Malachi 2:17

Resistance to the Lord through Self-deceit

2:17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, ¹  and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Job 12:6

12:6 But ²  the tents of robbers are peaceful,

and those who provoke God are confident ³  –

who carry their god in their hands. ⁴ 

Job 21:7-15

The Wicked Prosper

21:7 “Why do the wicked go on living, ⁵ 

grow old, ⁶  even increase in power?

21:8 Their children ⁷  are firmly established

in their presence, ⁸ 

their offspring before their eyes.

21:9 Their houses are safe ⁹  and without fear; ¹⁰ 

and no rod of punishment ¹¹  from God is upon them. ¹² 

21:10 Their bulls ¹³  breed ¹⁴  without fail; ¹⁵ 

their cows calve and do not miscarry.

21:11 They allow their children to run ¹⁶  like a flock;

their little ones dance about.

21:12 They sing ¹⁷  to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp,

and make merry to the sound of the flute.

21:13 They live out ¹⁸  their years in prosperity

and go down ¹⁹  to the grave ²⁰  in peace.

21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!

We do not want to ²¹  know your ways. ²² 

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that ²³  we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray ²⁴  to him?’ ²⁵ 

Job 21:30

21:30 that the evil man is spared

from the day of his misfortune,

that he is delivered ²⁶ 

from the day of God’s wrath?

Proverbs 12:12

12:12 The wicked person desires a stronghold, ²⁷ 

but the righteous root ²⁸  endures. ²⁹ 

Ecclesiastes 9:1-2

Everyone Will Die

9:1 So I reflected on all this, ³⁰  attempting to clear ³¹  it all up.

I concluded that ³²  the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God;

whether a person will be loved or hated ³³  –

no one knows what lies ahead. ³⁴ 

9:2 Everyone shares the same fate ³⁵  –

the righteous and the wicked,

the good and the bad, ³⁶ 

the ceremonially clean and unclean,

those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; ³⁷ 

what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.

Jeremiah 12:1-2

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ³⁸ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ³⁹ 

Why are wicked people successful? ⁴⁰ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ⁴¹ 

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ⁴² 

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you. ⁴³ 

Habakkuk 1:13-17

1:13 You are too just ⁴⁴  to tolerate ⁴⁵  evil;

you are unable to condone ⁴⁶  wrongdoing.

So why do you put up with such treacherous people? ⁴⁷ 

Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour ⁴⁸  those more righteous than they are? ⁴⁹ 

1:14 You made people like fish in the sea,

like animals in the sea ⁵⁰  that have no ruler.

1:15 The Babylonian tyrant ⁵¹  pulls them all up with a fishhook;

he hauls them in with his throw net. ⁵² 

When he catches ⁵³  them in his dragnet,

he is very happy. ⁵⁴ 

1:16 Because of his success ⁵⁵  he offers sacrifices to his throw net

and burns incense to his dragnet; ⁵⁶ 

for because of them he has plenty of food, ⁵⁷ 

and more than enough to eat. ⁵⁸ 

1:17 Will he then ⁵⁹  continue to fill and empty his throw net? ⁶⁰ 

Will he always ⁶¹  destroy ⁶²  nations and spare none? ⁶³ 

[2:17]  ¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”

[12:6]  ² tn The verse gives the other side of the coin now, the fact that the wicked prosper.

[12:6]  ³ tn The plural is used to suggest the supreme degree of arrogant confidence (E. Dhorme, Job, 171).

[12:6]  ⁴ sn The line is perhaps best understood as describing one who thinks he is invested with the power of God.

[21:7]  ⁵ sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 154) clarifies that Job’s question is of a universal scope. In the government of God, why do the wicked exist at all? The verb could be translated “continue to live.”

[21:7]  ⁶ tn The verb עָתַק (’ataq) means “to move; to proceed; to advance.” Here it is “to advance in years” or “to grow old.” This clause could serve as an independent clause, a separate sentence; but it more likely continues the question of the first colon and is parallel to the verb “live.”

[21:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “their seed.”

