Ayub 22:12

22:12 “Is not God on high in heaven? ¹ 

And see ²  the lofty stars, ³  how high they are!

Ayub 25:5-6

25:5 If even the moon is not bright,

and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned, ⁴ 

25:6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot ⁵  –

a son of man, who is only a worm!”

Ayub 36:26--37:5

The Work and Wisdom of God

36:26 “Yes, God is great – beyond our knowledge! ⁶ 

The number of his years is unsearchable.

36:27 He draws up drops of water;

they distill ⁷  the rain into its mist, ⁸ 

36:28 which the clouds pour down

and shower on humankind abundantly.

36:29 Who can understand the spreading of the clouds,

the thunderings of his pavilion? ⁹ 

36:30 See how he scattered ¹⁰  his lightning ¹¹  about him;

he has covered the depths ¹²  of the sea.

36:31 It is by these that he judges ¹³  the nations

and supplies food in abundance.

36:32 With his hands ¹⁴  he covers ¹⁵  the lightning,

and directs it against its target.

36:33 ¹⁶ His thunder announces the coming storm,

the cattle also, concerning the storm’s approach.

37:1 At this also my heart pounds

and leaps from its place.

37:2 Listen carefully ¹⁷  to the thunder of his voice,

to the rumbling ¹⁸  that proceeds from his mouth.

37:3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,

even his lightning to the far corners ¹⁹  of the earth.

37:4 After that a voice roars;

he thunders with an exalted voice,

and he does not hold back his lightning bolts ²⁰ 

when his voice is heard.

37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; ²¹ 

he does great things beyond our understanding. ²² 

Ayub 37:22-23

37:22 From the north he comes in golden splendor; ²³ 

around God is awesome majesty.

37:23 As for the Almighty, ²⁴  we cannot attain to him!

He is great in power,

but justice ²⁵  and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.

Ayub 37:1

37:1 At this also my heart pounds

and leaps from its place.

Kisah Para Rasul 8:27

8:27 So ²⁶  he got up ²⁷  and went. There ²⁸  he met ²⁹  an Ethiopian eunuch, ³⁰  a court official of Candace, ³¹  queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He ³²  had come to Jerusalem to worship, ³³ 

Mazmur 8:3-4

8:3 When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made,

and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, ³⁴ 

8:4 Of what importance is the human race, ³⁵  that you should notice ³⁶  them?

Of what importance is mankind, ³⁷  that you should pay attention to them, ³⁸ 

Yesaya 40:22-23

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; ³⁹ 

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. ⁴⁰ 

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, ⁴¹ 

and spreads it out ⁴²  like a pitched tent. ⁴³ 

40:23 He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing;

he makes the earth’s leaders insignificant.

Yesaya 55:9

55:9 for just as the sky ⁴⁴  is higher than the earth,

so my deeds ⁴⁵  are superior to ⁴⁶  your deeds

and my plans ⁴⁷  superior to your plans.

[22:12]  ¹ tn This reading preserves the text as it is. The nouns “high” and “heavens” would then be taken as adverbial accusatives of place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[22:12]  ² tn The parallel passage in Isa 40:26-27, as well as the context here, shows that the imperative is to be retained here. The LXX has “he sees.”

[22:12]  ³ tn Heb “head of the stars.”

[25:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “not pure in his eyes.”

[25:6]  ⁵ tn The text just has “maggot” and in the second half “worm.” Something has to be added to make it a bit clearer. The terms “maggot” and “worm” describe man in his lowest and most ignominious shape.

[36:26]  ⁶ tn The last part has the verbal construction, “and we do not know.” This clause is to be used adverbially: “beyond our understanding.”

[36:27]  ⁷ tn The verb means “to filter; to refine,” and so a plural subject with the drops of water as the subject will not work. So many read the singular, “he distills.”

[36:27]  ⁸ tn This word עֵד (’ed) occurs also in Gen 2:6. The suggestion has been that instead of a mist it represents an underground watercourse that wells up to water the ground.

[36:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “his booth.”

[36:30]  ¹⁰ tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.

[36:30]  ¹¹ tn The word is “light,” but taken to mean “lightning.” Theodotion had “mist” here, and so most commentators follow that because it is more appropriate to the verb and the context.

[36:30]  ¹² tn Heb “roots.”

[36:31]  ¹³ tn The verb is יָדִין (yadin, “he judges”). Houbigant proposedיָזוּן (yazun, “he nourishes”). This has found wide acceptance among commentators (cf. NAB). G. R. Driver retained the MT but gave a meaning “enriches” to the verb (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 88ff.).

[36:32]  ¹⁴ tn R. Gordis (Job, 422) prefers to link this word with the later Hebrew word for “arch,” not “hands.”

