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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 26

Psalm 26^[a]

By David.

26 Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have integrity,^[b]
and I trust in the Lord without wavering.
²Examine me, O Lord, and test me.
Evaluate my inner thoughts and motives.^[c]
³For I am ever aware of your faithfulness,^[d]
and your loyalty continually motivates me.^[e]
⁴I do not associate^[f] with deceitful men,
or consort^[g] with those who are dishonest.^[h]
⁵I hate the mob^[i] of evil men,
and do not associate^[j] with the wicked.
⁶I maintain a pure lifestyle,^[k]
so I can appear before your altar,^[l] O Lord,
⁷to give you thanks,^[m]
and to tell about all your amazing deeds.^[n]
⁸O Lord, I love the temple where you live,^[o]
the place where your splendor is revealed.^[p]
⁹Do not sweep me away^[q] with sinners,
or execute me along with violent people,^[r]
¹⁰who are always ready to do wrong^[s]
or offer a bribe.^[t]
¹¹But I have integrity.^[u]
Rescue me^[v] and have mercy on me!
¹²I am safe,^[w]
and among the worshipers I will praise the Lord.

Footnotes

Psalm 26:1 sn Psalm 26. The author invites the Lord to test his integrity, asserts his innocence and declares his loyalty to God.
Psalm 26:1 tn Heb “for I in my integrity walk.”
Psalm 26:2 tn Heb “evaluate my kidneys and my heart.” The kidneys and heart were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.
Psalm 26:3 tn Heb “for your faithfulness [is] before my eyes.”
Psalm 26:3 tn Heb “and I walk about in your loyalty.”sn The psalmist’s awareness of the Lord’s faithfulness and…loyalty toward him motivates him to remain loyal to the Lord and to maintain his moral purity.
Psalm 26:4 tn Heb “sit.”
Psalm 26:4 tn Heb “go.” The psalmist uses the imperfect form of the verb to emphasize that he does not make a practice of associating with such people.
Psalm 26:4 tn Heb “[those who] conceal themselves.”
Psalm 26:5 tn Heb “assembly, company.”
Psalm 26:5 tn Heb “sit.” The psalmist uses the imperfect form of the verb to emphasize that he does not make a practice of associating with such people.
Psalm 26:6 tn Heb “I wash my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The imperfect verbal emphasizes that this is his habit.
Psalm 26:6 tn Heb “so I can go around your altar” (probably in ritual procession). Following the imperfect of the preceding line, the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.
Psalm 26:7 tn Heb “to cause to be heard the sound of thanksgiving.”
Psalm 26:7 tn The two infinitival forms (both with prefixed preposition ל, lamed) give the purpose for his appearance at the altar.
Psalm 26:8 tn Heb “the dwelling of your house.”
Psalm 26:8 tn Heb “the place of the abode of your splendor.”
Psalm 26:9 tn Heb “do not gather up my life with.”
Psalm 26:9 tn Heb “or with men of bloodshed my life.” The verb is supplied; it is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).
Psalm 26:10 tn Heb “who [have] in their hands evil.”
Psalm 26:10 tn Heb “and their right hand is full of a bribe.”
Psalm 26:11 tn Heb “and I in my integrity walk.” The psalmist uses the imperfect verbal form to emphasize this is his practice. The construction at the beginning of the verse (conjunction + pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist and the sinners mentioned in vv. 9-10.
Psalm 26:11 tn Or “redeem me.”
Psalm 26:12 tn Heb “my foot stands in a level place.”

