Job 40:9-12

40:9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, ¹ 

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

40:10 Adorn yourself, then, with majesty and excellency,

and clothe yourself with glory and honor!

40:11 Scatter abroad ²  the abundance ³  of your anger.

Look at every proud man ⁴  and bring him low;

40:12 Look at every proud man and abase him;

crush the wicked on the spot! ⁵ 

Psalms 9:4-5

9:4 For you defended my just cause; ⁶ 

from your throne you pronounced a just decision. ⁷ 

9:5 You terrified the nations with your battle cry; ⁸ 

you destroyed the wicked; ⁹ 

you permanently wiped out all memory of them. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 16:18

16:18 Pride ¹¹  goes ¹²  before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall. ¹³ 

Jeremiah 9:23

9:23 ¹⁴ The Lord says,

“Wise people should not boast that they are wise.

Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. ¹⁵ 

Rich people should not boast that they are rich. ¹⁶ 

Daniel 4:37

4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all his deeds are right and his ways are just. He is able to bring down those who live ¹⁷  in pride.

[40:9]  ¹ tn Heb “do you have an arm like God?” The words “as powerful as” have been supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[40:11]  ² tn The verb was used for scattering lightning (Job 37:11). God is challenging Job to unleash his power and judge wickedness in the world.

[40:11]  ³ tn Heb “the overflowings.”

[40:11]  ⁴ tn The word was just used in the positive sense of excellence or majesty; now the exalted nature of the person refers to self-exaltation, or pride.

[40:12]  ⁵ tn The expression translated “on the spot” is the prepositional phrase תַּחְתָּם (takhtam, “under them”). “Under them” means in their place. But it can also mean “where someone stands, on the spot” (see Exod 16:29; Jos 6:5; Judg 7:21, etc.).

[9:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “for you accomplished my justice and my legal claim.”

[9:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “you sat on a throne [as] one who judges [with] righteousness.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 4 probably allude to a recent victory (see vv. 5-7). Another option is to understand the verbs as describing what is typical (“you defend…you sit on a throne”).

[9:5]  ⁸ tn The verb גָּעַר (ga’ar) is often understood to mean “rebuke” and in this context taken to refer to the Lord’s “rebuke” of the nations. In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 18:15; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[9:5]  ⁹ tn The singular form is collective (note “nations” and “their name”). In the psalms the “wicked” (רְשָׁעִים, rÿsha’im) are typically proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). In this context the hostile nations who threaten Israel/Judah are in view.

[9:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “their name you wiped out forever and ever.” The three perfect verbal forms in v. 5 probably refer to a recent victory (definite past or present perfect use), although they might express what is typical (characteristic use).

[16:18]  ¹¹ sn The two lines of this proverb are synonymous parallelism, and so there are parasynonyms. “Pride” is paired with “haughty spirit” (“spirit” being a genitive of specification); and “destruction” is matched with “a tottering, falling.”

[16:18]  ¹² tn Heb “[is] before destruction.”

[16:18]  ¹³ sn Many proverbs have been written in a similar way to warn against the inevitable disintegration and downfall of pride. W. McKane records an Arabic proverb: “The nose is in the heavens, the seat is in the mire” (Proverbs [OTL], 490).

[9:23]  ¹⁴ sn It is not always clear why verses were placed in their present position in the editorial process of collecting Jeremiah’s sermons and the words the Lord spoke to him (see Jer 36:4, 32 for reference to two of these collections). Here it is probable that vv. 23-26 were added as a further answer to the question raised in v. 12.

[9:23]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Strong people should not brag that they are strong.”

[9:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “…in their wisdom…in their power…in their riches.”

[4:37]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “walk.”