[21:8]  ⁸ tn The text uses לִפְנֵיהֶם עִמָּם (lifnehem ’immam, “before them, with them”). Many editors think that these were alternative readings, and so omit one or the other. Dhorme moved עִמָּם (’immam) to the second half of the verse and emended it to read עֹמְדִים (’omÿdim, “abide”). Kissane and Gordis changed only the vowels and came up with עַמָּם (’ammam, “their kinfolk”). But Gordis thinks the presence of both of them in the line is evidence of a conflated reading (p. 229).

[21:9]  ⁹ tn The word שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace, safety”) is here a substantive after a plural subject (see GKC 452 §141.c, n. 3).

[21:9]  ¹⁰ tn The form מִפָּחַד (mippakhad) is translated “without fear,” literally “from fear”; the preposition is similar to the alpha privative in Greek. The word “fear, dread” means nothing that causes fear or dread – they are peaceful, secure. See GKC 382 §119.w.

[21:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “no rod of God.” The words “punishment from” have been supplied in the translation to make the metaphor understandable for the modern reader by stating the purpose of the rod.

[21:9]  ¹² sn In 9:34 Job was complaining that there was no umpire to remove God’s rod from him, but here he observes no such rod is on the wicked.

[21:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “his bull,” but it is meant to signify the bulls of the wicked.

[21:10]  ¹⁴ tn The verb used here means “to impregnate,” and not to be confused with the verb עָבַר (’avar, “to pass over”).

[21:10]  ¹⁵ tn The use of the verb גָּעַר (ga’ar) in this place is interesting. It means “to rebuke; to abhor; to loathe.” In the causative stem it means “to occasion impurity” or “to reject as loathsome.” The rabbinic interpretation is that it does not emit semen in vain, and so the meaning is it does not fail to breed (see E. Dhorme, Job, 311; R. Gordis, Job, 229).

[21:11]  ¹⁶ tn The verb שָׁלַח (shalakh) means “to send forth,” but in the Piel “to release; to allow to run free.” The picture of children frolicking in the fields and singing and dancing is symbolic of peaceful, prosperous times.

[21:12]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is simply “they take up [or lift up],” but the understood object is “their voices,” and so it means “they sing.”

[21:13]  ¹⁸ tc The Kethib has “they wear out” but the Qere and the versions have יְכַלּוּ (yÿkhallu, “bring to an end”). The verb כָּלָה (kalah) means “to finish; to complete,” and here with the object “their days,” it means that they bring their life to a (successful) conclusion. Both readings are acceptable in the context, with very little difference in the overall meaning (which according to Gordis is proof the Qere does not always correct the Kethib).

[21:13]  ¹⁹ tc The MT has יֵחָתּוּ (yekhattu, “they are frightened [or broken]”), taking the verb from חָתַת (khatat, “be terrified”). But most would slightly repoint it to יֵחָתוּ (yekhatu), an Aramaism, “they go down,” from נָחַת (nakhat, “go down”). See Job 17:16.

[21:13]  ²⁰ tn The word רֶגַע (rega’) has been interpreted as “in a moment” or “in peace” (on the basis of Arabic raja`a, “return to rest”). Gordis thinks this is a case of talhin – both meanings present in the mind of the writer.

[21:14]  ²¹ tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”

[21:14]  ²² sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.

[21:15]  ²³ tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”

[21:15]  ²⁴ tn The verb פָּגַע (paga’) means “to encounter; to meet,” but also “to meet with request; to intercede; to interpose.” The latter meaning is a derived meaning by usage.

[21:15]  ²⁵ tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.

[21:30]  ²⁶ tn The verb means “to be led forth.” To be “led forth in the day of trouble” means to be delivered.