Job 4

Eliphaz Begins to Speak^[a]

4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:^[b]

²“If someone^[c] should attempt^[d] a word with you,
will you be impatient?^[e]
But who can refrain from speaking?^[f]
³Look,^[g] you have instructed^[h] many;
you have strengthened^[i] feeble hands.^[j]
⁴Your words have supported^[k] those
who stumbled,^[l]
and you have strengthened the knees
that gave way.^[m]
⁵But now the same thing^[n] comes to you,
and you are discouraged;^[o]
it strikes you,
and you are terrified.^[p]
⁶Is not your piety^[q] your confidence,^[r]
and your blameless ways your hope?^[s]
⁷Call to mind now:^[t]
Who,^[u] being innocent, ever perished?^[v]
And where were upright people^[w] ever destroyed?^[x]
⁸Even as I have seen,^[y] those who plow^[z] iniquity^[aa]
and those who sow trouble reap the same.^[ab]
⁹By the breath^[ac] of God they perish,^[ad]
and by the blast^[ae] of his anger they are consumed.
¹⁰There is^[af] the roaring of the lion^[ag]
and the growling^[ah] of the young lion,
but the teeth of the young lions are broken.^[ai]
¹¹The mighty lion^[aj] perishes^[ak] for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness^[al] are scattered.

Ungodly Complainers Provoke God’s Wrath

¹²“Now a word^[am] was stealthily brought^[an] to me,
and my ear caught^[ao] a whisper^[ap] of it.
¹³In the troubling thoughts^[aq] of the dreams^[ar] in the night
when a deep sleep^[as] falls on men,
¹⁴dread^[at] gripped me and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.^[au]
¹⁵Then a breath of air^[av] passes^[aw] by my face;
it makes^[ax] the hair of my flesh stand up.
¹⁶It stands still,^[ay]
but I cannot recognize^[az] its appearance;
an image is before my eyes,
and I hear a murmuring voice:^[ba]
¹⁷‘Is^[bb] a mortal man^[bc] righteous^[bd] before^[be] God?
Or a man pure^[bf] before his Creator?^[bg]
¹⁸If^[bh] God^[bi] puts no trust in^[bj] his servants^[bk]
and attributes^[bl] folly^[bm] to his angels,
¹⁹how much more to those who live in houses of clay,^[bn]
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed^[bo] like^[bp] a moth?
²⁰They are destroyed^[bq] between morning and evening;^[br]
they perish forever^[bs] without anyone regarding it.^[bt]
²¹Is not their excess wealth^[bu] taken away from them?^[bv]
They die,^[bw] yet without attaining wisdom.’^[bx]

