Ayub 29:7-17

29:7 When I went out to the city gate

and secured my seat in the public square, ¹ 

29:8 the young men would see me and step aside, ² 

and the old men would get up and remain standing;

29:9 the chief men refrained from talking

and covered their mouths with their hands;

29:10 the voices of the nobles fell silent, ³ 

and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

Job’s Benevolence

29:11 “As soon as the ear heard these things, ⁴  it blessed me, ⁵ 

and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,

29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help,

and the orphan who ⁶  had no one to assist him;

29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, ⁷ 

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; ⁸ 

29:14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me, ⁹ 

my just dealing ¹⁰  was like a robe and a turban;

29:15 I was eyes for the blind

and feet for the lame;

29:16 I was a father ¹¹  to the needy,

and I investigated the case of the person I did not know;

29:17 I broke the fangs ¹²  of the wicked,

and made him drop ¹³  his prey from his teeth.

Ayub 31:34

31:34 because I was terrified ¹⁴  of the great multitude, ¹⁵ 

and the contempt of families terrified me,

so that I remained silent

and would not go outdoors – ¹⁶ 

Ayub 31:1

Job Vindicates Himself

31:1 “I made a covenant with ¹⁷  my eyes;

how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin? ¹⁸ 

Kisah Para Rasul 21:11-15

21:11 He came ¹⁹  to us, took ²⁰  Paul’s belt, ²¹  tied ²²  his own hands and feet with it, ²³  and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over ²⁴  to the Gentiles.’” 21:12 When we heard this, both we and the local people ²⁵  begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 21:13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking ²⁶  my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, ²⁷  but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 21:14 Because he could not be persuaded, ²⁸  we said no more except, ²⁹  “The Lord’s will be done.” ³⁰ 

21:15 After these days we got ready ³¹  and started up ³²  to Jerusalem.

Mazmur 12:8

12:8 for the wicked seem to be everywhere, ³³ 

when people promote evil. ³⁴ 

Mikha 7:3

7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ³⁵ 

government officials and judges take bribes, ³⁶ 

prominent men make demands,

and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ³⁷ 

[29:7]  ¹ sn In the public square. The area referred to here should not be thought of in terms of modern western dimensions. The wide space, plaza, or public square mentioned here is the open area in the gate complex where legal and business matters were conducted. The area could be as small as a few hundred square feet.

[29:8]  ² tn The verb means “to hide; to withdraw.” The young men out of respect would withdraw or yield the place of leadership to Job (thus the translation “step aside”). The old men would rise and remain standing until Job took his seat – a sign of respect.

[29:10]  ³ tn The verb here is “hidden” as well as in v. 8. But this is a strange expression for voices. Several argue that the word was erroneously inserted from 8a and needs to be emended. But the word “hide” can have extended meanings of “withdraw; be quiet; silent” (see Gen 31:27). A. Guillaume relates the Arabic habi’a, “the fire dies out,” applying the idea of “silent” only to v. 10 (it is a form of repetition of words with different senses, called jinas). The point here is that whatever conversation was going on would become silent or hushed to hear what Job had to say.

[29:11]  ⁴ tn The words “these things” and “them” in the next colon are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[29:11]  ⁵ tn The main clause is introduced by the preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive (see GKC 327 §111.h); the clause before it is therefore temporal and circumstantial to the main clause.

[29:12]  ⁶ tn The negative introduces a clause that serves as a negative attribute; literally the following clause says, “and had no helper” (see GKC 482 §152.u).

[29:13]  ⁷ tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320).

[29:13]  ⁸ tn The verb אַרְנִן (’arnin) is from רָנַן (ranan, “to give a ringing cry”) but here “cause to give a ringing cry,” i.e., shout of joy. The rejoicing envisioned in this word is far greater than what the words “sing” or “rejoice” suggest.

[29:14]  ⁹ tn Both verbs in this first half-verse are from לָבַשׁ (lavash, “to clothe; to put on clothing”). P. Joüon changed the vowels to get a verb “it adorned me” instead of “it clothed me” (Bib 11 [1930]: 324). The figure of clothing is used for the character of the person: to wear righteousness is to be righteous.

[29:14]  ¹⁰ tn The word מִשְׁפָּטִי (mishpati) is simply “my justice” or “my judgment.” It refers to the decisions he made in settling issues, how he dealt with other people justly.

