Job 27:2

27:2 “As surely as God lives, ¹  who has denied me justice, ² 

the Almighty, who has made my life bitter ³  –

Jude 1:16

1:16 These people are grumblers and ⁴  fault-finders who go ⁵  wherever their desires lead them, ⁶  and they give bombastic speeches, ⁷  enchanting folks ⁸  for their own gain. ⁹ 

Psalms 6:2-3

6:2 Have mercy on me, ¹⁰  Lord, for I am frail!

Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ¹¹ 

6:3 I am absolutely terrified, ¹² 

and you, Lord – how long will this continue? ¹³ 

Psalms 42:10

42:10 My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone, ¹⁴ 

as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” ¹⁵ 

Psalms 42:2

42:2 I thirst ¹⁶  for God,

for the living God.

I say, ¹⁷  “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?” ¹⁸ 

Psalms 2:7-8

2:7 The king says, ¹⁹  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ²⁰ 

‘You are my son! ²¹  This very day I have become your father!

2:8 Ask me,

and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, ²² 

the ends of the earth as your personal property.

[27:2]  ¹ tn The expression חַי־אֵל (khay-’el) is the oath formula: “as God lives.” In other words, the speaker is staking God’s life on the credibility of the words. It is like saying, “As truly as God is alive.”

[27:2]  ² tn “My judgment” would here, as before, be “my right.” God has taken this away by afflicting Job unjustly (A. B. Davidson, Job, 187).

[27:2]  ³ tn The verb הֵמַר (hemar) is the Hiphil perfect from מָרַר (marar, “to be bitter”) and hence, “to make bitter.” The object of the verb is “my soul,” which is better translated as “me” or “my life.”

[1:16]  ⁴ tn “And” is not in Greek, but is supplied for the sake of English style.

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Or “going.” Though the participle is anarthrous, so also is the subject. Thus, the participle could be either adverbial or adjectival.

[1:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “(who go/going) according to their own lusts.”

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Grk “and their mouth speaks bombastic things.”

[1:16]  ⁸ sn Enchanting folks (Grk “awing faces”) refers to the fact that the speeches of these false teachers are powerful and seductive.

[1:16]  ⁹ tn Or “to their own advantage.”

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “show me favor.”

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.

[6:3]  ¹² tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “and you, Lord, how long?” The suffering psalmist speaks in broken syntax. He addresses God, but then simply cries out with a brief, but poignant, question: How long will this (= his suffering) continue?

[42:10]  ¹⁴ tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”

[42:10]  ¹⁵ sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.

[42:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “my soul thirsts.”

[42:2]  ¹⁷ tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[42:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (’era’eh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (’er’eh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (’et) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).

[2:7]  ¹⁹ tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ²⁰ tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ²¹ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[2:8]  ²² sn I will give you the nations. The Lord promises the Davidic king universal dominion.