones weighing a talent (the talent=125 librae, or Roman pounds of c. 343 gr. or 12 ounces each) (weighing about a hundred pounds NRSV) Rv 16:21.” This means each hailstone would weigh just under 100 pounds or 40 kilograms.

[16:21]  ³⁵ tn Or “the sky.” Due to the apocalyptic nature of this book, it is probably best to leave the translation as “from heaven,” since God is ultimately the source of the judgment.

[16:21]  ³⁶ tn Grk “on men,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a generic sense to refer to people in general (the hailstones did not single out adult males, but would have also fallen on women and children).

[16:21]  ³⁷ tn Grk “the men”; for stylistic reasons the pronoun “they” is used here.

[16:21]  ³⁸ tn Grk “the plague of it.”

[16:21]  ³⁹ tn Grk “since the plague of it was exceedingly great.”