[29:16]  ¹¹ sn The word “father” does not have a wide range of meanings in the OT. But there are places that it is metaphorical, especially in a legal setting like this where the poor need aid.

[29:17]  ¹² tn The word rendered “fangs” actually means “teeth,” i.e., the molars probably; it is used frequently of the teeth of wild beasts. Of course, the language is here figurative, comparing the oppressing enemy to a preying animal.

[29:17]  ¹³ tn “I made [him] drop.” The verb means “to throw; to cast,” throw in the sense of “to throw away.” But in the context with the figure of the beast with prey in its mouth, “drop” or “cast away” is the idea. Driver finds another cognate meaning “rescue” (see AJSL 52 [1935/36]: 163).

[31:34]  ¹⁴ tn Here too the verb will be the customary imperfect – it explains what he continually did in past time.

[31:34]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the great multitude.” But some commentators take רַבָּה (rabbah) adverbially: “greatly” (see RSV).

[31:34]  ¹⁶ sn There is no clear apodosis for all these clauses. Some commentators transfer the verses around to make them fit the constructions. But the better view is that there is no apodosis – that Job broke off here, feeling it was useless to go further. Now he will address God and not men. But in vv. 38-40b he does return to a self-imprecation. However, there is not sufficient reason to start rearranging all the verses.

[31:1]  ¹⁷ tn The idea of cutting a covenant for something may suggest a covenant that is imposed, except that this construction elsewhere argues against it (see 2 Chr 29:10).

[31:1]  ¹⁸ tn This half-verse is the effect of the covenant. The interrogative מָה (mah) may have the force of the negative, and so be translated “not to pay attention.”

[21:11]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And coming.” 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. The participle ἐλθών (elqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and taking.” This καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more. The participle ἄρας (aras) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ²¹ sn The belt was a band or sash used to keep money as well as to gird up the tunic (BDAG 431 s.v. ζώνη).

[21:11]  ²² tn The participle δήσας (dhsas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ²³ tn The words “with it” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[21:11]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and will deliver him over into the hands of” (a Semitic idiom).

[21:11]  sn The Jews…will tie up…and will hand him over. As later events will show, the Jews in Jerusalem did not personally tie Paul up and hand him over to the Gentiles, but their reaction to him was the cause of his arrest (Acts 21:27-36).

[21:12]  ²⁵ tn Or “the people there.”

[21:13]  ²⁶ tn The term translated “breaking” as used by Josephus (Ant. 10.10.4 [10.207]) means to break something into pieces, but in its only NT use (it is a hapax legomenon) it is used figuratively (BDAG 972 s.v. συνθρύπτω).

[21:13]  ²⁷ tn L&N 18.13 has “to tie objects together – ‘to tie, to tie together, to tie up.’” The verb δέω (dew) is sometimes figurative for imprisonment (L&N 37.114), but it is preferable to translate it literally here in light of v. 11 where Agabus tied himself up with Paul’s belt.

[21:14]  ²⁸ tn The participle πειθομένου (peiqomenou) in this genitive absolute construction has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[21:14]  ²⁹ tn Grk “we became silent, saying.”

[21:14]  ³⁰ sn “The Lord’s will be done.” Since no one knew exactly what would happen, the matter was left in the Lord’s hands.

[21:15]  ³¹ tn Or “we made preparations.”

[21:15]  ³² tn Grk “were going up”; the imperfect verb ἀνεβαίνομεν (anebainomen) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[21:15]  sn In colloquial speech Jerusalem was always said to be “up” from any other location in Palestine. The group probably covered the 65 mi (105 km) in two days using horses. Their arrival in Jerusalem marked the end of Paul’s third missionary journey.

[12:8]  ³³ tn Heb “the wicked walk all around.” One could translate v. 8a as an independent clause, in which case it would be a concluding observation in proverbial style. The present translation assumes that v. 8a is a subordinate explanatory clause, or perhaps a subordinate temporal clause (“while the wicked walk all around”). The adverb סָבִיב (saviv, “around”), in combination with the Hitpael form of the verb “walk” (which indicates repeated action), pictures the wicked as ubiquitous. They have seemingly overrun society.

[12:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “when evil is lifted up by the sons of man.” The abstract noun זֻלּוּת (zulut, “evil”) occurs only here. On the basis of evidence from the cognate languages (see HALOT 272 s.v.), one might propose the meaning “base character,” or “morally foolish behavior.”

[7:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”

[7:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”

[7:3]  ³⁷ tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.