Job 12:19-21

12:19 He leads priests away stripped ¹ 

and overthrows ²  the potentates. ³ 

12:20 He deprives the trusted advisers ⁴  of speech ⁵ 

and takes away the discernment ⁶  of elders.

12:21 He pours contempt on noblemen

and disarms ⁷  the powerful. ⁸ 

Job 18:7-12

18:7 His vigorous steps ⁹  are restricted, ¹⁰ 

and his own counsel throws him down. ¹¹ 

18:8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet ¹² 

and he wanders into a mesh. ¹³ 

18:9 A trap ¹⁴  seizes him by the heel;

a snare ¹⁵  grips him.

18:10 A rope is hidden for him ¹⁶  on the ground

and a trap for him ¹⁷  lies on the path.

18:11 Terrors ¹⁸  frighten him on all sides

and dog ¹⁹  his every step.

18:12 Calamity is ²⁰  hungry for him, ²¹ 

and misfortune is ready at his side. ²² 

Job 40:11-12

40:11 Scatter abroad ²³  the abundance ²⁴  of your anger.

Look at every proud man ²⁵  and bring him low;

40:12 Look at every proud man and abase him;

crush the wicked on the spot! ²⁶ 

Psalms 37:35-36

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men ²⁷ 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ²⁸ 

37:36 But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared! ²⁹ 

I looked for them, but they could not be found.

Psalms 107:40

107:40 He would pour ³⁰  contempt upon princes,

and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.

Proverbs 29:23

29:23 A person’s pride ³¹  will bring him low, ³² 

but one who has a lowly spirit ³³  will gain honor.

Amos 5:19-20

5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, ³⁴ 

as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,

then escaped ³⁵  into a house,

leaned his hand against the wall,

and was bitten by a poisonous snake.

5:20 Don’t you realize the Lord’s day of judgment will bring ³⁶  darkness, not light –

gloomy blackness, not bright light?

[12:19]  ¹ tn Except for “priests,” the phraseology is identical to v. 17a.

[12:19]  ² tn The verb has to be defined by its context: it can mean “falsify” (Exod 23:8), “make tortuous” (Prov 19:3), or “plunge” into misfortune (Prov 21:12). God overthrows those who seem to be solid.

[12:19]  ³ tn The original meaning of אֵיתָן (’eytan) is “perpetual.” It is usually an epithet for a torrent that is always flowing. It carries the connotations of permanence and stability; here applied to people in society, it refers to one whose power and influence does not change. These are the pillars of society.

[12:20]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew נֶאֱמָנִים (ne’emanim) is the Niphal participle; it is often translated “the faithful” in the Bible. The Rabbis rather fancifully took the word from נְאֻם (nÿ’um, “oracle, utterance”) and so rendered it “those who are eloquent, fluent in words.” But that would make this the only place in the Bible where this form came from that root or any other root besides אָמַן (’aman, “confirm, support”). But to say that God takes away the speech of the truthful or the faithful would be very difficult. It has to refer to reliable men, because it is parallel to the elders or old men. The NIV has “trusted advisers,” which fits well with kings and judges and priests.

[12:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “he removes the lip of the trusted ones.”

[12:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “taste,” meaning “opinion” or “decision.”

[12:21]  ⁷ tn The expression in Hebrew uses מְזִיחַ (mÿziakh, “belt”) and the Piel verb רִפָּה (rippah, “to loosen”) so that “to loosen the belt of the mighty” would indicate “to disarm/incapacitate the mighty.” Others have opted to change the text: P. Joüon emends to read “forehead” – “he humbles the brow of the mighty.”

[12:21]  ⁸ tn The word אָפַק (’afaq, “to be strong”) is well-attested, and the form אָפִיק (’afiq) is a normal adjective formation. So a translation like “mighty” (KJV, NIV) or “powerful” is acceptable, and further emendations are unnecessary.

[18:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “the steps of his vigor,” the genitive being the attribute.

[18:7]  ¹⁰ tn The verb צָרַר (tsarar) means “to be cramped; to be straitened; to be hemmed in.” The trouble has hemmed him in, so that he cannot walk with the full, vigorous steps he had before. The LXX has “Let the meanest of men spoil his goods.”

[18:7]  ¹¹ tn The LXX has “causes him to stumble,” which many commentators accept; but this involves the transposition of the three letters. The verb is שָׁלַךְ (shalakh, “throw”) not כָּשַׁל (kashal, “stumble”).

[18:8]  ¹² tn See Ps 25:15.

