chevron-left All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 55:1-15 (It is not enemies who taunt me); Job 15:1-35 (Eliphaz’s second speech); Matthew 5:27-36 (Teachings about marriage and vow-making) (New English Translation)
Print Print Page Options Settings
Previous Prev Day
October 6, 2021 Use the calendar to view readings from this plan.
Next DayNext

Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.
Duration: 1245 days
New English Translation (NET)
Version
Psalm 55:1-15

Psalm 55[a]

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a well-written song[b] by David.

55 Listen, O God, to my prayer.
Do not ignore[c] my appeal for mercy.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
I am so upset[d] and distressed,[e] I am beside myself,[f]
3 because of what the enemy says,[g]
and because of how the wicked[h] pressure me,[i]
for they hurl trouble[j] down upon me[k]
and angrily attack me.
4 My heart beats violently[l] within me;
the horrors of death overcome me.[m]
5 Fear and panic overpower me;[n]
terror overwhelms[o] me.
6 I say,[p] “I wish I had wings like a dove.
I would fly away and settle in a safe place.
7 Look, I will escape to a distant place;
I will stay in the wilderness. (Selah)
8 I will hurry off to a place that is safe
from the strong wind[q] and the gale.”
9 Confuse them,[r] O Lord.
Frustrate their plans.[s]
For I see violence and conflict in the city.
10 Day and night they walk around on its walls,[t]
while wickedness and destruction[u] are within it.
11 Disaster is within it;
violence[v] and deceit do not depart from its public square.
12 Indeed,[w] it is not an enemy who insults me,
or else I could bear it;
it is not one who hates me who arrogantly taunts me,[x]
or else I could hide from him.
13 But it is you,[y] a man like me,[z]
my close friend in whom I confided.[aa]
14 We would share personal thoughts with each other;[ab]
in God’s temple we would walk together among the crowd.
15 May death destroy them.[ac]
May they go down alive into Sheol.[ad]
For evil is in their dwelling place and in their midst.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 55:1 sn Psalm 55. The suffering and oppressed author laments that one of his friends has betrayed him, but he is confident that God will vindicate him by punishing his deceitful enemies.
  2. Psalm 55:1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 52.
  3. Psalm 55:1 tn Heb “hide yourself from.”
  4. Psalm 55:2 tn Or “restless” (see Gen 27:40). The Hiphil is intransitive-exhibitive, indicating the outward display of an inner attitude.
  5. Psalm 55:2 tn Heb “in my complaint.”
  6. Psalm 55:2 tn The verb is a Hiphil cohortative from הוּם (hum), which means “to confuse someone” in the Qal and “to go wild” in the Niphal. An Arabic cognate means “to be out of one’s senses, to wander about.” With the vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, the cohortative probably indicates the result or effect of the preceding main verb. Some prefer to emend the form to וְאֵהוֹמָה (veʾehomah), a Niphal of הוּם (hum), or to וְאֶהַמֶה (veʾehameh), a Qal imperfect from הָמָה (hamah, “to moan”). Many also prefer to take this verb with what follows (see v. 3).
  7. Psalm 55:3 tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”
  8. Psalm 55:3 tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.
  9. Psalm 55:3 tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (ʿaqah, “pressure”).
  10. Psalm 55:3 tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.
  11. Psalm 55:3 tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).
  12. Psalm 55:4 tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”
  13. Psalm 55:4 tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”
  14. Psalm 55:5 tn Heb “fear and trembling enter into me.”
  15. Psalm 55:5 tn Heb “covers.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the preceding imperfect.
  16. Psalm 55:6 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the verbs in v. 5.
  17. Psalm 55:8 tn Heb “[the] wind [that] sweeps away.” The verb סָעָה (saʿah, “sweep away”) occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 120).
  18. Psalm 55:9 tn Traditionally בַּלַּע (balaʿ) has been taken to mean “swallow” in the sense of “devour” or “destroy” (cf. KJV), but this may be a homonym meaning “confuse” (see BDB 118 s.v. בַּלַּע; HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע). “Their tongue” is the understood object of the verb (see the next line).
  19. Psalm 55:9 tn Heb “split their tongue,” which apparently means “confuse their speech,” or, more paraphrastically, “frustrate the plans they devise with their tongues.”
  20. Psalm 55:10 tn Heb “day and night they surround it, upon its walls.” Personified “violence and conflict” are the likely subjects. They are compared to watchmen on the city’s walls.
  21. Psalm 55:10 sn Wickedness and destruction. These terms are also closely associated in Ps 7:14.
  22. Psalm 55:11 tn Or “injury, harm.”
  23. Psalm 55:12 tn Or “for.”
  24. Psalm 55:12 tn Heb “[who] magnifies against me.” See Pss 35:26; 38:16.
  25. Psalm 55:13 sn It is you. The psalmist addresses the apparent ringleader of the opposition, an individual who was once his friend.
  26. Psalm 55:13 tn Heb “a man according to my value,” i.e., “a person such as I.”
  27. Psalm 55:13 tn Heb “my close friend, one known by me.”
  28. Psalm 55:14 tn Heb “who together we would make counsel sweet.” The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to the ongoing nature of the actions (the so-called customary use of the imperfect). Their relationship was characterized by such intimacy and friendship. See IBHS 502-3 §31.2b.
  29. Psalm 55:15 tc The meaning of the MT is unclear. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads יַשִּׁימָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashimavet ʿalemo, “May devastation [be] upon them.”). The proposed noun יַשִּׁימָוֶת occurs only here and perhaps in the place name Beth Jeshimoth in Num 33:49. The Qere (marginal text) has יַשִּׁי מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashi mavet ʿalemo). The verbal form יַשִּׁי is apparently an alternate form of יַשִּׁיא (yashiʾ), a Hiphil imperfect from נָשַׁא (nashaʾ, “deceive”). In this case one might read “death will come deceptively upon them.” This reading has the advantage of reading מָוֶת (mavet, “death”) which forms a natural parallel with “Sheol” in the next line. The present translation is based on the following reconstruction of the text: יְשִׁמֵּם מָוֶת (yeshimmem mavet). The verb assumed in the reconstruction is a Hiphil jussive third masculine singular from שָׁמַם (shamam, “be desolate”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix attached. This reconstruction assumes that (1) haplography has occurred in the traditional text (the original sequence of three mems [מ] was lost with only one mem remaining), resulting in the fusion of originally distinct forms in the Kethib, and (2) that עָלֵימוֹ (ʿalemo, “upon them”) is a later scribal addition attempting to make sense of a garbled text. The preposition עַל (ʿal) does occur with the verb שָׁמַם (shamam), but in such cases the expression means “be appalled at/because of” (see Jer 49:20; 50:45). If one were to retain the prepositional phrase here, one would have to read the text as follows: יַשִּׁים מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashim mavet ʿalemo, “Death will be appalled at them”). The idea seems odd, to say the least. Death is not collocated with this verb elsewhere.
  30. Psalm 55:15 sn Go down alive. This curse imagines a swift and sudden death for the psalmist’s enemies.
Job 15