[12:12]  ²⁷ tn This line is difficult to interpret. BDB connects the term מְצוֹד (mÿtsod) to II מָצוֹד which means (1) “snare; hunting-net” and (2) what is caught: “prey” (BDB 844-45 s.v. II מָצוֹד). This would function as a metonymy of cause for what the net catches: the prey. Or it may be saying that the wicked get caught in their own net, that is, reap the consequences of their own sins. On the other hand, HALOT 622 connects מְצוֹד (mÿtsod) to II מְצוּדָה (mÿtsudah, “mountain stronghold”; cf. NAB “the stronghold of evil men will be demolished”). The LXX translated it as: “The desires of the wicked are evil.” The Syriac has: “The wicked desire to do evil.” The Latin expands it: “The desire of the wicked is a defense of the worst [things, or persons].” C. H. Toy suggests emending the text to read “wickedness is the net of bad men” (Proverbs [ICC], 250).

[12:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the root of righteousness.” The genitive צַדִּיקִים (tsadiqim, “righteousness”) functions as an attributive adjective. The wicked want what belongs to others, but the righteous continue to flourish.

[12:12]  ²⁹ tc The MT reads יִתֵּן (yitten, “gives,” from נָתַן [natan, “to give”]), and yields an awkward meaning: “the root of the righteous gives.” The LXX reads “the root of the righteous endures” (cf. NAB). This suggests a Hebrew Vorlage of אֵיתָן (’etan, “constant; continual”; HALOT 44-45 s.v. I אֵיתָן 2) which would involve the omission of א (alef) in the MT. The metaphor “root” (שֹׁרֶשׁ, shoresh) is often used in Proverbs for that which endures; so internal evidence supports the alternate tradition.

[9:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “I laid all this to my heart.”

[9:1]  ³¹ tn The term וְלָבוּר (velavur, conjunction + Qal infinitive construct from בּוּר, bur, “to make clear”) denotes “to examine; to make clear; to clear up; to explain” (HALOT 116 s.v. בור; BDB 101 s.v. בּוּר). The term is related to Arabic baraw “to examine” (G. R. Driver, “Supposed Arabisms in the Old Testament,” JBL 55 [1936]: 108). This verb is related to the Hebrew noun בֹּר (bor, “cleanness”) and adjective בַּר (bar, “clean”). The term is used in the OT only in Ecclesiastes (1:13; 2:3; 7:25; 9:1). This use of the infinitive has a connotative sense (“attempting to”), and functions in a complementary sense, relative to the main verb.

[9:1]  ³² tn The words “I concluded that” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:1]  ³³ tn Heb “whether love or hatred.”

[9:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “man does not know anything before them.”

[9:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “all things just as to everyone, one fate.”

