Job 4:5

4:5 But now the same thing ¹  comes to you,

and you are discouraged; ² 

it strikes you,

and you are terrified. ³ 

Job 30:15-31

30:15 Terrors are turned loose ⁴  on me;

they drive away ⁵  my honor like the wind,

and like a cloud my deliverance has passed away.

Job’s Despondency

30:16 “And now my soul pours itself out within me; ⁶ 

days of suffering take hold of me.

30:17 Night pierces ⁷  my bones; ⁸ 

my gnawing pains ⁹  never cease.

30:18 With great power God ¹⁰  grasps my clothing; ¹¹ 

he binds me like the collar ¹²  of my tunic.

30:19 He has flung me into the mud,

and I have come to resemble dust and ashes.

30:20 I cry out to you, ¹³  but you do not answer me;

I stand up, ¹⁴  and you only look at me. ¹⁵ 

30:21 You have become cruel to me; ¹⁶ 

with the strength of your hand you attack me. ¹⁷ 

30:22 You pick me up on the wind and make me ride on it; ¹⁸ 

you toss me about ¹⁹  in the storm. ²⁰ 

30:23 I know that you are bringing ²¹  me to death,

to the meeting place for all the living.

The Contrast With the Past

30:24 “Surely one does not stretch out his hand

against a broken man ²² 

when he cries for help in his distress. ²³ 

30:25 Have I not wept for the unfortunate? ²⁴ 

Was not my soul grieved for the poor?

30:26 But when I hoped for good, trouble came;

when I expected light, then darkness came.

30:27 My heart ²⁵  is in turmoil ²⁶  unceasingly; ²⁷ 

the days of my affliction confront me.

30:28 I go about blackened, ²⁸  but not by the sun;

in the assembly I stand up and cry for help.

30:29 I have become a brother to jackals

and a companion of ostriches. ²⁹ 

30:30 My skin has turned dark on me; ³⁰ 

my body ³¹  is hot with fever. ³² 

30:31 My harp is used for ³³  mourning

and my flute for the sound of weeping.

Psalms 88:11-16

88:11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,

or your faithfulness in the place of the dead? ³⁴ 

88:12 Are your amazing deeds experienced ³⁵  in the dark region, ³⁶ 

or your deliverance in the land of oblivion? ³⁷ 

88:13 As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord;

in the morning my prayer confronts you.

88:14 O Lord, why do you reject me,

and pay no attention to me? ³⁸ 

88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. ³⁹ 

I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. ⁴⁰ 

88:16 Your anger overwhelms me; ⁴¹ 

your terrors destroy me.

Hosea 11:8-9

The Divine Dilemma: Judgment or Mercy?

11:8 How can I give you up, ⁴²  O Ephraim?

How can I surrender you, O Israel?

How can I treat you like Admah?

How can I make you like Zeboiim?

I have had a change of heart! ⁴³ 

All my tender compassions are aroused! ⁴⁴ 

11:9 I cannot carry out ⁴⁵  my fierce anger!

I cannot totally destroy Ephraim!

Because I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you –

I will not come in wrath!

Hebrews 12:11-12

12:11 Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. ⁴⁶  But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness ⁴⁷  for those trained by it. 12:12 Therefore, strengthen ⁴⁸  your listless hands and your weak knees, ⁴⁹ 

[4:5]  ¹ tn The sentence has no subject, but the context demands that the subject be the same kind of trouble that has come upon people that Job has helped.

[4:5]  ² tn This is the same verb used in v. 2, meaning “to be exhausted” or “impatient.” Here with the vav (ו) consecutive the verb describes Job’s state of mind that is a consequence of the trouble coming on him. In this sentence the form is given a present tense translation (see GKC 329 §111.t).

[4:5]  ³ tn This final verb in the verse is vivid; it means “to terrify, dismay” (here the Niphal preterite). Job will go on to speak about all the terrors that come on him.

[30:15]  ⁴ tn The passive singular verb (Hophal) is used with a plural subject (see GKC 388 §121.b).

[30:15]  ⁵ tc This translation assumes that “terrors” (in the plural) is the subject. Others emend the text in accordance with the LXX, which has, “my hope is gone like the wind.”

[30:16]  ⁶ tn This line can either mean that Job is wasting away (i.e., his life is being poured out), or it can mean that he is grieving. The second half of the verse gives the subordinate clause of condition for this.