Eliphaz’s Second Speech[a]

15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

2 “Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge,[b]
or fill his belly[c] with the east wind?[d]
3 Does he argue[e] with useless[f] talk,
with words that have no value in them?
4 But you even break off[g] piety,[h]
and hinder[i] meditation[j] before God.
5 Your sin inspires[k] your mouth;
you choose the language[l] of the crafty.[m]
6 Your own mouth condemns[n] you, not I;
your own lips testify against[o] you.
7 “Were you the first man ever born?

Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you listen in on God’s secret council?[p]
Do you limit[q] wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we don’t know?
What do you understand that we don’t understand?[r]
10 The gray-haired[s] and the aged are on our side,[t]
men far older than your father.[u]
11 Are God’s consolations[v] too trivial for you,[w]
or a word spoken[x] in gentleness to you?
12 Why[y] has your heart carried you away,[z]
and why do your eyes flash,[aa]
13 when you turn your rage[ab] against God
and allow such words to escape[ac] from your mouth?
14 What is man that he should be pure,
or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
15 If God[ad] places no trust in his holy ones,[ae]
if even the heavens[af] are not pure in his eyes,
16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt,[ag]
who drinks in evil like water![ah]
17 “I will explain to you;
listen to me,
and what[ai] I have seen, I will declare,[aj]
18 what wise men declare,
hiding nothing,
from the tradition of[ak] their ancestors,[al]
19 to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigner passed among them.[am]
20 All his days[an] the wicked man suffers torment,[ao]
throughout the number of the years
that[ap] are stored up for the tyrant.[aq]
21 Terrifying sounds fill[ar] his ears;
in a time of peace marauders[as] attack him.
22 He does not expect[at] to escape from darkness;[au]
he is marked for the sword;[av]
23 he wanders about—food for vultures[aw]—
he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.[ax]
24 Distress and anguish[ay] terrify him;
they prevail against him
like a king ready to launch an attack,[az]
25 for he stretches out his hand against God,[ba]
and vaunts himself[bb] against the Almighty,
26 defiantly charging against him[bc]
with a thick, strong shield![bd]
27 Because he covered his face with fat,[be]
and made[bf] his hips bulge with fat,[bg]
28 he lived in ruined towns[bh]
and in houses where[bi] no one lives,
where they are ready to crumble into heaps.[bj]
29 He will not grow rich,
and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions[bk] spread over the land.
30 He will not escape the darkness;[bl]
a flame will wither his shoots
and he will depart
by the breath of God’s mouth.[bm]
31 Let him not trust in what is worthless,[bn]
deceiving himself;
for worthlessness will be his reward.[bo]
32 Before his time[bp] he will be paid in full,[bq]
and his branches will not flourish.[br]
33 Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall,[bs]
and like an olive tree
he will shed his blossoms.[bt]
34 For the company of the godless is barren,[bu]
and fire[bv] consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.[bw]
35 They conceive[bx] trouble and bring forth evil;
their belly[by] prepares deception.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 15:1 sn In the first round of speeches, Eliphaz had emphasized the moral perfection of God, Bildad his unwavering justice, and Zophar his omniscience. Since this did not bring the expected response from Job, the friends see him as a menace to true religion, and so they intensify their approach. Eliphaz, as dignified as ever, rebukes Job for his arrogance and warns about the judgment the wicked bring on themselves. The speech of Eliphaz falls into three parts: the rebuke of Job for his irreverence (2-6); the analysis of Job’s presumption about wisdom (7-16), and his warning about the fate of the wicked (17-35).
