Job 5:2

5:2 For ¹  wrath kills the foolish person, ² 

and anger ³  slays the silly one.

Job 18:4

18:4 You who tear yourself ⁴  to pieces in your anger,

will the earth be abandoned ⁵  for your sake?

Or will a rock be moved from its place? ⁶ 

Proverbs 14:29

14:29 The one who is slow to anger has great understanding,

but the one who has a quick temper ⁷  exalts ⁸  folly.

Proverbs 16:32

16:32 Better to be slow to anger ⁹  than to be a mighty warrior,

and one who controls his temper ¹⁰  is better than ¹¹  one who captures a city. ¹² 

Ephesians 4:26

4:26 Be angry and do not sin; ¹³  do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger. ¹⁴ 

Ephesians 4:31

4:31 You must put away every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk.

James 1:19-20

Living Out the Message

1:19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! ¹⁵  Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. 1:20 For human ¹⁶  anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. ¹⁷ 

James 3:14-18

3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 3:15 Such ¹⁸  wisdom does not come ¹⁹  from above but is earthly, natural, ²⁰  demonic. 3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, ²¹  full of mercy and good fruit, ²²  impartial, and not hypocritical. ²³  3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness ²⁴  is planted ²⁵  in peace among ²⁶  those who make peace.

[5:2]  ¹ tn One of the reasons that commentators transpose v. 1 is that the כִּי (ki, “for”) here seems to follow 4:21 better. If people die without wisdom, it is folly that kills them. But the verse also makes sense after 5:1. He is saying that complaining against God will not bring deliverance (v. 1), but rather, by such impatience the fool will bring greater calamity on himself.

[5:2]  ² tn The two words for “foolish person” are common in wisdom literature. The first, אֱוִיל (’evil), is the fool who is a senseless person; the פֹּתֶה (poteh) is the naive and silly person, the simpleton, the one who is easily led astray. The direct object is introduced with the preposition ל (lamed) in this verse (see GKC 366 §117.n).

[5:2]  ³ tn The two parallel nouns are similar; their related verbs are also paralleled in Deut 32:16 with the idea of “vex” and “irritate.” The first word כַּעַשׂ (ka’as) refers to the inner irritation and anger one feels, whereas the second word קִנְאָה (qin’ah) refers to the outward expression of the anger. In Job 6:2, Job will respond “O that my impatience [ka’as] were weighed….”

[18:4]  ⁴ tn The construction uses the participle and then 3rd person suffixes: “O tearer of himself in his anger.” But it is clearly referring to Job, and so the direct second person pronouns should be used to make that clear. The LXX is an approximation or paraphrase here: “Anger has possessed you, for what if you should die – would under heaven be desolate, or shall the mountains be overthrown from their foundations?”

[18:4]  ⁵ tn There is a good deal of study on this word in this passage, and in Job in general. M. Dahood suggested a root עָזַב (’azav) meaning “to arrange; to rearrange” (“The Root ’zb II in Job,” JBL 78 [1959]: 303-9). But this is refuted by H. G. M. Williamson, “A Reconsideration of ’zb II in Biblical Hebrew,” ZAW 97 (1985): 74-85.

[18:4]  ⁶ sn Bildad is asking if Job thinks the whole moral order of the world should be interrupted for his sake, that he may escape the punishment for wickedness.

[14:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “hasty of spirit” (so KJV, ASV); NRSV, NLT “a hasty temper.” One who has a quick temper or a short fuse will be evident to everyone, due to his rash actions.

[14:29]  ⁸ sn The participle “exalts” (מֵרִים, merim) means that this person brings folly to a full measure, lifts it up, brings it to the full notice of everybody.

[16:32]  ⁹ tn One who is “slow to anger” is a patient person (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT). This is explained further in the parallel line by the description of “one who rules his spirit” (וּמֹשֵׁל בְּרוּחוֹ, umoshel bÿrukho), meaning “controls his temper.” This means the person has the emotions under control and will not “fly off the handle” quickly.

[16:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “who rules his spirit” (so NASB).

[16:32]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “is better than” does not appear in this line in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism.

[16:32]  ¹² sn The saying would have had greater impact when military prowess was held in high regard. It is harder, and therefore better, to control one’s passions than to do some great exploit on the battlefield.

[4:26]  ¹³ sn A quotation from Ps 4:4. Although several translations render the phrase Be angry and do not sin as “If you are angry, do not sin” such is unlikely on a grammatical, lexical, and historical level (see D. B. Wallace, “᾿Οργίζεσθε in Ephesians 4:26: Command or Condition?” CTR 3 [1989]: 352-72). The idea of vv. 26-27 is as follows: Christians are to exercise a righteous indignation over sin in the midst of the believing community (v. 26a; note that v. 25 is restricting the discussion to those in the body of Christ). When other believers sin, such people should be gently and quickly confronted (v. 26b), for if the body of Christ does not address sin in its midst, the devil gains a foothold (v. 27). “Entirely opposite of the ‘introspective conscience’ view, this text seems to be a shorthand expression for church discipline, suggesting that there is a biblical warrant for δικαία ὀργή [dikaia orgh] (as the Greeks put it) – righteous indignation” (ExSyn 492).

[4:26]  ¹⁴ tn The word παροργισμός (parorgismo"), typically translated “anger” in most versions is used almost exclusively of the source of anger rather than the results in Greek literature (thus, it refers to an external cause or provocation rather than an internal reaction). The notion of “cause of your anger” is both lexically and historically justified. The apparently proverbial nature of the statement (“Do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger”) finds several remarkable parallels in Pss. Sol. 8:8-9: “(8) God laid bare their sins in the full light of day; All the earth came to know the righteous judgments of God. (9) In secret places underground their iniquities (were committed) to provoke (Him) to anger” (R. H. Charles’ translation). Not only is παροργισμός used, but righteous indignation against God’s own people and the laying bare of their sins in broad daylight are also seen.

[1:19]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[1:20]  ¹⁶ tn The word translated “human” here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person” (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2), and in this context, contrasted with “God’s righteousness,” the point is “human” anger (not exclusively “male” anger).

[1:20]  ¹⁷ sn God’s righteousness could refer to (1) God’s righteous standard, (2) the righteousness God gives, (3) righteousness before God, or (4) God’s eschatological righteousness (see P. H. Davids, James [NIGTC], 93, for discussion).

[3:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “This.”

[3:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

[3:15]  ²⁰ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.

[3:17]  ²¹ tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”

[3:17]  ²² tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”

[3:17]  ²³ tn Or “sincere.”

[3:18]  ²⁴ tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.

[3:18]  ²⁵ tn Grk “is sown.”

[3:18]  ²⁶ tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”