Job 5:19

5:19 He will deliver you ¹  from six calamities;

yes, in seven ²  no evil will touch you.

Psalms 34:15-19

34:15 The Lord pays attention to the godly

and hears their cry for help. ³ 

34:16 But the Lord opposes evildoers

and wipes out all memory of them from the earth. ⁴ 

34:17 The godly ⁵  cry out and the Lord hears;

he saves them from all their troubles. ⁶ 

34:18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted;

he delivers ⁷  those who are discouraged. ⁸ 

34:19 The godly ⁹  face many dangers, ¹⁰ 

but the Lord saves ¹¹  them ¹²  from each one of them.

Psalms 34:1

Psalm 34 ¹³ 

Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. ¹⁴ 

34:1 I will praise ¹⁵  the Lord at all times;

my mouth will continually praise him. ¹⁶ 

Colossians 1:13

1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁷ 

[5:19]  ¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperfect of נָצַל (natsal, “deliver”). These verbs might have been treated as habitual imperfects if it were not for the use of the numerical images – “six calamities…in seven.” So the nuance is specific future instead.

[5:19]  ² tn The use of a numerical ladder as we have here – “six // seven” is frequent in wisdom literature to show completeness. See Prov 6:16; Amos 1:3, Mic 5:5. A number that seems to be sufficient for the point is increased by one, as if to say there is always one more. By using this Eliphaz simply means “in all troubles” (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 56).

[34:15]  ³ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord [are] toward the godly, and his ears [are] toward their cry for help.”

[34:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “the face of the Lord [is] against the doers of evil to cut off from the earth memory of them.”

[34:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “they” (i.e., the godly mentioned in v. 15).

[34:17]  ⁶ tn The three perfect verbal forms are taken in a generalizing sense in v. 17 and translated with the present tense (note the generalizing mood of vv. 18-22).

[34:18]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the oppressed and needy.

[34:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “the crushed in spirit.”

[34:19]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular form; the representative or typical godly person is envisioned.

[34:19]  ¹⁰ tn Or “trials.”

[34:19]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the godly.

[34:19]  ¹² tn Heb “him,” agreeing with the singular form in the preceding line.

[34:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.

[34:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”

[34:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “bless.”

[34:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”

[1:13]  ¹⁷ tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).