  2. Job 15:2 tn The Hebrew is דַעַת־רוּחַ (daʿat ruakh). This means knowledge without any content, vain knowledge.
  3. Job 15:2 tn The image is rather graphic. It is saying that he puffs himself up with the wind and then brings out of his mouth blasts of this wind.
  4. Job 15:2 tn The word for “east wind,” קָדִים (qadim), is parallel to “spirit/wind” also in Hos 12:2. The east wind is maleficent, but here in the parallelism it is so much hot air.
  5. Job 15:3 tn The infinitive absolute in this place is functioning either as an explanatory adverb or as a finite verb.sn Eliphaz draws on Job’s claim with this word (cf. Job 13:3), but will declare it hollow.
  6. Job 15:3 tn The verb סָכַן (sakhan) means “to be useful, profitable.” It is found 5 times in the book with this meaning. The Hiphil of יָעַל (yaʿal) has the same connotation. E. Lipiński offers a new meaning on a second root, “incur danger” or “run risks” with words, but this does not fit the parallelism (FO 21 [1980]: 65-82).
  7. Job 15:4 tn The word פָּרַר (parar) in the Hiphil means “to annul; to frustrate; to destroy; to break,” and this fits the line quite well. The NEB reflects G. R. Driver’s suggestion of an Arabic cognate meaning “to expel; to banish” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 77).
  8. Job 15:4 tn Heb “fear, reverence.”
  9. Job 15:4 tn The word גָּרַע (garaʿ) means “to diminish,” regard as insignificant, occasionally with the sense of “pull down” (Deut 4:2; 13:1). It is here that Eliphaz is portraying Job as a menace to the religion of society because he dissuades people from seeking God.
  10. Job 15:4 tn The word שִׂיחָה (sikhah) is “complaint; cry; meditation.” Job would be influencing people to challenge God and not to meditate before or pray to him.
  11. Job 15:5 tn The verb אַלֵּף (ʾallef) has the meaning of “to teach; to instruct,” but it is unlikely that the idea of revealing is intended. If the verb is understood metonymically, then “to inspire; to prompt” will be sufficient. Dahood and others find another root, and render the verb “to increase,” reversing subject and object: “your mouth increases your iniquity.”
  12. Job 15:5 tn Heb “tongue.”
  13. Job 15:5 tn The word means “shrewd; crafty; cunning” (see Gen 3:1). Job uses clever speech that is misleading and destructive.
  14. Job 15:6 tn The Hiphil of this root means “declare wicked, guilty” (a declarative Hiphil), and so “condemns.”
  15. Job 15:6 tn The verb עָנָה (ʿanah) with the ל (lamed) preposition following it means “to testify against.” For Eliphaz, it is enough to listen to Job to condemn him.
  16. Job 15:8 tn The meaning of סוֹד (sod) is “confidence.” In the context the implication is “secret counsel” of the Lord God (see Jer 23:18). It is a question of confidence on the part of God, that only wisdom can know (see Prov 8:30, 31). Job seemed to them to claim to have access to the mind of God.
  17. Job 15:8 tn In v. 4 the word meant “limit”; here it has a slightly different sense, namely, “to reserve for oneself.”
  18. Job 15:9 tn The last clause simply has “and it is not with us.” It means that one possesses something through knowledge. Note the parallelism of “know” and “with me” in Ps 50:11.
  19. Job 15:10 tn The participle שָׂב (sav), from שִׂיב (siv, “to have white hair”; 1 Sam 12:2), only occurs elsewhere in the Bible in the Aramaic sections of Ezra. The word יָשִׁישׁ (yashish, “aged”) occurred in 12:12.
  20. Job 15:10 tn Heb “with us.”
  21. Job 15:10 tn The line reads: “[men] greater than your father [in] days.” The expression “in days” underscores their age—they were older than Job’s father, and therefore wiser.
  22. Job 15:11 sn The words of comfort and consolation that they have been offering to Job are here said to be from God, but Job will call them miserable comforters (16:2).
  23. Job 15:11 tn The formula “is it too little for you” or “is it too slight a matter for you” is also found in Isa 7:13 (see GKC 430 §133.c).
