Psalms 35:25-26

35:25 Do not let them say to themselves, ¹  “Aha! We have what we wanted!” ² 

Do not let them say, “We have devoured him!”

35:26 May those who want to harm me be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ³ 

May those who arrogantly taunt me be covered with shame and humiliation! ⁴ 

Psalms 41:8

41:8 They say, ⁵ 

‘An awful disease ⁶  overwhelms him, ⁷ 

and now that he is bed-ridden he will never recover.’ ⁸ 

Psalms 71:10-11

71:10 For my enemies talk about me;

those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise. ⁹ 

71:11 They say, ¹⁰  “God has abandoned him.

Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him!”

Job 31:29

31:29 If ¹¹  I have rejoiced over the misfortune of my enemy ¹² 

or exulted ¹³  because calamity ¹⁴  found him –

Proverbs 17:5

17:5 The one who mocks the poor ¹⁵  insults ¹⁶  his Creator;

whoever rejoices over disaster will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 24:17-18

24:17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, ¹⁷ 

and when he stumbles do not let your heart rejoice,

24:18 lest the Lord see it, and be displeased, ¹⁸ 

and turn his wrath away from him. ¹⁹ 

[35:25]  ¹ tn Heb “in their heart[s].”

[35:25]  ² tn Heb “Aha! Our desire!” The “desire” of the psalmist’s enemies is to triumph over him.

[35:26]  ³ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones who rejoice over my harm.”

[35:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “may they be clothed with shame and humiliation, the ones who magnify [themselves] against me.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 26 are understood as jussives (see vv. 24b-25, where the negative particle אַל (’al) appears before the prefixed verbal forms, indicating they are jussives). The psalmist is calling down judgment on his enemies.

[41:8]  ⁵ tn The words “they say” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation to make it clear that v. 8 contains a quotation of what the psalmist’s enemies say about him (see v. 7a).

[41:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “thing of worthlessness.” In Ps 101:3 the phrase refers to evil deeds in general, but here it appears to refer more specifically to the illness that plagues the psalmist.

[41:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “is poured out on him.” The passive participle of יָצַק (yatsaq) is used.

[41:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he who lies down will not again arise.”

[71:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “those who watch for my life consult together.”

[71:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “saying.”

[31:29]  ¹¹ tn The problem with taking this as “if,” introducing a conditional clause, is finding the apodosis, if there is one. It may be that the apodosis is understood, or summed up at the end. This is the view taken here. But R. Gordis (Job, 352) wishes to take this word as the indication of the interrogative, forming the rhetorical question to affirm he has never done this. However, in that case the parenthetical verses inserted become redundant.

[31:29]  ¹² sn The law required people to help their enemies if they could (Exod 23:4; also Prov 20:22). But often in the difficulties that ensued, they did exult over their enemies’ misfortune (Pss 54:7; 59:10 [11], etc.). But Job lived on a level of purity that few ever reach. Duhm said, “If chapter 31 is the crown of all ethical developments of the O.T., verse 29 is the jewel in that crown.”

[31:29]  ¹³ tn The Hitpael of עוּר (’ur) has the idea of “exult.”

[31:29]  ¹⁴ tn The word is רָע (ra’, “evil”) in the sense of anything that harms, interrupts, or destroys life.

[17:5]  ¹⁵ sn The parallelism helps define the subject matter: The one who “mocks the poor” (NAB, NASB, NIV) is probably one who “rejoices [NIV gloats] over disaster.” The poverty is hereby explained as a disaster that came to some. The topic of the parable is the person who mocks others by making fun of their misfortune.

[17:5]  ¹⁶ sn The Hebrew word translated “insults” (חֵרֵף, kheref) means “reproach; taunt” (as with a cutting taunt); it describes words that show contempt for or insult God. The idea of reproaching the Creator may be mistaking and blaming God’s providential control of the world (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 337). W. G. Plaut, however, suggests that mocking the poor means holding up their poverty as a personal failure and thus offending their dignity and their divine nature (Proverbs, 187).

[24:17]  ¹⁷ sn The saying (vv. 17, 18) warns against gloating over the misfortune of one’s enemies. The prohibition is formed with two negated jussives “do not rejoice” and “let not be glad,” the second qualified by “your heart” as the subject, signifying the inner satisfaction of such a defeat.

[24:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and [it is] evil in his eyes.”

[24:18]  ¹⁹ sn The judgment of God should strike a note of fear in the heart of people (e.g., Lev 19:17-18). His judgment is not to be taken lightly, or personalized as a victory. If that were to happen, then the Lord might take pity on the enemies in their calamity, for he champions the downtrodden and defeated. These are probably personal enemies; the imprecatory psalms and the prophetic oracles present a different set of circumstances for the downfall of God’s enemies – even the book of Proverbs says that brings joy to the community.