[9:2]  ³⁶ tc The MT reads simply “the good,” but the Greek versions read “the good and the bad.” In contrast to the other four pairs in v. 2 (“the righteous and the wicked,” “those who sacrifice, and those who do not sacrifice,” “the good man…the sinner,” and “those who make vows…those who are afraid to make vows”), the MT has a triad in the second line: לַטּוֹב וְלַטָּהוֹר וְלַטָּמֵא (lattov vÿlattahor vÿlattame’, “the good, and the clean, and the unclean”). This reading in the Leningrad Codex (ca. a.d. 1008) – the basis of the BHS and BHK publications of the MT – is also supported by the Ben Asher text of the First Rabbinic Bible (“the Soncino Bible”) published in a.d. 1488-94. On the other hand, the Greek version in B (Aquila) has two pairs: τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ τῷ κακῷ, καὶ τῷ καθαρῷ καὶ τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ (“the good and the bad, and the clean and the unclean”). Either Aquila inserted καὶ τῷ κακῷ (kai tw kakw, “and the bad”) to fill out a pair and to create six parallel pairs in v. 2, or Aquila reflects an early Hebrew textual tradition tradition of לַטּוֹב וְלַרָע (lattov vÿlara’, “the good and the bad”). Since Aquila is well known for his commitment to a literal – at times even a mechanically wooden – translation of the Hebrew, with no room for improvisation, it is more than likely that Aquila is reflecting an authentic Hebrew textual tradition. Aquila dates to a.d. 130, while the Leningrad Codex dates to a.d. 1008; therefore, the Vorlage of Aquila might have been the original Hebrew textual tradition, being much earlier than the MT of the Leningrad Codex. The alternate textual tradition of Aquila is also seen in the Syriac and Latin versions (but these are dependent upon the Greek = Aquila). On the other hand, the editors of BHK and BHS suggest that the presence of the anomalous לַטּוֹב was an addition to the Hebrew text, and should be deleted. They also suggest that the Greek pair τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ τῷ κακῷ (tw agaqw kai tw kakw, “the good and the bad”) does not reflect an alternate textual tradition, but that their Vorlage contained only לַטּוֹב: the Greek version intentionally added καὶ τῷ κακῷ (kai tw kakw, “and the bad”) to create a pair. The English versions are divided. Several follow the Greek: “the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean” (NEB, NAB, RSV, NRSV, NIV, Moffatt, NLT). Others follow the Hebrew: “the good and the clean and the unclean” (KJV, ASV, MLB, NJPS). None, however, delete “the good” (לַטּוֹב) as suggested by the BHK and BHS editors. If the shorter text were original, the addition of καὶ τῷ κακῷ would be intentional. If the longer text were original, the omission of וְלַרָע (“and the bad”) could have caused by unintentional homoioarcton (“similar beginning”) in the three-fold repetition of לט in וְלַרָע וְלַטָּהוֹר וְלַטָּמֵא לַטּוֹב (lattov vÿlara’ vÿlattahor vÿlattame’, “the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean”). The term וְלַרָע (“and the bad”) was accidentally omitted when a scribe skipped from the first occurrence of לט in לַטּוֹב to its second occurrence in the word וְלַטָּהוֹר (“the clean”).

[9:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “As is the good (man), so is the sinner.”

[12:1]  ³⁸ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[12:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”

[12:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.

[12:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”

[1:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “[you] are too pure of eyes.” God’s “eyes” here signify what he looks at with approval. His “eyes” are “pure” in that he refuses to tolerate any wrongdoing in his presence.

[1:13]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “to see.” Here “see” is figurative for “tolerate,” “put up with.”

[1:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “to look at.” Cf. NEB “who canst not countenance wrongdoing”; NASB “You can not look on wickedness with favor.”

[1:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Why do you look at treacherous ones?” The verb בָּגַד (bagad, “be treacherous”) is often used of those who are disloyal or who violate agreements. See S. Erlandsson, TDOT 1:470-73.

[1:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “swallow up.”

[1:13]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “more innocent than themselves.”

[1:14]  ⁵⁰ tn The Hebrew word רֶמֶשׂ (remesh) usually refers to animals that creep, but here the referent seems to be marine animals that glide through the water (note the parallelism in the previous line). See also Ps 104:25.

[1:15]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Babylonian tyrant) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. NASB “The Chaldeans”; NIV “The wicked foe”; NRSV “The enemy”). Babylonian imperialism is here compared to a professional fisherman who repeatedly brings in his catch and has plenty to eat.

[1:15]  ⁵² tn Apparently two different types of fishing nets are referred to here. The חֵרֶם (kherem, “throw net”) was used by fishermen standing on the shore (see Ezek 47:10), while the מִכְמֶרֶת (mikhmeret, “dragnet”) was used by men in a boat. See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 165.

[1:15]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and he gathers.”

[1:15]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “Therefore he is happy and rejoices.” Here two synonyms are joined for emphasis.

[1:16]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “therefore.”

[1:16]  ⁵⁶ sn The fishing implements (throw net and dragnet) represent Babylonian military might. The prophet depicts the Babylonians as arrogantly worshiping their own power (sacrifices…burns incense, see also v. 11b).

[1:16]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “for by them his portion is full [or, “fat”].”

[1:16]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “and his food is plentiful [or, “fat”].”

[1:17]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “therefore.”

[1:17]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “Will he then empty his throw net?” The words “continue to fill and” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:17]  ⁶¹ tn Or “continually.”

[1:17]  ⁶² tn Heb “kill.”

[1:17]  ⁶³ tn Or “without showing compassion.”