Job 16:12

16:12 I was in peace, and he has shattered me. ¹ 

He has seized me by the neck and crushed me. ² 

He has made me his target;

Genesis 49:8

49:8 Judah, ³  your brothers will praise you.

Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,

your father’s sons will bow down before you.

Psalms 18:40

18:40 You make my enemies retreat; ⁴ 

I destroy those who hate me. ⁵ 

[16:12]  ¹ tn The verb פָּרַר (parar) means “to shake.” In the Hiphil it means “to break; to shatter” (5:12; 15:4). The Pilpel means “to break in pieces,” and in the Poel in Jer 23:29 “to smash up.” So Job was living at ease, and God shattered his life.

[16:12]  ² tn Here is another Pilpel, now from פָּצַץ (patsats) with a similar meaning to the other verb. It means “to dash into pieces” and even scatter the pieces. The LXX translates this line, “he took me by the hair of the head and plucked it out.”

[49:8]  ³ sn There is a wordplay here; the name Judah (יְהוּדָה, yÿhudah) sounds in Hebrew like the verb translated praise (יוֹדוּךָ, yodukha). The wordplay serves to draw attention to the statement as having special significance.

[18:40]  ⁴ tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck”].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” Cf. Exod 23:27.

[18:40]  ⁵ sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the Lord who delivered the psalmist from those who hated him.