  24. Job 15:11 tn The word “spoken” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.
  25. Job 15:12 tn The interrogative מָה (mah) here has the sense of “why?” (see Job 7:21).
  26. Job 15:12 tn The verb simply means “to take.” The RSV has “carry you away.” E. Dhorme (Job, 212-13) goes further, saying that it implies being unhinged by passion, to be carried away by the passions beyond good sense (pp. 212-13). Pope and Tur-Sinai suggest that the suffix on the verb is datival, and translate it, “What has taken from you your mind?” But the parallelism shows that “your heart” and “your eyes” are subjects.
  27. Job 15:12 tn Here is another word that occurs only here, and in the absence of a completely convincing suggestion, probably should be left as it is. The verb is רָזַם (razam, “wink, flash”). Targum Job and the Syriac equate it with a verb found in Aramaic and postbiblical Hebrew with the same letters but metathesized—רָמַז (ramaz). It would mean “to make a sign” or “to wink.” Budde, following the LXX probably, has “Why are your eyes lofty?” Others follow an Arabic root meaning “become weak.”
  28. Job 15:13 tn The Hebrew is רוּחֶךָ (rukhekha, “your spirit” or “your breath”). But the fact that this is turned “against God,” means that it must be given a derived meaning, or a meaning that is metonymical. It is used in the Bible in the sense of anger—what the spirit vents (see Judg 8:3; Prov 16:32; and Job 4:9 with “blast”).
  29. Job 15:13 tn The verb is a Hiphil perfect of yasa’, “to go out, proceed, issue forth.”
  30. Job 15:15 tn Heb “he.”
  31. Job 15:15 tn Eliphaz here reiterates the point made in Job 4:18.
  32. Job 15:15 sn The question here is whether the reference is to material “heavens” (as in Exod 24:10 and Job 25:5), or to heavenly beings. The latter seems preferable in this context.
  33. Job 15:16 tn The two descriptions here used are “abominable,” meaning “disgusting” (a Niphal participle with the value of a Latin participle [see GKC 356-57 §116.e]), and “corrupt” (a Niphal participle which occurs only in Pss 14:3 and 53:4), always in a moral sense. On the significance of the first description, see P. Humbert, “Le substantif toʾēbā et le verbe tʾb dans l’Ancien Testament,” ZAW 72 [1960]: 217-37). On the second word, G. R. Driver suggests from Arabic, “debauched with luxury, corrupt” (“Some Hebrew Words,” JTS 29 [1927/28]: 390-96).
  34. Job 15:16 sn Man commits evil with the same ease and facility as he drinks in water—freely and in large quantities.
  35. Job 15:17 tn The demonstrative pronoun is used here as a nominative, to introduce an independent relative clause (see GKC 447 §138.h).
  36. Job 15:17 tn Here the vav (ו) apodosis follows with the cohortative (see GKC 458 §143.d).
  37. Job 15:18 tn The word “tradition” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.
  38. Job 15:18 tn Heb “their fathers.” Some commentators change one letter and follow the reading of the LXX: “and their fathers have not hidden.” Pope tries to get the same reading by classifying the ם (mem) as an enclitic mem. The MT on first glance would read “and did not hide from their fathers.” Some take the clause “and they did not hide” as adverbial and belonging to the first part of the verse: “what wise men declare, hiding nothing, according to the tradition of their fathers.”
  39. Job 15:19 sn Eliphaz probably thinks that Edom was the proverbial home of wisdom, and so the reference here would be to his own people. If, as many interpret, the biblical writer is using these accounts to put Yahwistic ideas into the discussion, then the reference would be to Canaan at the time of the fathers. At any rate, the tradition of wisdom to Eliphaz has not been polluted by foreigners, but has retained its pure and moral nature from antiquity.