Footnotes

Job 4:1 sn The speech of Eliphaz can be broken down into three main sections. In 4:1-11 he wonders that Job who had comforted so many people in trouble, and who was so pious, should fall into such despair, forgetting the great truth that the righteous never perish under affliction—calamity only destroys the wicked. Then in 4:12-5:7 Eliphaz tries to warn Job about complaining against God because only the ungodly resent the dealings of God and by their impatience bring down his wrath upon them. Finally in 5:8-27 Eliphaz appeals to Job to follow a different course, to seek after God, for God only smites to heal or to correct, to draw people to himself and away from evil. See K. Fullerton, “Double Entendre in the First Speech of Eliphaz,” JBL 49 (1930): 320-74; J. C. L. Gibson, “Eliphaz the Temanite: A Portrait of a Hebrew Philosopher,” SJT 28 (1975): 259-72; and J. Lust, “A Stormy Vision: Some Remarks on Job 4:12-16,” Bijdr 36 (1975): 308-11.
Job 4:1 tn Heb “answered and said.”
Job 4:2 tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so may be translated with “one” or “someone.”
Job 4:2 tn The Piel perfect is difficult here. It would normally be translated “has one tried (words with you)?” Most commentaries posit a conditional clause, however.
Job 4:2 tn The verb means “to be weary.” But it can have the extended sense of being either exhausted or impatient (see v. 5). A. B. Davidson (Job, 29) takes it in the sense of “will it be too much for you?” There is nothing in the sentence that indicates this should be an interrogative clause; it is simply an imperfect. But in view of the juxtaposition of the first part, this seems to make good sense. E. Dhorme (Job, 42) has “Shall we address you? You are dejected.”
Job 4:2 tn The construction uses a noun with the preposition: “and to refrain with words—who is able?” The Aramaic plural of “words” (מִלִּין, millin) occurs 13 times in Job, with the Hebrew plural ten times. The commentaries show that Eliphaz’s speech had a distinctly Aramaic coloring to it.
Job 4:3 tn The deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) summons attention; it has the sense of “consider, look.”
Job 4:3 tn The verb יָסַר (yasar) in the Piel means “to correct,” whether by words with the sense of teach, or by chastening with the sense of punish, discipline. The double meaning of “teach” and “discipline” is also found with the noun מוּסָר (musar).
Job 4:3 tn The parallelism again uses a perfect verb in the first colon and an imperfect in the second, but since the sense of the line is clearly what Job has done in the past, the second verb may be treated as a preterite, or a customary imperfect—what Job repeatedly did in the past (GKC 315 §107.e). The words in this verse may have double meanings. The word יָסַר (yasar, “teach, discipline”) may have the idea of instruction and correction, but also the connotation of strength (see Y. Hoffmann, “The Use of Equivocal Words in the First Speech of Eliphaz [Job IV–V],” VT 30 [1980]: 114-19).
Job 4:3 tn The “feeble hands” are literally “hands hanging down.” This is a sign of weakness, helplessness, or despondency (see 2 Sam 4:1; Isa 13:7).
Job 4:4 tn Both verbs in this line are imperfects, and probably carry the same nuance as the last verb in v. 3, namely, either customary imperfect or preterite. The customary has the aspect of stressing that this was what Job used to do.
Job 4:4 tn The form is the singular active participle, interpreted here collectively. The verb is used of knees that give way (Isa 35:3; Ps 109:24).
Job 4:4 tn The expression is often translated as “feeble knees,” but it literally says “the bowing [or “tottering”] knees.” The figure is one who may be under a heavy load whose knees begin to shake and buckle (see also Heb 12:12).sn Job had been successful at helping others not be crushed by the weight of trouble and misfortune. It is easier to help others than to preserve a proper perspective when one’s self is afflicted (E. Dhorme, Job, 44).
Job 4:5 tn The sentence has no subject, but the context demands that the subject be the same kind of trouble that has come upon people that Job has helped.
Job 4:5 tn This is the same verb used in v. 2, meaning “to be exhausted” or “impatient.” Here with the vav (ו) consecutive the verb describes Job’s state of mind that is a consequence of the trouble coming on him. In this sentence the form is given a present tense translation (see GKC 329 §111.t).
Job 4:5 tn This final verb in the verse is vivid; it means “to terrify, dismay” (here the Niphal preterite). Job will go on to speak about all the terrors that come on him.
