Psalms 39:1

Psalm 39 ¹ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

39:1 I decided, ²  “I will watch what I say

and make sure I do not sin with my tongue. ³ 

I will put a muzzle over my mouth

while in the presence of an evil man.” ⁴ 

Psalms 141:3

141:3 O Lord, place a guard on my mouth!

Protect the opening ⁵  of my lips! ⁶ 

Genesis 30:1

30:1 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she ⁷  became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children ⁸  or I’ll die!”

Genesis 35:16-18

35:16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, ⁹  Rachel went into labor ¹⁰  – and her labor was hard. 35:17 When her labor was at its hardest, ¹¹  the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” ¹²  35:18 With her dying breath, ¹³  she named him Ben-Oni. ¹⁴  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ¹⁵ 

Job 2:10

2:10 But he replied, ¹⁶  “You’re talking like one of the godless ¹⁷  women would do! Should we receive ¹⁸  what is good from God, and not also ¹⁹  receive ²⁰  what is evil?” ²¹  In all this Job did not sin by what he said. ²² 

Job 38:2

38:2 “Who is this ²³  who darkens counsel ²⁴ 

with words without knowledge?

Job 40:4-5

40:4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy ²⁵  – how could I reply to you?

I put ²⁶  my hand over my mouth to silence myself. ²⁷ 

40:5 I have spoken once, but I cannot answer;

twice, but I will say no more.” ²⁸ 

Job 42:7-8

VII. The Epilogue (42:7-17)

42:7 After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he ²⁹  said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up ³⁰  against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, ³¹  as my servant Job has. 42:8 So now take ³²  seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede ³³  for you, and I will respect him, ³⁴  so that I do not deal with you ³⁵  according to your folly, ³⁶  because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.” ³⁷ 

James 3:2

3:2 For we all stumble ³⁸  in many ways. If someone does not stumble ³⁹  in what he says, ⁴⁰  he is a perfect individual, ⁴¹  able to control the entire body as well.

[39:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.

[39:1]  ² tn Heb “I said.”

[39:1]  ³ tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”

[39:1]  ⁴ sn The psalmist wanted to voice a lament to the Lord (see vv. 4-6), but he hesitated to do so in the presence of evil men, for such words might be sinful if they gave the wicked an occasion to insult God. See C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 1:345.

[141:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “door.” The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[141:3]  ⁶ sn My mouth…my lips. The psalmist asks God to protect him from speaking inappropriately or sinfully.

[30:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Rachel.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “sons.”

[35:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “and there was still a stretch of the land to go to Ephrath.”

[35:16]  ¹⁰ tn Normally the verb would be translated “she gave birth,” but because that obviously had not happened yet, it is better to translate the verb as ingressive, “began to give birth” (cf. NIV) or “went into labor.”

[35:17]  ¹¹ tn The construction uses a Hiphil infinitive, which E. A. Speiser classifies as an elative Hiphil. The contrast is with the previous Piel: there “she had hard labor,” and here, “her labor was at its hardest.” Failure to see this, Speiser notes, has led to redundant translations and misunderstandings (Genesis [AB], 273).

[35:17]  ¹² sn Another son. The episode recalls and fulfills the prayer of Rachel at the birth of Joseph (Gen 30:24): “may he add” another son.

[35:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

[35:18]  ¹⁴ sn The name Ben-Oni means “son of my suffering.” It is ironic that Rachel’s words to Jacob in Gen 30:1, “Give me children or I’ll die,” take a different turn here, for it was having the child that brought about her death.

[35:18]  ¹⁵ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive.

[2:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he said to her.”

[2:10]  ¹⁷ tn The word “foolish” (נָבָל, naval) has to do with godlessness more than silliness (Ps 14:1). To be foolish in this sense is to deny the nature and the work of God in life its proper place. See A. Phillips, “NEBALA – A Term for Serious Disorderly Unruly Conduct,” VT 25 (1975): 237-41; and W. M. W. Roth, “NBL,” VT 10 (1960): 394-409.

[2:10]  ¹⁸ tn The verb קִבֵּל (qibbel) means “to accept, receive.” It is attested in the Amarna letters with the meaning “receive meekly, patiently.”

[2:10]  ¹⁹ tn The adverb גָּם (gam, “also, even”) is placed here before the first clause, but belongs with the second. It intensifies the idea (see GKC 483 §153). See also C. J. Labuschagne, “The Emphasizing Particle GAM and Its Connotations,” Studia Biblica et Semitica, 193-203.

[2:10]  ²⁰ tn The two verbs in this sentence, Piel imperfects, are deliberative imperfects; they express the reasoning or deliberating in the interrogative sentences.

[2:10]  ²¹ tn A question need not be introduced by an interrogative particle or adverb. The natural emphasis on the words is enough to indicate it is a question (GKC 473 §150.a).

[2:10]  ²² tn Heb “sin with his lips,” an idiom meaning he did not sin by what he said.

[38:2]  ²³ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used here to emphasize the interrogative pronoun (see GKC 442 §136.c).

[38:2]  ²⁴ sn The referent of “counsel” here is not the debate between Job and the friends, but the purposes of God (see Ps 33:10; Prov 19:21; Isa 19:17). Dhorme translates it “Providence.”

[40:4]  ²⁵ tn The word קַלֹּתִי (qalloti) means “to be light; to be of small account; to be unimportant.” From this comes the meaning “contemptible,” which in the causative stem would mean “to treat with contempt; to curse.” Dhorme tries to make the sentence a conditional clause and suggests this meaning: “If I have been thoughtless.” There is really no “if” in Job’s mind.

[40:4]  ²⁶ tn The perfect verb here should be classified as an instantaneous perfect; the action is simultaneous with the words.

[40:4]  ²⁷ tn The words “to silence myself” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[40:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I will not add.”

[42:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the Lord.” The title has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “is kindled.”

[42:7]  ³¹ tn The form נְכוֹנָה (nÿkhonah) is from כּוּן (kun, “to be firm; to be fixed; to be established”). Here it means “the right thing” or “truth.” The Akkadian word kenu (from כּוּן, kun) connotes justice and truth.

[42:8]  ³² tn The imperatives in this verse are plural, so all three had to do this together.

[42:8]  ³³ tn The verb “pray” is the Hitpael from the root פָּלַל (palal). That root has the main idea of arbitration; so in this stem it means “to seek arbitration [for oneself],” or “to pray,” or “to intercede.”

[42:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I will lift up his face,” meaning, “I will regard him.”

[42:8]  ³⁵ tn This clause is a result clause, using the negated infinitive construct.

[42:8]  ³⁶ tn The word “folly” can also be taken in the sense of “disgrace.” If the latter is chosen, the word serves as the direct object. If the former, then it is an adverbial accusative.

[42:8]  ³⁷ sn The difference between what they said and what Job said, therefore, has to do with truth. Job was honest, spoke the truth, poured out his complaints, but never blasphemed God. For his words God said he told the truth. He did so with incomplete understanding, and with all the impatience and frustration one might expect. Now the friends, however, did not tell what was right about God. They were not honest; rather, they were self-righteous and condescending. They were saying what they thought should be said, but it was wrong.

[3:2]  ³⁸ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ³⁹ tn Or “fail.”

[3:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “in speech.”

[3:2]  ⁴¹ tn The word for “man” or “individual” is ἀνήρ (anhr), which often means “male” or “man (as opposed to woman).” But it sometimes is used generically to mean “anyone,” “a person,” as here (cf. BDAG 79 s.v. 2).