  40. Job 15:20 tn Heb “all the days of the wicked, he suffers.” The word “all” is an adverbial accusative of time, stating along with its genitives (“of the days of a wicked man”) how long the individual suffers. When the subject is composed of a noun in construct followed by a genitive, the predicate sometimes agrees with the genitive (see GKC 467 §146.a).
  41. Job 15:20 tn The Hebrew term מִתְחוֹלֵל (mitkholel) is a Hitpolel participle from חִיל (khil, “to tremble”). It carries the idea of “torment oneself,” or “be tormented.” Some have changed the letter ח (khet) for a letter ה (he), and obtained the meaning “shows himself mad.” Theodotion has “is mad.” Syriac (“behave arrogantly,” apparently confusing Hebrew חול with חלל; Heidi M. Szpek, Translation Technique in the Peshitta to Job [SBLDS], 277), Symmachus, and Vulgate have “boasts himself.” But the reading of the MT is preferable.
  42. Job 15:20 tn It is necessary, with Rashi, to understand the relative pronoun before the verb “they are stored up/reserved.”
  43. Job 15:20 tn This has been translated with the idea of “oppressor” in Job 6:23; 27:13.
  44. Job 15:21 tn The word “fill” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.
  45. Job 15:21 tn The word שׁוֹדֵד (shoded) means “a robber; a plunderer” (see Job 12:6). With the verb בּוֹא (boʾ ) the sentence means that the robber pounces on or comes against him (see GKC 373 §118.f). H. H. Rowley observes that the text does not say that he is under attack, but that the sound of fears is in his ears, i.e., that he is terrified by thoughts of this.
  46. Job 15:22 tn This is the meaning of the Hiphil imperfect negated: “he does not believe” or “he has no confidence.” It is followed by the infinitive construct functioning as the direct object—he does not expect to return (to escape) from darkness.sn The meaning of this line is somewhat in question. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 111) thinks it could mean that he is afraid he will not wake up from the night, or he dreads misfortune, thinking it will be final for him.
  47. Job 15:22 sn In the context of these arguments, “darkness” probably refers to calamity, and so the wicked can expect a calamity that is final.
  48. Job 15:22 tn Heb “he is watched [or waited for] by the sword.” G. R. Driver reads it, “he is marked down for the sword” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 78). Ewald suggested “laid up for the sword.” Ball has “looks for the sword.” The MT has a passive participle from צָפָה (tsafah, “to observe, watch”) which can be retained in the text; the meaning of the form can then be understood as the result of the inspection (E. Dhorme, Job, 217).
  49. Job 15:23 tn The MT has “he wanders about for food—where is it?” The LXX has “he has been appointed for food for vultures,” reading אַיָּה (ʾayyah, “vulture”) for אַיֵּה (ʾayyeh, “where is it?”). This would carry on the thought of the passage—he sees himself destined for the sword and food for vultures. Many commentators follow this reading while making a number of smaller changes in נֹדֵד (noded, “wandering”) such as נִתַּן (nittan, “is given”), נוֹעַד (noʿad, “is appointed”), נוֹדַע (nodaʿ, “is known”), or something similar. The last involves no major change in consonants. While the MT “wandering” may not be as elegant as some of the other suggestions, it is not impossible. But there is no reading of this verse that does not involve some change. The LXX has “and he has been appointed for food for vultures.”
  50. Job 15:23 tn This line is fraught with difficulties (perceived or real), which prompt numerous suggestions. The reading of the MT is “he knows that a day of darkness is fixed in his hand,” i.e., is certain. Many commentators move “day of darkness” to the next verse, following the LXX. Then, suggestions have been offered for נָכוֹן (nakhon, “ready”), such as נֵכֶר (nekher, “disaster”); and for בְּיָדוֹ (beyado, “in his hand”) a number of ideas—לְאֵיד (leʾed, “calamity”) or פִּידוֹ (pido, “his disaster”). Wright takes this last view and renders it “he knows that misfortune is imminent,” leaving the “day of darkness” to the next verse.