[30:17]  ⁷ tn The subject of the verb “pierces” can be the night (personified), or it could be God (understood), leaving “night” to be an adverbial accusative of time – “at night he pierces.”

[30:17]  ⁸ tc The MT concludes this half-verse with “upon me.” That phrase is not in the LXX, and so many commentators delete it as making the line too long.

[30:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “my gnawers,” which is open to several interpretations. The NASB and NIV take it as “gnawing pains”; cf. NRSV “the pain that gnaws me.” Some suggest worms in the sores (7:5). The LXX has “my nerves,” a view accepted by many commentators.

[30:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:18]  ¹¹ tc This whole verse is difficult. The first problem is that this verb in the MT means “is disguised [or disfigured],” indicating that Job’s clothes hang loose on him. But many take the view that the verb is a phonetic variant of חָבַשׁ (khavash, “to bind; to seize”) and that the Hitpael form is a conflation of the third and second person because of the interchange between them in the passage (R. Gordis, Job, 335). The commentaries list a number of conjectural emendations, but the image in the verse is probably that God seizes Job by the garment and throws him down.

[30:18]  ¹² tn The phrase “like the collar” is difficult, primarily because their tunics did not have collars. A translation of “neck” would suit better. Some change the preposition to בּ (bet), getting a translation “by the neck of my tunic.”

[30:20]  ¹³ sn The implication from the sentence is that this is a cry to God for help. The sudden change from third person (v. 19) to second person (v. 20) is indicative of the intense emotion of the sufferer.

[30:20]  ¹⁴ sn The verb is simple, but the interpretation difficult. In this verse it probably means he stands up in prayer (Jer 15:1), but it could mean that he makes his case to God. Others suggest a more figurative sense, like the English expression “stand pat,” meaning “remain silent” (see Job 29:8).

[30:20]  ¹⁵ tn If the idea of prayer is meant, then a pejorative sense to the verb is required. Some supply a negative and translate “you do not pay heed to me.” This is supported by one Hebrew ms and the Vulgate. The Syriac has the whole colon read with God as the subject, “you stand and look at me.”

[30:21]  ¹⁶ tn The idiom uses the Niphal verb “you are turned” with “to cruelty.” See Job 41:20b, as well as Isa 63:10.

[30:21]  ¹⁷ tc The LXX reads this verb as “you scourged/whipped me.” But there is no reason to adopt this change.

[30:22]  ¹⁸ sn Here Job changes the metaphor again, to the driving storm. God has sent his storms, and Job is blown away.

[30:22]  ¹⁹ tn The verb means “to melt.” The imagery would suggest softening the ground with the showers (see Ps 65:10 [11]). The translation “toss…about” comes from the Arabic cognate that is used for the surging of the sea.

[30:22]  ²⁰ tc The Qere is תּוּשִׁיָּה (tushiyyah, “counsel”), which makes no sense here. The Kethib is a variant orthography for תְּשֻׁאָה (tÿshu’ah, “storm”).

[30:23]  ²¹ tn The imperfect verb would be a progressive imperfect, it is future, but it is also already underway.

[30:24]  ²² tc Here is another very difficult verse, as is attested by the differences among commentaries and translations. The MT has “surely not against a ruinous heap will he [God] put forth his [God’s] hand.” But A. B. Davidson takes Job as the subject, reading “does not one stretch out his hand in his fall?” The RSV suggests a man walking in the ruins and using his hand for support. Dillmann changed it to “drowning man” to say “does not a drowning man stretch out his hand?” Beer has “have I not given a helping hand to the poor?” Dhorme has, “I did not strike the poor man with my hand.” Kissane follows this but retains the verb form, “one does not strike the poor man with his hand.”

[30:24]  ²³ tc The second colon is also difficult; it reads, “if in his destruction to them he cries.” E. Dhorme (Job, 425-26) explains how he thinks “to them” came about, and he restores “to me.” This is the major difficulty in the line, and Dhorme’s suggestion is the simplest resolution.

[30:25]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for the hard of day.”

[30:27]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my loins,” “my bowels” (archaic), “my innermost being.” The latter option is reflected in the translation; some translations take the inner turmoil to be literal (NIV: “The churning inside me never stops”).

[30:27]  ²⁶ tn Heb “boils.”

[30:27]  ²⁷ tn The last clause reads “and they [it] are not quiet” or “do not cease.” The clause then serves adverbially for the sentence – “unceasingly.”