Job 4:6 tn The word יִרְאָה (yirʾah, “fear”) in this passage refers to Job’s fear of the Lord, his reverential devotion to God. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 46) says that on the lips of Eliphaz the word almost means “your religion.” He refers to Moffatt’s translation, “Let your religion reassure you.”
Job 4:6 tn The word כִּסְלָתֶךָ (kislatekha, “your confidence”) is rendered in the LXX by “founded in folly.” The word כֶּסֶל (kesel) is “confidence” (see 8:14) and elsewhere “folly.” Since it is parallel to “your hope” it must mean confidence here.
Job 4:6 tn This second half of the verse simply has “your hope and the integrity of your ways.” The expression “the perfection of your ways” is parallel to “your fear,” and “your hope” is parallel to “your confidence.” This sentence is an example of casus pendens or extraposition: “as for your hope, it is the integrity of your ways” (see GKC 458 §143.d).sn Eliphaz is not being sarcastic to Job. He knows that Job is a God-fearing man who lives out his faith in life. But he also knows that Job should apply to himself the same things he tells others.
Job 4:7 sn Eliphaz will put his thesis forward first negatively and then positively (vv. 8ff). He will argue that the suffering of the righteous is disciplinary and not for their destruction. He next will argue that it is the wicked who deserve judgment.
Job 4:7 tn The use of the independent personal pronoun is emphatic, almost as an enclitic to emphasize interrogatives: “who indeed….” (GKC 442 §136.c).
Job 4:7 tn The perfect verb in this line has the nuance of the past tense to express the unique past—the uniqueness of the action is expressed with “ever” (“who has ever perished”).
Job 4:7 tn The adjective is used here substantivally. Without the article the word stresses the meaning of “uprightness.” Job will use “innocent” and “upright” together in 17:8.
Job 4:7 tn The Niphal means “to be hidden” (see the Piel in 6:10; 15:18; and 27:11); the connotation here is “destroyed” or “annihilated.”
Job 4:8 tn The perfect verb here represents the indefinite past. It has no specific sighting in mind, but refers to each time he has seen the wicked do this.
Job 4:8 sn The figure is an implied metaphor. Plowing suggests the idea of deliberately preparing (or cultivating) life for evil. This describes those who are fundamentally wicked.
Job 4:8 tn The LXX renders this with a plural “barren places.”
Job 4:8 tn Heb “reap it.”
Job 4:9 tn The LXX in the place of “breath” has “word” or “command,” probably to limit the anthropomorphism. The word is מִנִּשְׁמַת (minnishmat) comprising מִן (min) + נִשְׁמַת (nishmat, the construct of נְשָׁמָה [n^eshamah]): “from/at the breath of.” The “breath of God” occurs frequently in Scripture. In Gen 2:7 it imparts life, but here it destroys it. The figure probably does indicate a divine decree from God (e.g., “depart from me”)—so the LXX may have been simply interpreting.
Job 4:9 sn The statement is saying that if some die by misfortune it is because divine retribution or anger has come upon them. This is not necessarily the case, as the NT declares (see Luke 13:1-5).
Job 4:9 tn The word רוּחַ (ruakh) is now parallel to נְשָׁמָה (n^eshamah); both can mean “breath” or “wind.” To avoid using “breath” for both lines, “blast” has been employed here. The word is followed by אַפּוֹ (ʾappo) which could be translated “his anger” or “his nostril.” If “nostril” is retained, then it is a very bold anthropomorphism to indicate the fuming wrath of God. It is close to the picture of the hot wind coming off the desert to scorch the plants (see Hos 13:15).
Job 4:10 tn “There is” has been supplied to make a smoother translation out of the clauses.
Job 4:10 sn Eliphaz takes up a new image here to make the point that the wicked are destroyed—the breaking up and scattering of a den of lions. There are several words for “lion” used in this section. D. J. A. Clines observes that it is probably impossible to distinguish them (Job [WBC], 109, 110, which records some bibliography of those who have tried to work on the etymologies and meanings). The first is אַרְיֵה (ʾaryeh) the generic term for “lion.” It is followed by שַׁחַל (shakhal) which, like כְּפִיר (k^efir), is a “young lion.” Some have thought that the שַׁחַל (shakhal) is a lion-like animal, perhaps a panther or leopard. KBL takes it by metathesis from Arabic “young one.” The LXX for this verse has “the strength of the lion, and the voice of the lioness and the exulting cry of serpents are quenched.”
Job 4:10 tn Heb “voice.”
Job 4:10 tn The verb belongs to the subject “teeth” in this last colon, but it is used by zeugma (a figure of speech in which one word is made to refer to two or more other words, but has to be understood differently in the different contexts) of the three subjects (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 46-47).