  51. Job 15:24 tn If “day and darkness” are added to this line, then this verse is made into a tri-colon—the main reason for transferring it away from the last verse. But the newly proposed reading follows the LXX structure precisely, as if that were the approved construction. The Hebrew of MT has “distress and anguish terrify him.”
  52. Job 15:24 tn This last colon is deleted by some, moved to v. 26 by others, and the NEB puts it in brackets. The last word (translated here as “launch an attack”) occurs only here. HALOT 472 s.v. כִּידוֹר links it to an Arabic root kadara, “to rush down,” as with a bird of prey. J. Reider defines it as “perturbation” from the same root (“Etymological Studies in Biblical Hebrew,” VT 2 [1952]: 127).
  53. Job 15:25 sn The symbol of the outstretched hand is the picture of attempting to strike someone, or shaking a fist at someone; it is a symbol of a challenge or threat (see Isa 5:25; 9:21; 10:4).
  54. Job 15:25 tn The Hitpael of גָּבַר (gavar) means “to act with might” or “to behave like a hero.” The idea is that the wicked boldly vaunts himself before the Lord.
  55. Job 15:26 tn Heb “he runs against [or upon] him with the neck.” The RSV takes this to mean “with a stiff neck.” Several commentators, influenced by the LXX’s “insolently,” have attempted to harmonize with some idiom for neck (“outstretched neck,” for example). Others have made more extensive changes. Pope and Anderson follow Tur-Sinai in accepting “with full battle armor.” But the main idea seems to be that of a headlong assault on God.
  56. Job 15:26 tn Heb “with the thickness of the bosses of his shield.” The bosses are the convex sides of the bucklers, turned against the foe. This is a defiant attack on God.
  57. Job 15:27 sn This verse tells us that he is not in any condition to fight, because he is bloated and fat from luxurious living.
  58. Job 15:27 tn D. W. Thomas defends a meaning “cover” for the verb עָשָׂה (ʿasah). See “Translating Hebrew ʿasah,” BT 17 [1966]: 190-93.
  59. Job 15:27 tn The term פִּימָה (pimah), a hapax legomenon, is explained by the Arabic faʾima, “to be fat.” Pope renders this “blubber.” Cf. KJV “and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.”
  60. Job 15:28 sn K&D 11:266 rightly explains that these are not cities that he, the wicked, has destroyed, but that were destroyed by a judgment on wickedness. Accordingly, Eliphaz is saying that the wicked man is willing to risk such a curse in his confidence in his prosperity (see further H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 113).
  61. Job 15:28 tn The verbal idea serves here to modify “houses” as a relative clause; so a relative pronoun is added.
  62. Job 15:28 tn The Hebrew has simply “they are made ready for heaps.” The LXX translates it, “what they have prepared, let others carry away.” This would involve a complete change of the last word.
  63. Job 15:29 tn This word מִנְלָם (minlam) also is a hapax legomenon, although almost always interpreted to mean “possession” (with Arabic manal) and repointed as מְנֹלָם (menolam). M. Dahood further changes “earth” to the netherworld, and interprets it to mean “his possessions will not go down to the netherworld” (“Value of Ugaritic for Textual Criticism,” Bib 40 [1959]: 164-66). Others suggest it means “ear of grain,” either from the common word for “ears of grain” or a hapax legomenon in Deut 23:26 HT (23:25 ET).
  64. Job 15:30 tn Some editions and commentators delete the first line of this verse, arguing that it is simply a paraphrase of v. 22a, and that it interrupts the comparison with a tree that falls (although that comparison only starts next).