[30:28]  ²⁸ tn The construction uses the word קֹדֵר (qoder) followed by the Piel perfect of הָלַךְ (halakh, “I go about”). The adjective “blackened” refers to Job’s skin that has been marred by the disease. Adjectives are often used before verbs to describe some bodily condition (see GKC 374-75 §118.n).

[30:29]  ²⁹ sn The point of this figure is that Job’s cries of lament are like the howls and screeches of these animals, not that he lives with them. In Job 39:13 the female ostrich is called “the wailer.”

[30:30]  ³⁰ tn The MT has “become dark from upon me,” prompting some editions to supply the verb “falls from me” (RSV, NRSV), or “peels” (NIV).

[30:30]  ³¹ tn The word “my bones” may be taken as a metonymy of subject, the bony framework indicating the whole body.

[30:30]  ³² tn The word חֹרֶב (khorev) also means “heat.” The heat in this line is not that of the sun, but obviously a fever.

[30:31]  ³³ tn The verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”) followed by the preposition ל (lamed) means “to serve the purpose of” (see Gen 1:14ff., 17:7, etc.).

[88:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “in Abaddon,” a name for Sheol. The noun is derived from a verbal root meaning “to perish,” “to die.”

[88:12]  ³⁵ tn Heb “known.”

[88:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.

[88:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.”

[88:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”

[88:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and am dying from youth.”

[88:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I carry your horrors [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew form אָפוּנָה (’afunah), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. It may be an adverb meaning “very much” (BDB 67 s.v.), though some prefer to emend the text to אָפוּגָה (’afugah, “I am numb”) from the verb פוּג (pug; see Pss 38:8; 77:2).

[88:16]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “passes over me.”

[11:8]  ⁴² tn The imperfect verbs in 11:8 function as imperfects of capability. See IBHS 564 §34.1a.

[11:8]  ⁴³ tn The phrase נֶהְפַּךְ עָלַי לִבִּי (nehpakh ’alay libbi) is an idiom that can be taken in two ways: (1) emotional sense: to describe a tumult of emotions, not just a clash of ideas, that are afflicting a person (Lam 1:20; HALOT 253 s.v. הפך 1.c) and (2) volitional sense: to describe a decisive change of policy, that is, a reversal of sentiment from amity to hatred (Exod 14:5; Ps 105:25; BDB 245 s.v. הָפַךְ 1; HALOT 253 s.v. 3). The English versions alternate between these two: (1) emotional discomfort and tension over the prospect of destroying Israel: “mine heart is turned within me” (KJV), “my heart recoils within me” (RSV, NRSV), “My heart is turned over within Me” (NASB), “My heart is torn within me” (NLT); and (2) volitional reversal of previous decision to totally destroy Israel: “I have had a change of heart” (NJPS), “my heart is changed within me” (NIV), and “my heart will not let me do it!” (TEV). Both BDB 245 s.v. 1.b and HALOT 253 s.v. 3 suggest that the idiom describes a decisive change of heart (reversal of decision to totally destroy Israel once and for all) rather than emotional turbulence of God shifting back and forth between whether to destroy or spare Israel. This volitional nuance is supported by the modal function of the 1st person common singular imperfects in 11:8 (“I will not carry out my fierce anger…I will not destroy Ephraim…I will not come in wrath”) and by the prophetic announcement of future restoration in 11:10-11. Clearly, a dramatic reversal both in tone and in divine intention occurs between 11:5-11.

[11:8]  ⁴⁴ tn The Niphal of כָּמַר (kamar) means “to grow warm, tender” (BDB 485 s.v. כָּמַר), as its use in a simile with the oven demonstrates (Lam 5:10). It is used several times to describe the arousal of the most tender affection (Gen 43:30; 1 Kgs 3:26; Hos 11:8; BDB 485 s.v. 1; HALOT 482 s.v. כמר 1). Cf. NRSV “my compassion grows warm and tender.”

[11:9]  ⁴⁵ tn The three imperfect verbs function as imperfects of capability, similar to the imperfects of capability in 11:8. See IBHS 564 §34.1a.

[12:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “all discipline at the time does not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow.”

[12:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

[12:12]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “straighten.”

[12:12]  ⁴⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 35:3. Strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees refers to the readers’ need for renewed resolve and fresh strength in their struggles (cf. Heb 10:36-39; 12:1-3).