[18:8]  ¹³ tn The word שְׂבָכָה (sÿvakhah) is used in scripture for the lattice window (2 Kgs 1:2). The Arabic cognate means “to be intertwined.” So the term could describe a net, matting, grating, or lattice. Here it would be the netting stretched over a pit.

[18:9]  ¹⁴ tn This word פָּח (pakh) specifically refers to the snare of the fowler – thus a bird trap. But its plural seems to refer to nets in general (see Job 22:10).

[18:9]  ¹⁵ tn This word does not occur elsewhere. But another word from the same root means “plait of hair,” and so this term has something to do with a net like a trellis or lattice.

[18:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his rope.” The suffix must be a genitive expressing that the trap was for him, to trap him, and so an objective genitive.

[18:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his trap.” The pronominal suffix is objective genitive here as well.

[18:11]  ¹⁸ sn Bildad is referring here to all the things that afflict a person and cause terror. It would then be a metonymy of effect, the cause being the afflictions.

[18:11]  ¹⁹ tn The verb פּוּץ (puts) in the Hiphil has the meaning “to pursue” and “to scatter.” It is followed by the expression “at his feet.” So the idea is easily derived: they chase him at his feet. But some commentators have other proposals. The most far-fetched is that of Ehrlich and Driver (ZAW 24 [1953]: 259-60) which has “and compel him to urinate on his feet,” one of many similar readings the NEB accepted from Driver.

[18:12]  ²⁰ tn The jussive is occasionally used without its normal sense and only as an imperfect (see GKC 323 §109.k).

[18:12]  ²¹ tn There are a number of suggestions for אֹנוֹ (’ono). Some take it as “vigor”: thus “his strength is hungry.” Others take it as “iniquity”: thus “his iniquity/trouble is hungry.”

[18:12]  ²² tn The expression means that misfortune is right there to destroy him whenever there is the opportunity.

[40:11]  ²³ tn The verb was used for scattering lightning (Job 37:11). God is challenging Job to unleash his power and judge wickedness in the world.

[40:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the overflowings.”

[40:11]  ²⁵ tn The word was just used in the positive sense of excellence or majesty; now the exalted nature of the person refers to self-exaltation, or pride.

[40:12]  ²⁶ tn The expression translated “on the spot” is the prepositional phrase תַּחְתָּם (takhtam, “under them”). “Under them” means in their place. But it can also mean “where someone stands, on the spot” (see Exod 16:29; Jos 6:5; Judg 7:21, etc.).

[37:35]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

[37:35]  ²⁸ tn Heb “being exposed [?] like a native, luxuriant.” The Hebrew form מִתְעָרֶה (mit’areh) appears to be a Hitpael participle from עָרָה (’arah, “be exposed”), but this makes no sense in this context. Perhaps the form is a dialectal variant of מִתְעָלָה (“giving oneself an air of importance”; see Jer 51:3), from עָלָה (’alah, “go up”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 296). The noun אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh, “native, full citizen”) refers elsewhere to people, but here, where it is collocated with “luxuriant, green,” it probably refers to a tree growing in native soil.

[37:36]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and he passes by and, look, he is not [there].” The subject of the verb “passes by” is probably indefinite, referring to any passerby. Some prefer to change the form to first person, “and I passed by” (cf. NEB; note the first person verbal forms in preceding verse and in the following line).

[107:40]  ³⁰ tn The active participle is understood as past durative here, drawing attention to typical action in a past time frame. However, it could be taken as generalizing (in which case one should translate using the English present tense), in which case the psalmist moves from narrative to present reality. Perhaps the participial form appears because the statement is lifted from Job 12:21.

[29:23]  ³¹ tn Heb “pride of a man,” with “man” functioning as a possessive. There is no indication in the immediate context that this is restricted only to males.

[29:23]  ³² tn There is a wordplay here due to the repetition of the root שָׁפֵל (shafel). In the first line the verb תִּשְׁפִּילֶנּוּ (tishpilennu) is the Hiphil imperfect of the root, rendered “will bring him low.” In the second line the word is used in the description of the “lowly of spirit,” שְׁפַל־רוּחַ (shÿfal-ruakh). The contrast works well: The proud will be brought “low,” but the one who is “lowly” will be honored. In this instance the wordplay can be preserved in the translation.

[29:23]  ³³ tn Heb “low in spirit”; KJV “humble in spirit.” This refers to an attitude of humility.

[5:19]  ³⁴ tn The words “Disaster will be inescapable” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:19]  ³⁵ tn Heb “went” (so KJV, NRSV).

[5:20]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Will not the day of the Lord be.”