Job 13:21

13:21 Remove ¹  your hand ²  far from me

and stop making me afraid with your terror. ³ 

Exodus 15:16

15:16 Fear and dread ⁴  will fall ⁵  on them;

by the greatness ⁶  of your arm they will be as still as stone ⁷ 

until ⁸  your people pass by, O Lord,

until the people whom you have bought ⁹  pass by.

Isaiah 8:13

8:13 You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ¹⁰ 

He is the one you must respect;

he is the one you must fear. ¹¹ 

[13:21]  ¹ tn The imperative הַרְחַק (harkhaq, “remove”; GKC 98 §29.q), from רָחַק (rakhaq, “far, be far”) means “take away [far away]; to remove.”

[13:21]  ² sn This is a common, but bold, anthropomorphism. The fact that the word used is כַּף (kaf, properly “palm”) rather than יָד (yad, “hand,” with the sense of power) may stress Job’s feeling of being trapped or confined (see also Ps 139:5, 7).

[13:21]  ³ tn See Job 9:34.

[15:16]  ⁴ tn The two words can form a nominal hendiadys, “a dreadful fear,” though most English versions retain the two separate terms.

[15:16]  ⁵ tn The form is an imperfect.

[15:16]  ⁶ tn The adjective is in construct form and governs the noun “arm” (“arm” being the anthropomorphic expression for what God did). See GKC 428 §132.c.

[15:16]  ⁷ sn For a study of the words for fear, see N. Waldman, “A Comparative Note on Exodus 15:14-16,” JQR 66 (1976): 189-92.

[15:16]  ⁸ tn Clauses beginning with עַד (’ad) express a limit that is not absolute, but only relative, beyond which the action continues (GKC 446-47 §138.g).

[15:16]  ⁹ tn The verb קָנָה (qanah) here is the verb “acquire, purchase,” and probably not the homonym “to create, make” (see Gen 4:1; Deut 32:6; and Prov 8:22).

[8:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], him you must set apart.” The word order is emphatic, with the object being placed first.

[8:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear, he is your [object of] terror.” The roots יָרֵא (yare’) and עָרַץ (’arats) are repeated from v. 12b.