Job 4:11 tn The word לַיִשׁ (layish) traditionally rendered “strong lion,” occurs only here and in Prov 30:30 and Isa 30:6. It has cognates in several of the Semitic languages, and so seems to indicate lion as king of the beasts.
Job 4:11 tn The form of the verb is the Qal active participle; it stresses the characteristic action of the verb as if a standard universal truth.
Job 4:11 tn The text literally has “sons of the lioness.”
Job 4:12 tn The LXX of this verse offers special problems. It reads, “But if there had been any truth in your words, none of these evils would have fallen upon you; shall not my ear receive excellent [information] from him?” The major error involves a dittography from the word for “secret,” yielding “truth.”
Job 4:12 tn The verb גָּנַב (ganav) means “to steal.” The Pual form in this verse is probably to be taken as a preterite since it requires a past tense translation: “it was stolen for me” meaning it was brought to me stealthily (see 2 Sam 19:3).
Job 4:12 tn Heb “received.”
Job 4:12 tn The word שֵׁמֶץ (shemets, “whisper”) is found only here and in Job 26:14. A cognate form שִׁמְצָה (shimtsah) is found in Exod 32:25 with the sense of “a whisper.” In postbiblical Hebrew the word comes to mean “a little.” The point is that Eliphaz caught just a bit, just a whisper of it, and will recount it to Job.
Job 4:13 tn Here too the word is rare. The form שְׂעִפִּים (s^eʾippim, “disquietings”) occurs only here and in 20:2. The form שַׂרְעַפִּים (sarʿappim, “disquieting thoughts”), possibly related by dissimilation, occurs in Pss 94:19 and 139:23. There seems to be a connection with סְעִפִּים (s^eʿippim) in 1 Kgs 18:21 with the meaning “divided opinion”; this is related to the idea of סְעִפָּה (s^eʿippah, “bough”). H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 47) concludes that the point is that like branches the thoughts lead off into different and bewildering places. E. Dhorme (Job, 50) links the word to an Arabic root (“to be passionately smitten”) for the idea of “intimate thoughts.” The idea here and in Ps 139 has more to do with anxious, troubling, disquieting thoughts, as in a nightmare.
Job 4:13 tn Heb “visions” of the night.
Job 4:13 tn The word תַּרְדֵּמָה (tardemah) is a “deep sleep.” It is used in the creation account when the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam; and it is used in the story of Jonah when the prophet was asleep during the storm. The LXX interprets it to mean “fear,” rendering the whole verse “but terror falls upon men with dread and a sound in the night.”
Job 4:14 tn The two words פַּחַד (pakhad, “dread”) and רְעָדָה (r^eʿadah, “trembling”) strengthen each other as synonyms (see also Ps 55:6).
Job 4:14 tn The subject of the Hiphil verb הִפְחִיד (hifkhid, “dread”) is פַּחַד (pakhad, “trembling”), which is why it is in the singular. The cognate verb intensifies and applies the meaning of the noun. BDB 808 s.v. פַּחַד Hiph translates it “fill my bones with dread.” In that sense “bones” would have to be a metonymy of subject representing the framework of the body, so that the meaning is that his whole being was filled with trembling.
Job 4:15 tn The word רוּחַ (ruakh) can be “spirit” or “breath.” The implication here is that it was something that Eliphaz felt—what he saw follows in v. 16. The commentators are divided on whether this is an apparition, a spirit, or a breath. The word can be used in either the masculine or the feminine, and so the gender of the verb does not favor the meaning “spirit.” In fact, in Isa 21:1 the same verb חָלַף (khalaf, “pass on, through”) is used with the subject being a strong wind or hurricane “blowing across.” It may be that such a wind has caused Eliphaz’s hair to stand on end here. D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 111) also concludes it means “wind,” noting that in Job a spirit or spirits would be called רְפָאִים (r^efaʾim), אֶלֹהִים (ʾelohim) or אוֹב (ʾov).
Job 4:15 tn The verbs in this verse are imperfects. In the last verse the verbs were perfects when Eliphaz reported the fear that seized him. In this continuation of the report the description becomes vivid with the change in verbs, as if the experience were in progress.
Job 4:15 tn The subject of this verb is also רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”), since it can assume either gender. The “hair of my flesh” is the complement and not the subject; therefore the Piel is to be retained and not changed to a Qal as some suggest (and compare with Ps 119:120).
