Job 18:11

18:11 Terrors ¹  frighten him on all sides

and dog ²  his every step.

Job 18:14

18:14 He is dragged from the security of his tent, ³ 

and marched off ⁴  to the king ⁵  of terrors.

Job 24:17

24:17 For all of them, ⁶  the morning is to them

like deep darkness;

they are friends with the terrors of darkness.

Psalms 55:4

55:4 My heart beats violently ⁷  within me;

the horrors of death overcome me. ⁸ 

Psalms 73:19

73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!

Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! ⁹ 

Psalms 73:1

Book 3
(Psalms 73-89)

Psalm 73 ¹⁰ 

A psalm by Asaph.

73:1 Certainly God is good to Israel, ¹¹ 

and to those whose motives are pure! ¹² 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹³  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

[18:11]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[18:14]  ³ tn Heb “from his tent, his security.” The apposition serves to modify the tent as his security.

[18:14]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Hiphil of צָעַד (tsa’ad, “to lead away”). The problem is that the form is either a third feminine (Rashi thought it was referring to Job’s wife) or the second person. There is a good deal of debate over the possibility of the prefix t- being a variant for the third masculine form. The evidence in Ugaritic and Akkadian is mixed, stronger for the plural than the singular. Gesenius has some samples where the third feminine form might also be used for the passive if there is no expressed subject (see GKC 459 §144.b), but the evidence is not strong. The simplest choices are to change the prefix to a י (yod), or argue that the ת (tav) can be masculine, or follow Gesenius.

[18:14]  ⁵ sn This is a reference to death, the king of all terrors. Other identifications are made in the commentaries: Mot, the Ugaritic god of death; Nergal of the Babylonians; Molech of the Canaanites, the one to whom people sent emissaries.

[24:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “together.”

[55:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”

[55:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”

[73:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”

[73:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 73. In this wisdom psalm the psalmist offers a personal testimony of his struggle with the age-old problem of the prosperity of the wicked. As he observed evil men prosper, he wondered if a godly lifestyle really pays off. In the midst of his discouragement, he reflected upon spiritual truths and realities. He was reminded that the prosperity of the wicked is only temporary. God will eventually vindicate his people.

[73:1]  ¹¹ tn Since the psalm appears to focus on an individual’s concerns, not the situation of Israel, this introduction may be a later addition designed to apply the psalm’s message to the entire community. To provide a better parallel with the next line, some emend the Hebrew phrase לְיִשְׂרָאֵל אֱלֹהִים (lÿyisra’el ’elohim, “to Israel, God”) to אֱלֹהִים [or אֵל] לָיָּשָׁר (’elohim [or ’el] lÿyyashar, “God [is good] to the upright one”).

[73:1]  ¹² tn Heb “to the pure of heart.”

[1:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.