Nehemiah 6:3

6:3 So I sent messengers to them saying, “I am engaged in ¹  an important work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you?”

Nehemiah 6:9

6:9 All of them were wanting ²  to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.”

So now, strengthen my hands! ³ 

Job 20:5

20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, ⁴ 

the joy of the godless ⁵  lasts but a moment. ⁶ 

Job 20:1

Zophar’s Second Speech ⁷ 

20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

Job 2:1

Satan’s Additional Charge

2:1 Again the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also arrived among them to present himself before the Lord. ⁸ 

[6:3]  ¹ tn Heb “[am] doing.”

[6:9]  ² tn The participle has a desiderative nuance here, describing the desire of the subject and not necessarily the actual outcome. See also v. 14.

[6:9]  ³ tn The statement “So now, strengthen my hands” is frequently understood as an implied prayer, but is taken differently by NAB (“But instead, I now redoubled my efforts”).

[20:5]  ⁴ tn The expression in the text is “quite near.” This indicates that it is easily attained, and that its end is near.

[20:5]  ⁵ tn For the discussion of חָנֵף (khanef, “godless”) see Job 8:13.

[20:5]  ⁶ tn The phrase is “until a moment,” meaning it is short-lived. But see J. Barr, “Hebrew ’ad, especially at Job 1:18 and Neh 7:3,” JSS 27 (1982): 177-88.

[20:1]  ⁷ sn Zophar breaks in with an impassioned argument about the brevity and prosperity of the life of the wicked. But every statement that he makes is completely irrelevant to the case at hand. The speech has four sections: after a short preface (2-3) he portrays the brevity of the triumph of the wicked (4-11), retribution for sin (12-22), and God’s swift judgment (23-29). See further B. H. Kelly, “Truth in Contradiction, A Study of Job 20 and 21,” Int 15 (1961): 147-56.

[2:1]  ⁸ tc This last purpose clause has been omitted in some Greek versions.