[36:32]  ¹⁵ tn Because the image might mean that God grabs the lightning and hurls it like a javelin (cf. NLT), some commentators want to change “covers” to other verbs. Dhorme has “lifts” (נִשָּׂא [nissa’] for כִּסָּה [kissah]). This fit the idea of God directing the lightning bolts.

[36:33]  ¹⁶ tn Peake knew of over thirty interpretations for this verse. The MT literally says, “He declares his purpose [or his shout] concerning it; cattle also concerning what rises.” Dhorme has it: “The flock which sniffs the coming storm has warned the shepherd.” Kissane: “The thunder declares concerning him, as he excites wrath against iniquity.” Gordis translates it: “His thunderclap proclaims his presence, and the storm his mighty wrath.” Many more could be added to the list.

[37:2]  ¹⁷ tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.

[37:2]  ¹⁸ tn The word is the usual word for “to meditate; to murmur; to groan”; here it refers to the low building of the thunder as it rumbles in the sky. The thunder is the voice of God (see Ps 29).

[37:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “wings,” and then figuratively for the extremities of garments, of land, etc.

[37:4]  ²⁰ tn The verb simply has the pronominal suffix, “them.” The idea must be that when God brings in all the thunderings he does not hold back his lightning bolts either.

[37:5]  ²¹ tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.

[37:5]  ²² tn Heb “and we do not know.”

[37:22]  ²³ tn The MT has “out of the north comes gold.” Left in that sense the line seems irrelevant. The translation “golden splendor” (with RV, RSV, NRSV, NIV) depends upon the context of theophany. Others suggest “golden rays” (Dhorme), the aurora borealis (Graetz, Gray), or some mythological allusion (Pope), such as Baal’s palace. Golden rays or splendor is what is intended, although the reference is not to a natural phenomenon – it is something that would suggest the glory of God.

[37:23]  ²⁴ tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.

[37:23]  ²⁵ tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”

[8:27]  ²⁶ tn Grk “And,” but καί (kai) carries something of a resultative force in this context because what follows describes Philip’s response to the angel’s command.

[8:27]  ²⁷ tn Grk “So getting up he went.” The aorist participle ἀναστάς (anastas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[8:27]  ²⁸ tn Grk “And there.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[8:27]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and behold.” This expression is used to portray Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian in a vivid way. In the English translation this vividness is difficult to convey; it is necessary to supply the words “he met.”

[8:27]  ³⁰ sn The term eunuch normally referred to a man who had been castrated, but this was not always the case (see Gen 39:1 LXX, where Potiphar is called a eunuch). Such castrated individuals were preferred as court officials in the East, although Judaism opposed the practice. The Mosaic law excluded eunuchs from Israel (Deut 23:1), although God certainly accepted them (Isa 56:3-5; Wis 3:14). This individual was a high official, since he was said to be in charge of all her treasury. He may or may not have been a eunuch physically. He appears to be the first fully Gentile convert to Christianity, since the Samaritans mentioned previously (Acts 8:4-25) were regarded as half-breeds.

[8:27]  ³¹ tn Or “the Candace” (the title of the queen of the Ethiopians). The term Κανδάκης (Kandakh") is much more likely a title rather than a proper name (like Pharaoh, which is a title); see L&N 37.77. A few, however, still take the word to be the name of the queen (L&N 93.209). BDAG 507 s.v. Κανδάκη, treats the term as a title and lists classical usage by Strabo (Geography 17.1.54) and others.

[8:27]  sn Candace was the title of the queen of the Ethiopians. Ethiopia refers to the kingdom of Nubia in the northern Sudan, whose capital was Meroe (not to be confused with Abyssinia, which was later called Ethiopia and converted to Christianity in the 4th century a.d.). Classical writers refer to several queens of Meroe in the 1st century b.c. and 1st century a.d. who had the title Candace (Kandake). The Candace referred to here was probably Amantitere, who ruled a.d. 25-41.

[8:27]  ³² tn Grk “who was over all her treasury, who.” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the pronoun “he” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.

[8:27]  ³³ sn Since this man had come to Jerusalem to worship, he may have been a proselyte to Judaism. This event is a precursor to Acts 10.

[8:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “when I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars which you established.” The verb “[and] see” is understood by ellipsis in the second half of the verse.

[8:4]  ³⁵ tn Heb “What is man[kind]?” The singular noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh, “man”) is used here in a collective sense and refers to the human race.

[8:4]  ³⁶ tn Heb “remember him.”

[8:4]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and the son of man.” The phrase “son of man” is used here in a collective sense and refers to human beings. For other uses of the phrase in a collective or representative manner, see Num 23:19; Ps 146:3; Isa 51:12.

[8:4]  ³⁸ tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 describe God’s characteristic activity.

[40:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[40:22]  ⁴⁰ tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:22]  ⁴¹ tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).

[40:22]  ⁴² tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.

[40:22]  ⁴³ tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”

[55:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[55:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “are higher than.”

[55:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).