Ayub 20:19

20:19 For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; ¹ 

he has seized a house which he did not build. ² 

Mikha 2:2

2:2 They confiscate the fields they desire,

and seize the houses they want. ³ 

They defraud people of their homes, ⁴ 

and deprive people of the land they have inherited. ⁵ 

Habakuk 2:9-12

2:9 The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. ⁶ 

He does this so he can build his nest way up high

and escape the clutches of disaster. ⁷ 

2:10 Your schemes will bring shame to your house.

Because you destroyed many nations, you will self-destruct. ⁸ 

2:11 For the stones in the walls will cry out,

and the wooden rafters will answer back. ⁹ 

2:12 The one who builds a city by bloodshed is as good as dead ¹⁰  –

he who starts ¹¹  a town by unjust deeds.

[20:19]  ¹ tc The verb indicates that after he oppressed the poor he abandoned them to their fate. But there have been several attempts to improve on the text. Several have repointed the text to get a word parallel to “house.” Ehrlich came up with עֹזֵב (’ozev, “mud hut”), Kissane had “hovel” (similar to Neh 3:8). M. Dahood did the same (“The Root ’zb II in Job,” JBL 78 [1959]: 306-7). J. Reider came up with עֶזֶב (’ezev, the “leavings”), what the rich were to leave for the poor (“Contributions to the Scriptural text,” HUCA 24 [1952/53]: 103-6). But an additional root עָזַב (’azav) is questionable. And while the text as it stands is general and not very striking, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Dhorme reverses the letters to gain בְּעֹז (bÿ’oz, “with force [or violence]”).

[20:19]  ² tn The last clause says, “and he did not build it.” This can be understood in an adverbial sense, supplying the relative pronoun to the translation.

[2:2]  ³ tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who profits unjustly by evil unjust gain for his house.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “to place his nest in the heights in order to escape from the hand of disaster.”

[2:9]  sn Here the Babylonians are compared to a bird, perhaps an eagle, that builds its nest in an inaccessible high place where predators cannot reach it.

[2:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “you planned shame for your house, cutting off many nations, and sinning [against] your life.”

[2:11]  ⁹ sn The house mentioned in vv. 9-10 represents the Babylonian empire, which became great through imperialism. Here the materials of this “house” (the stones in the walls, the wooden rafters) are personified as witnesses who testify that the occupants have built the house through wealth stolen from others.

[2:12]  ¹⁰ tn On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:12]  ¹¹ tn Or “establishes”; or “founds.”