Job 5:17-18

5:17 “Therefore, ¹  blessed ²  is the man whom God corrects, ³ 

so do not despise the discipline ⁴  of the Almighty. ⁵ 

5:18 For ⁶  he ⁷  wounds, ⁸  but he also bandages;

he strikes, but his hands also heal.

Deuteronomy 8:5

8:5 Be keenly aware that just as a parent disciplines his child, ⁹  the Lord your God disciplines you.

Psalms 94:12

94:12 How blessed is the one ¹⁰  whom you instruct, O Lord,

the one whom you teach from your law,

Psalms 119:67

119:67 Before I was afflicted I used to stray off, ¹¹ 

but now I keep your instructions. ¹² 

Psalms 119:71

119:71 It was good for me to suffer,

so that I might learn your statutes.

Isaiah 27:9

27:9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, ¹³ 

and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: ¹⁴ 

They will make all the stones of the altars ¹⁵ 

like crushed limestone,

and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 27:1

27:1 At that time ¹⁷  the Lord will punish

with his destructive, ¹⁸  great, and powerful sword

Leviathan the fast-moving ¹⁹  serpent,

Leviathan the squirming serpent;

he will kill the sea monster. ²⁰ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Revelation 3:19

3:19 All those ²²  I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!

[5:17]  ¹ tn The particle “therefore” links this section to the preceding; it points this out as the logical consequence of the previous discussion, and more generally, as the essence of Job’s suffering.

[5:17]  ² tn The word אַשְׁרֵי (’ashre, “blessed”) is often rendered “happy.” But “happy” relates to what happens. “Blessed” is a reference to the heavenly bliss of the one who is right with God.

[5:17]  ³ tn The construction is an implied relative clause. The literal rendering would simply be “the man God corrects him.” The suffix on the verb is a resumptive pronoun, completing the use of the relative clause. The verb יָכַח (yakhakh) is a legal term; it always has some sense of a charge, dispute, or conflict. Its usages show that it may describe a strife breaking out, a charge or quarrel in progress, or the settling of a dispute (Isa 1:18). The derived noun can mean “reproach; recrimination; charge” (13:6; 23:4). Here the emphasis is on the consequence of the charge brought, namely, the correction.

[5:17]  ⁴ tn The noun מוּסַר (musar) is parallel to the idea of the first colon. It means “discipline, correction” (from יָסַר, yasar). Prov 3:11 says almost the same thing as this line.

[5:17]  ⁵ sn The name Shaddai occurs 31 times in the book. This is its first occurrence. It is often rendered “Almighty” because of the LXX and some of the early fathers. The etymology and meaning of the word otherwise remains uncertain, in spite of attempts to connect it to “mountains” or “breasts.”

[5:18]  ⁶ sn Verses 18-23 give the reasons why someone should accept the chastening of God – the hand that wounds is the same hand that heals. But, of course, the lines do not apply to Job because his suffering is not due to divine chastening.

[5:18]  ⁷ tn The addition of the independent pronoun here makes the subject emphatic, as if to say, “For it is he who makes….”

[5:18]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verbs in this verse describe the characteristic activities of God; the classification as habitual imperfect fits the idea and is to be rendered with the English present tense.

[8:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “just as a man disciplines his son.” The Hebrew text reflects the patriarchal idiom of the culture.

[94:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in v. 2.

[119:67]  ¹¹ tn Heb “before I suffered, I was straying off.”

[119:67]  ¹² tn Heb “your word.”

[27:9]  ¹³ tn Or “be atoned for” (NIV); cf. NRSV “be expiated.”

[27:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and this [is] all the fruit of removing his sin.” The meaning of the statement is not entirely clear, though “removing his sin” certainly parallels “Jacob’s sin will be removed” in the preceding line. If original, “all the fruit” may refer to the result of the decision to remove sin, but the phrase may be a corruption of לְכַפֵּר (lekhaper, “to atone for”), which in turn might be a gloss on הָסִר (hasir, “removing”).

[27:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “when he makes the stones of an altar.” The singular “altar” is collective here; pagan altars are in view, as the last line of the verse indicates. See also 17:8.

[27:9]  ¹⁶ sn As interpreted and translated above, this verse says that Israel must totally repudiate its pagan religious practices in order to experience God’s forgiveness and restoration. Another option is to understand “in this way” and “this” in v. 9a as referring back to the judgment described in v. 8. In this case כָּפַר (kafar, “atone for”) is used in a sarcastic sense; Jacob’s sin is “atoned for” and removed through severe judgment. Following this line of interpretation, one might paraphrase the verse as follows: “So in this way (through judgment) Jacob’s sin will be “atoned for,” and this is the way his sin will be removed, when he (i.e., God) makes all the altar stones like crushed limestone….” This interpretation is more consistent with the tone of judgment in vv. 8 and 10-11.

[27:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[27:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “hard, severe”; cf. NAB, NRSV “cruel”; KJV “sore”; NLT “terrible.”

[27:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “fleeing” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV). Some translate “slippery” or “slithering.”

[27:1]  ²⁰ tn The description of Leviathan should be compared with the following excerpts from Ugaritic mythological texts: (1) “Was not the dragon (Ugaritic tnn, cognate with Hebrew תַנִּין [tannin, translated “sea monster” here]) vanquished and captured? I did destroy the wriggling (Ugaritic ’qltn, cognate to Hebrew עֲקַלָּתוֹן [’aqallaton, translated “squirming” here]) serpent, the tyrant with seven heads (cf. Ps 74:14).” (See CTA 3 iii 38-39.) (2) “for all that you smote Leviathan the slippery (Ugaritic brh, cognate to Hebrew בָּרִחַ [bariakh, translated “fast-moving” here]) serpent, [and] made an end of the wriggling serpent, the tyrant with seven heads” (See CTA 5 i 1-3.)

[1:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[3:19]  ²² tn The Greek pronoun ὅσος (Josos) means “as many as” and can be translated “All those” or “Everyone.”