Job 4:16 tc The LXX has the first person of the verb: “I arose and perceived it not, I looked and there was no form before my eyes, but I only heard a breath and a voice.”
Job 4:16 tn The imperfect verb is to be classified as potential imperfect. Eliphaz is unable to recognize the figure standing before him.
Job 4:16 sn The colon reads “a silence and a voice I hear.” Some have rendered it “there is a silence, and then I hear.” The verb דָּמַם (damam) does mean “remain silent” (Job 29:21; 31:34) and then also “cease.” The noun דְּמָמָה (d^emamah, “calm”) refers to the calm after the storm in Ps 107:29. Joined with the true object of the verb, “voice,” it probably means something like stillness or murmuring or whispering here. It is joined to “voice” with a conjunction, indicating that it is a hendiadys, “murmur and a voice” or a “murmuring voice.”
Job 4:17 tn The imperfect verbs in this verse express obvious truths known at all times (GKC 315 §107.f).
Job 4:17 tn The word for man here is first אֱנוֹשׁ (ʾenosh), stressing man in all his frailty, his mortality. This is paralleled with גֶּבֶר (gever), a word that would stress more of the strength or might of man. The verse is not making a great contrast between the two, but it is rhetorical question merely stating that no human being of any kind is righteous or pure before God the Creator. See H. Kosmala, “The Term geber in the OT and in the Scrolls,” VTSup 17 (1969): 159-69; and E. Jacob, Theology of the Old Testament, 156-57.
Job 4:17 tn The imperfect verb in this interrogative sentence could also be interpreted with a potential nuance: “Can a man be righteous?”
Job 4:17 tn The classification of מִן (min) as a comparative in this verse (NIV, “more righteous than God”; cf. also KJV, ASV, NCV) does not seem the most probable. The idea of someone being more righteous than God is too strong to be reasonable. Job will not do that—but he will imply that God is unjust. In addition, Eliphaz had this vision before hearing of Job’s trouble and so is not addressing the idea that Job is making himself more righteous than God. He is stating that no man is righteous before God. Verses 18-21 will show that no one can claim righteousness before God. In 9:2 and 25:4 the preposition “with” is used. See also Jer 51:5 where the preposition should be rendered “before” [the Holy One].
Job 4:17 sn In Job 15:14 and 25:4 the verb יִזְכֶּה (yizkeh, from זָכָה [zakhah, “be clean”]) is paralleled with יִצְדַּק (yitsdaq, from צָדֵק [tsadeq, “be righteous”).
Job 4:17 tn The double question here merely repeats the same question with different words (see GKC 475 §150.h). The second member could just as well have been connected with ו (vav).
Job 4:18 tn The particle הֵן (hen) introduces a conditional clause here, although the older translations used “behold.” The clause forms the foundation for the point made in the next verse, an argument by analogy—if this be true, then how much more/less the other.
Job 4:18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Job 4:18 tn The verb יַאֲמִין (yaʾamin), a Hiphil imperfect from אָמַן (ʾaman) followed by the preposition ב (bet), means “trust in.”
Job 4:18 sn The servants here must be angels in view of the parallelism. The Targum to Job interpreted them to be the prophets. In the book we have already read about the “sons of God” who take their stand as servants before the Lord (1:6; 2:1), and Ps 104:4 identifies the angels as attendants (using שָׁרַת, sharat).
Job 4:18 tn The verb שִׂים (sim, “set”) with the preposition ב (bet) has the sense of “impute” or “attribute something to someone.”
Job 4:18 tn The word תָּהֳלָה (toholah) is a hapax legomenon, and so has created some confusion in the various translations. It seems to mean “error; folly.” The word is translated “perverseness” in the LXX, but Symmachus connects it with the word for “madness.” Some commentators have repointed the word to תְּהִלָּה (t^ehillah, “praise”) making the line read: “he finds no [cause for] praise in his angels.” Others suggest תִּפְלָה (tiflah, “offensiveness, silliness”) a bigger change; this matches the idiom in Job 24:12. But if the etymology of the word is הָלַל (halal, “to be mad”) then that change is not necessary. The feminine noun “madness” still leaves the meaning of the line a little uncertain: “[if] he does not impute madness to his angels.” The point of the verse is that God finds flaws in his angels and does not put his trust in them.
Job 4:19 sn Those who live in houses of clay are human beings, for the human body was made of clay (Job 10:9; 33:6; and Isa 64:7). In 2 Cor 4:7 the body is an “earthen vessel”—a clay pot. The verse continues the analogy: houses have foundations, and the house of clay is founded on dust, and will return to dust (Gen 3:19; Ps 103:14). The reasoning is that if God finds defects in angels, he will surely find them in humans who are inferior to the angels because they are but dust. In fact, they are easily crushed like the moth.
