Job 16:8-9

16:8 You have seized me, ¹ 

and it ²  has become a witness;

my leanness ³  has risen up against me

and testifies against me.

16:9 His ⁴  anger has torn me ⁵  and persecuted ⁶  me;

he has gnashed at me with his teeth;

my adversary locks ⁷  his eyes on me.

Psalms 31:9-10

31:9 Have mercy on me, for I am in distress!

My eyes grow dim ⁸  from suffering. ⁹ 

I have lost my strength. ¹⁰ 

31:10 For my life nears its end in pain;

my years draw to a close as I groan. ¹¹ 

My strength fails me because of ¹²  my sin,

and my bones become brittle. ¹³ 

Psalms 32:3

32:3 When I refused to confess my sin, ¹⁴ 

my whole body wasted away, ¹⁵ 

while I groaned in pain all day long.

Psalms 38:2-8

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹⁶  me,

and your hand presses me down. ¹⁷ 

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ¹⁸ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ¹⁹ 

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ²⁰ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

38:5 My wounds ²¹  are infected and starting to smell, ²² 

because of my foolish sins. ²³ 

38:6 I am dazed ²⁴  and completely humiliated; ²⁵ 

all day long I walk around mourning.

38:7 For I am overcome with shame ²⁶ 

and my whole body is sick. ²⁷ 

38:8 I am numb with pain and severely battered; ²⁸ 

I groan loudly because of the anxiety I feel. ²⁹ 

Psalms 102:3-5

102:3 For my days go up in smoke, ³⁰ 

and my bones are charred like a fireplace. ³¹ 

102:4 My heart is parched ³²  and withered like grass,

for I am unable ³³  to eat food. ³⁴ 

102:5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,

my bones protrude from my skin. ³⁵ 

[16:8]  ¹ tn The verb is קָמַט (qamat) which is used only here and in 22:16; it means “to seize; to grasp.” By God’s seizing him, Job means his afflictions.

[16:8]  ² tn The subject is “my calamity.”

[16:8]  ³ tn The verb is used in Ps 109:24 to mean “to be lean”; and so “leanness” is accepted here for the noun by most. Otherwise the word is “lie, deceit.” Accordingly, some take it here as “my slanderer” or “my liar” (gives evidence against me).

[16:9]  ⁴ tn The referent of these pronouns in v. 9 (“his anger…he has gnashed…his teeth…his eyes”) is best taken as God.

[16:9]  ⁵ sn The figure used now is that of a wild beast. God’s affliction of Job is compared to the attack of such an animal. Cf. Amos 1:11.

[16:9]  ⁶ tn The verb שָׂטַם (satam) is translated “hate” in the RSV, but this is not accepted by very many. Many emend it to שָׁמט (shamat), reading “and he dropped me” (from his mouth). But that suggests escape. D. J. A. Clines notes that usage shows it reflects ongoing hatred represented by an action such as persecution or attack (Job [WBC], 370).

[16:9]  ⁷ tn The verb is used of sharpening a sword in Ps 7:12; here it means “to look intently” as an animal looks for prey. The verse describes God’s relentless pursuit of Job.

[31:9]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

[31:9]  ⁹ tn Cf. Ps 6:7, which has a similar line.

[31:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my breath and my stomach [grow weak].” Apparently the verb in the previous line (“grow dim, be weakened”) is to be understood here. The Hebrew term נפשׁ can mean “life,” or, more specifically, “throat, breath.” The psalmist seems to be lamenting that his breathing is impaired because of the physical and emotional suffering he is forced to endure.

[31:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”

[31:10]  ¹² tn Heb “stumbles in.”

[31:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “grow weak.”

[32:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “when I was silent.”

[32:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my bones became brittle.” The psalmist pictures himself as aging and growing physically weak. Trying to cover up his sin brought severe physical consequences.

[38:2]  ¹⁶ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[38:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[38:5]  ²¹ sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.

[38:5]  ²² tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).

[38:5]  ²³ tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”

[38:6]  ²⁴ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[38:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “for my loins are filled with shame.” The “loins” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. The present translation assumes that נִקְלֶה (niqleh) is derived from קָלָה (qalah, “be dishonored”). Some derive it instead from a homonymic root קָלָה (qalah), meaning “to roast.” In this case one might translate “fever” (cf. NEB “my loins burn with fever”).

[38:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh” (see v. 3).

[38:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I am numb and crushed to excess.”

[38:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “I roar because of the moaning of my heart.”

[102:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”

[102:3]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew noun מוֹ־קֵד (mo-qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.

[102:4]  ³² tn Heb “struck, attacked.”

[102:4]  ³³ tn Heb “I forget.”

[102:4]  ³⁴ sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.

[102:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “from the sound of my groaning my bone[s] stick to my flesh.” The preposition at the beginning of the verse is causal; the phrase “sound of my groaning” is metonymic for the anxiety that causes the groaning. The point seems to be this: Anxiety (which causes the psalmist to groan) keeps him from eating (v. 4). This physical deprivation in turn makes him emaciated – he is turned to “skin and bones,” so to speak.