Psalms 37:12

37:12 Evil men plot against the godly ¹ 

and viciously attack them. ² 

Job 16:9

16:9 His ³  anger has torn me ⁴  and persecuted ⁵  me;

he has gnashed at me with his teeth;

my adversary locks ⁶  his eyes on me.

Lamentations 2:16

פ (Pe)

2:16 All your enemies

gloated over you. ⁷ 

They sneered and gnashed their teeth;

they said, “We have destroyed ⁸  her!

Ha! We have waited a long time for this day.

We have lived to see it!” ⁹ 

Acts 7:54

Stephen is Killed

7:54 When they heard these things, they became furious ¹⁰  and ground their teeth ¹¹  at him.

[37:12]  ¹ tn Or “innocent.” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and the typical godly individual are in view.

[37:12]  ² tn Heb “and gnashes at him with his teeth” (see Ps 35:16). The language may picture the evil men as wild animals. The active participles in v. 12 are used for purposes of dramatic description.

[16:9]  ³ tn The referent of these pronouns in v. 9 (“his anger…he has gnashed…his teeth…his eyes”) is best taken as God.

[16:9]  ⁴ sn The figure used now is that of a wild beast. God’s affliction of Job is compared to the attack of such an animal. Cf. Amos 1:11.

[16:9]  ⁵ tn The verb שָׂטַם (satam) is translated “hate” in the RSV, but this is not accepted by very many. Many emend it to שָׁמט (shamat), reading “and he dropped me” (from his mouth). But that suggests escape. D. J. A. Clines notes that usage shows it reflects ongoing hatred represented by an action such as persecution or attack (Job [WBC], 370).

[16:9]  ⁶ tn The verb is used of sharpening a sword in Ps 7:12; here it means “to look intently” as an animal looks for prey. The verse describes God’s relentless pursuit of Job.

[2:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “they have opened wide their mouth against you.”

[2:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “We have swallowed!”

[2:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “We have attained, we have seen!” The verbs מָצָאנוּ רָאִינוּ (matsa’nu ra’inu) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its full verbal sense and the second functions as an object complement. It forms a Hebrew idiom that means something like, “We have lived to see it!” The three asyndetic 1st person common plural statements in 2:16 (“We waited, we destroyed, we saw!”) are spoken in an impassioned, staccato style reflecting the delight of the conquerors.

[7:54]  ¹⁰ tn This verb, which also occurs in Acts 5:33, means “cut to the quick” or “deeply infuriated” (BDAG 235 s.v. διαπρίω).

[7:54]  ¹¹ tn Or “they gnashed their teeth.” This idiom is a picture of violent rage (BDAG 184 s.v. βρύχω). See also Ps 35:16.