Job 4:19 tn The imperfect verb is in the plural, suggesting “they crush.” But since there is no subject expressed, the verb may be given an impersonal subject, or more simply, treated as a passive (see GKC 460 §144.g).
Job 4:19 tn The prepositional compound לִפְנֵי (lifne) normally has the sense of “before,” but it has been used already in 3:24 in the sense of “like.” That is the most natural meaning of this line. Otherwise, the interpretation must offer some explanation of a comparison between how quickly a moth and a human can be crushed. There are suggestions for different readings here; see for example G. R. Driver, “Linguistic and Textual Problems: Jeremiah,” JQR 28 (1937/38): 97-129 for a change to “bird’s nest”; and J. A. Rimbach, “‘Crushed before the Moth’ (Job 4:19),” JBL 100 (1981): 244-46, for a change of the verb to “they are pure before their Maker.” However, these are unnecessary emendations.
Job 4:20 tn The form יֻכַּתּוּ (yukkattu) is the Hophal imperfect of the root כָּתַת (katat, “to be pounded, pulverized, reduced to ashes” [Jer 46:5; Mic 1:7]). It follows the Aramaic formation (see GKC 182 §67.y). This line appears to form a parallelism with “they are crushed like a moth,” the third unit of the last verse, but it has its own parallel idea in this verse. See D. J. A. Clines, “Verb Modality and the Interpretation of Job 4:20, 21, ” VT 30 (1980): 354-57.
Job 4:20 tn Or “from morning to evening.” The expression “from morning to evening” is probably not a merism, but rather describes the time between the morning and the evening, as in Isa 38:12: “from day to night you make an end of me.”
Job 4:20 sn The second colon expresses the consequence of this day-long reducing to ashes—they perish forever! (see 20:7 and 14:20).
Job 4:20 tn This rendering is based on the interpretation that מִבְּלִי מֵשִׂים (mibb^eli mesim) uses the Hiphil participle of שִׂים (sim, “set”) with an understood object “heart” to gain the idiom of “taking to heart, considering, regarding it”—hence, “without anyone regarding it.” Some commentators have attempted to resolve the difficulty by emending the text, a procedure that has no more support than positing the ellipses. One suggested emendation does have the LXX in its favor, namely, a reading of מֹשִׁיעַ (moshiaʿ, “one who saves”) in place of מֵשִׂים (mesim, “one who sets”). This would lead to “without one who saves they perish forever” (E. Dhorme, Job, 55).
Job 4:21 tn The word יֶתֶר (yeter, here with the suffix, יִתְרָם [yitram]) can mean “what remains” or “rope.” Of the variety of translations, the most frequently used idea seems to be “their rope,” meaning their tent cord. This would indicate that their life was compared to a tent—perfectly reasonable in a passage that has already used the image “houses of clay.” The difficulty is that the verb נָסַע (nasaʿ) means more properly “to tear up; to uproot” and not “to cut off.” A similar idea is found in Isa 38:12, but there the image is explicitly that of cutting the life off from the loom. Some have posited that the original must have said “their tent peg was pulled up” as in Isa 33:20 (A. B. Davidson, Job, 34; cf. NAB). But perhaps the idea of “what remains” would be easier to defend here. Besides, it is used in 22:20. The wealth of an individual is what has been acquired and usually is left over when he dies. Here it would mean that the superfluous wealth would be snatched away. The preposition ב (bet) would carry the meaning “from” with this verb.
Job 4:21 tc The text of the LXX does not seem to be connected to the Hebrew of v. 21a. It reads something like “for he blows on them and they are withered” (see Isa 40:24b). The Targum to Job has “Is it not by their lack of righteousness that they have been deprived of all support?”tn On the interpretation of the preposition in this construction, see N. Sarna, “The Interchange of the Preposition bet and min in Biblical Hebrew,” JBL 78 (1959): 310-16.
Job 4:21 sn They die. This clear verb interprets all the images in these verses—they die. When the house of clay collapses, or when their excess perishes—their life is over.
Job 4:21 tn Heb “and without wisdom.” The word “attaining” is supplied in the translation as a clarification.sn The expression without attaining wisdom is parallel to the previous without anyone regarding it. Both verses describe how easily humans perish: there is no concern for it, nor any sense to it. Humans die without attaining wisdom which can solve the mystery of human life.