  65. Job 15:30 tn This last line in the verse is the difficult one. The MT has “he shall depart by the breath of his mouth.” If this reading stands, then it must be understood that it is the breath of God’s mouth that is intended. In place of “his mouth” the LXX has “flower” (reading פִּרהוֹ [pirho, properly, “his fruit”] instead of פִּיו piv), and “fall” instead of “depart.” Modern commentators and a number of English versions (e.g., RSV, NRSV, TEV) alter יָסוּר (yasur, “depart”) to something like יְסֹעַר (yesoʿar, from סָעַר [saʿar, “to drive away”]), or the like, to get “will be swept away.” The result is a reading: “and his blossom will be swept away by the wind.” The LXX may have read the Hebrew exactly, but harmonized it with v. 33 (see H. Heater, A Septuagint Translation Technique in the Book of Job [CBQMS]: 61-62).
  66. Job 15:31 tn The word, although difficult in its form, is “vanity,” i.e., that which is worthless. E. Dhorme (Job, 224) thinks that the form שָׁוְא (shavʾ) conceals the word שִׁיאוֹ (shiʾo, “his stature”). But Dhorme reworks most of the verse. He changes נִתְעָה (nitʿah, “deceived”) to נֵדַע (nedaʿ, “we know”) to arrive at “we know that it is vanity.” The last two words of the verse are then moved to the next. The LXX has “let him not think that he shall endure, for his end shall be vanity.”
  67. Job 15:31 tn This word is found in Job 20:18 with the sense of “trading.” It can mean the exchange of goods or the profit from them. Some commentators change תְמוּרָתוֹ (temurato, “his reward”) because they wish to put it with the next verse as the LXX seems to have done (although the LXX does not represent this). Suggestions include תִּמֹרָתוֹ (timorato, “his palm tree”) and זְמֹרָתוֹ (zemorato, “his vine shoot”). A number of writers simply delete all of v. 31. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 115) suggests the best reading (assuming one were going to make changes) would be, “Let him not trust in his stature, deceiving himself, for it is vanity,” putting “his palm tree” with the next verse.
  68. Job 15:32 tn Heb “before his day.”
  69. Job 15:32 tn Those who put the last colon of v. 31 with v. 32 also have to change the verb תִּמָּלֵא (timmaleʾ, “will be fulfilled”). E. Dhorme (Job, 225) says, “a mere glance at the use of yimmal…abundantly proves that the original text had timmal (G, Syr., Vulg), which became timmaleʾ through the accidental transposition of the ʾalep of besiʾo…in verse 31….” This, of course, is possible, if all the other changes up to now are granted. But the meaning of a word elsewhere in no way assures it should be the word here. The LXX has “his harvest shall perish before the time,” which could translate any number of words that might have been in the underlying Hebrew text. A commercial metaphor is not out of place here, since parallelism does not demand that the same metaphor appear in both lines.
  70. Job 15:32 tn Now, in the second half of the verse, the metaphor of a tree with branches begins.
  71. Job 15:33 tn The verb means “to treat violently” or “to wrong.” It indicates that the vine did not nourish the grapes well enough for them to grow, and so they dry up and drop off.
  72. Job 15:33 sn The point is that like the tree the wicked man shows signs of life but produces nothing valuable. The olive tree will have blossoms in the years that it produces no olives, and so eventually drops the blossoms.
  73. Job 15:34 tn The LXX renders this line: “for death is the witness of an ungodly man. “Death” represents “barren/sterile,” and “witness” represents “assembly.”
  74. Job 15:34 sn This may refer to the fire that struck Job (cf. 1:16).
  75. Job 15:34 tn Heb “the tents of bribery.” The word “bribery” can mean a “gift,” but most often in the sense of a bribe in court. It indicates that the wealth and the possessions that the wicked man has gained may have been gained unjustly.
  76. Job 15:35 tn Infinitives absolute are used in this verse in the place of finite verbs. They lend a greater vividness to the description, stressing the basic meaning of the words.
  77. Job 15:35 tn At the start of the speech Eliphaz said Job’s belly was filled with the wind; now it is there that he prepares deception. This inclusio frames the speech.
Matthew 5:27-36

