Job 40:4-5

40:4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy ¹  – how could I reply to you?

I put ²  my hand over my mouth to silence myself. ³ 

40:5 I have spoken once, but I cannot answer;

twice, but I will say no more.” ⁴ 

Psalms 39:9

39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth

because of what you have done. ⁵ 

Lamentations 3:39

3:39 Why should any living person ⁶  complain

when punished for his sins? ⁷ 

Romans 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ⁸ Therefore ⁹  you are without excuse, ¹⁰  whoever you are, ¹¹  when you judge someone else. ¹²  For on whatever grounds ¹³  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Romans 3:19

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹⁴  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Romans 3:27

3:27 Where, then, is boasting? ¹⁵  It is excluded! By what principle? ¹⁶  Of works? No, but by the principle of faith!

Romans 9:19-20

9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 9:20 But who indeed are you – a mere human being ¹⁷  – to talk back to God? ¹⁸  Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ¹⁹ 

[40:4]  ¹ tn The word קַלֹּתִי (qalloti) means “to be light; to be of small account; to be unimportant.” From this comes the meaning “contemptible,” which in the causative stem would mean “to treat with contempt; to curse.” Dhorme tries to make the sentence a conditional clause and suggests this meaning: “If I have been thoughtless.” There is really no “if” in Job’s mind.

[40:4]  ² tn The perfect verb here should be classified as an instantaneous perfect; the action is simultaneous with the words.

[40:4]  ³ tn The words “to silence myself” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[40:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will not add.”

[39:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).

[3:39]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew word here is אָדָם (’adam) which can mean “man” or “person.” The second half of the line is more personalized to the speaking voice of the defeated soldier using גֶּבֶר (gever, “man”). See the note at 3:1.

[3:39]  ⁷ tc Kethib reads the singular חֶטְאוֹ (khet’o, “his sin”), which is reflected in the LXX. Qere reads the plural חֲטָאָיו (khata’ayv, “his sins”) which is preserved in many medieval Hebrew mss and reflected in the other early versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate). The external and internal evidence are not decisive in favor of either reading.

[2:1]  ⁸ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ⁹ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ¹² tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”

[3:27]  ¹⁵ tn Although a number of interpreters understand the “boasting” here to refer to Jewish boasting, others (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, “‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 96) take the phrase to refer to all human boasting before God.

[3:27]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “By what sort of law?”

[9:20]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “O man.”

[9:20]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “On the contrary, O man, who are you to talk back to God?”

[9:20]  ¹⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 29:16; 45:9.