Ulangan 32:35

32:35 I will get revenge and pay them back

at the time their foot slips;

for the day of their disaster is near,

and the impending judgment ¹  is rushing upon them!”

Ayub 3:23

3:23 Why is light given ²  to a man ³ 

whose way is hidden, ⁴ 

and whom God has hedged in? ⁵ 

Amsal 13:9

13:9 The light ⁶  of the righteous shines brightly, ⁷ 

but the lamp ⁸  of the wicked goes out. ⁹ 

Yesaya 8:15

8:15 Many will stumble over the stone and the rock, ¹⁰ 

and will fall and be seriously injured,

and will be ensnared and captured.”

[32:35]  ¹ tn Heb “prepared things,” “impending things.” See BDB 800 s.v. עָתִיד.

[3:23]  ² tn This first part of the verse, “Why is light given,” is supplied from the context. In the Hebrew text the verse simply begins with “to a man….” It is also in apposition to the construction in v. 20. But after so many qualifying clauses and phrases, a restatement of the subject (light, from v. 20) is required.

[3:23]  ³ sn After speaking of people in general (in the plural in vv. 21 and 22), Job returns to himself specifically (in the singular, using the same word גֶּבֶר [gever, “a man”] that he employed of himself in v. 3). He is the man whose way is hidden. The clear path of his former life has been broken off, or as the next clause says, hedged in so that he is confined to a life of suffering. The statement includes the spiritual perplexities that this involves. It is like saying that God is leading him in darkness and he can no longer see where he is going.

[3:23]  ⁴ tn The LXX translated “to a man whose way is hidden” with the vague paraphrase “death is rest to [such] a man.” The translators apparently combined the reference to “the grave” in the previous verse with “hidden”

[3:23]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil of סָכַךְ (sakhakh,“to hedge in”). The key parallel passage is Job 19:8, which says, “He has blocked [גָּדַר, gadar] my way so I cannot pass, and has set darkness over my paths.” To be hedged in is an implied metaphor, indicating that the pathway is concealed and enclosed. There is an irony in Job’s choice of words in light of Satan’s accusation in 1:10. It is heightened further when the same verb is employed by God in 38:8 (see F. I. Andersen, Job [TOTC], 109).

[13:9]  ⁶ sn The images of “light” and “darkness” are used frequently in scripture. Here “light” is an implied comparison: “light” represents life, joy, and prosperity; “darkness” signifies adversity and death. So the “light of the righteous” represents the prosperous life of the righteous.

[13:9]  ⁷ tn The verb יִשְׂמָח (yismah) is normally translated “to make glad; to rejoice.” But with “light” as the subject, it has the connotation “to shine brightly” (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew Text of Proverbs,” Bib 32 [1951]: 180).

[13:9]  ⁸ sn The lamp is an implied comparison as well, comparing the life of the wicked to a lamp that is going to be extinguished.

[13:9]  ⁹ tc The LXX adds, “Deceitful souls go astray in sins, but the righteous are pitiful and merciful.”

[13:9]  tn The verb דָּעַךְ (da’akh) means “to go out [in reference to a fire or lamp]; to be extinguished.” The idea is that of being made extinct, snuffed out (cf. NIV, NLT). The imagery may have been drawn from the sanctuary where the flame was to be kept burning perpetually. Not so with the wicked.

[8:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “over them” (so NASB); NCV “over this rock.”