Adultery

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’[a] 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell.[b] 30 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.

Divorce

31 “It was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a legal document.’[c] 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality,[d] makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Oaths

33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation,[e] ‘Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’[f] 34 But I say to you, do not take oaths at all—not by heaven, because it is the throne of God, 35 not by earth, because it is his footstool, and not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.[g] 36 Do not take an oath by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black.

Footnotes

  1. Matthew 5:27 sn A quotation from Exod 20:14; Deut 5:18 (5:17 LXX).
  2. Matthew 5:29 sn On this word here and in the following verse, see the note on the word hell in 5:22.
  3. Matthew 5:31 tn Or “a written notice of divorce.”sn A quotation from Deut 24:1.
  4. Matthew 5:32 sn The phrase except for immorality (often referred to as the “exception clause”) has been the subject of much debate. One of the best and most comprehensive recent studies which pays particular attention to historical background material, especially Jewish material, is that of D. Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Eerdmans, 2002).
  5. Matthew 5:33 tn Grk “the ancient ones.”
  6. Matthew 5:33 sn A quotation from Lev 19:12.
  7. Matthew 5:35 sn The final clause is an allusion to Ps 48:2. In light of Ps 48:1-2 most understand the great King as a reference to God in this context (thus the capitalization).
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Prev Day Prev Day
Top
Next Day Next Day