Romans 8:1-11

The Believer’s Relationship to the Holy Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.^[a] ²For the law of the life-giving Spirit^[b] in Christ Jesus has set you^[c] free from the law of sin and death. ³For God achieved what the law could not do because^[d] it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by^[e] the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. ⁶For the outlook^[f] of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. ⁸Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹You, however, are not in^[g] the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but^[h] the Spirit is your life^[i] because of righteousness. ¹¹Moreover if the Spirit of the one^[j] who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ^[k] from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.^[l]

Footnotes

Romans 8:1 tc The earliest and best witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texts, as well as a few others (א* B D* F G 6 1506 1739 1881 co), have no additional words for v. 1. Later scribes (A D¹ Ψ 81 365 629 vg) added the words μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν (mē kata sarka peripatousin, “who do not walk according to the flesh”), while even later ones (א² D² 33^vid M) added ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα (alla kata pneuma, “but [who do walk] according to the Spirit”). Both the external evidence and the internal evidence are compelling for the shortest reading. The scribes were evidently motivated to add such qualifications (interpolated from v. 4) to insulate Paul’s gospel from charges that it was characterized too much by grace. The KJV follows the longest reading found in M.
Romans 8:2 tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”
Romans 8:2 tc Most mss read the first person singular pronoun με (me) here (A D 1175 1241 1505 1739^c 1881 2464 M lat sa). The second person singular pronoun σε (se) is superior because of external support (א B (F: σαι) G 1506* 1739*) and internal support (it is the harder reading since ch. 7 was narrated in the first person). At the same time, it could have arisen via dittography from the final syllable of the verb preceding it (ἠλευθέρωσεν, ēleutherōsen; “has set free”). But for this to happen in such early and diverse witnesses is unlikely, especially as it depends on various scribes repeatedly overlooking either the nu or the nu-bar at the end of the verb.
Romans 8:3 tn Grk “in that.”
Romans 8:5 tn Grk “think on” or “are intent on” (twice in this verse). What is in view here is not primarily preoccupation, however, but worldview. Translations like “set their mind on” could be misunderstood by the typical English reader to refer exclusively to preoccupation.
Romans 8:6 tn Or “mindset,” “way of thinking” (twice in this verse and once in v. 7). The Greek term φρόνημα does not refer to one’s mind, but to one’s outlook or mindset.
Romans 8:9 tn Or “are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit.”
Romans 8:10 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
Romans 8:10 tn Or “life-giving.” Grk “the Spirit is life.”
Romans 8:11 sn The one who raised Jesus from the dead refers to God (also in the following clause).
Romans 8:11 tc Several mss read ᾿Ιησοῦν (Iēsoun, “Jesus”) after Χριστόν (Christon, “Christ”; א* A D* 630 1506 1739 1881 bo); C 81 104 lat have ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστόν. The shorter reading is more likely to be autographic, though, both because of external evidence (א² B D² F G Ψ 33 1175 1241 1505 2464 M sa) and internal evidence (scribes were much more likely to add the name “Jesus” if it were lacking than to remove it if it were already present in the text, especially to harmonize with the earlier mention of Jesus in the verse).
Romans 8:11 tc Most mss (B D F G Ψ 33 1175 1241 1739 1881 M lat) have διά (dia) followed by the accusative: “because of his Spirit who lives in you.” The genitive “through his Spirit” is supported by א A C 81 104 1505 1506 al, and is slightly preferred.

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 26[a]

By David.

Footnotes

Eliphaz Begins to Speak[a]

Ungodly Complainers Provoke God’s Wrath

Footnotes

The Believer’s Relationship to the Holy Spirit

Footnotes

Psalm 26^[a]

Eliphaz Begins to Speak^[a]