Keluaran 22:22-24

22:22 “You must not afflict ¹  any widow or orphan. 22:23 If you afflict them ²  in any way ³  and they cry to me, I will surely hear ⁴  their cry, 22:24 and my anger will burn and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children will be fatherless. ⁵ 

Ayub 22:9

22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms ⁶  of the orphans you crushed. ⁷ 

Ayub 31:16-20

31:16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, ⁸ 

or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

31:17 If I ate my morsel of bread myself,

and did not share any of it with orphans ⁹  –

31:18 but from my youth I raised the orphan ¹⁰  like a father,

and from my mother’s womb ¹¹ 

I guided the widow! ¹² 

31:19 If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing,

or a poor man without a coat,

31:20 whose heart did not bless me ¹³ 

as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep, ¹⁴ 

Markus 12:40

12:40 They ¹⁵  devour widows’ property, ¹⁶  and as a show make long prayers. These men will receive a more severe punishment.”

Lukas 20:47

20:47 They ¹⁷  devour ¹⁸  widows’ property, ¹⁹  and as a show make long prayers. They will receive a more severe punishment.”

Lukas 20:2

20:2 and said to him, ²⁰  “Tell us: By what authority ²¹  are you doing these things? ²²  Or who it is who gave you this authority?”

Titus 3:6

3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure ²³  through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Titus 1:10-11

1:10 For there are many ²⁴  rebellious people, idle talkers, and deceivers, especially those with Jewish connections, ²⁵  1:11 who must be silenced because they mislead whole families by teaching for dishonest gain what ought not to be taught.

Titus 1:2

1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began. ²⁶ 

Pengkhotbah 2:14-15

2:14 The wise man can see where he is going, ²⁷  but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also realized that the same fate ²⁸  happens to them both. ²⁹ 

2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! ³⁰ 

Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively ³¹  wise?” ³² 

So I lamented to myself, ³³ 

“The benefits of wisdom ³⁴  are ultimately ³⁵  meaningless!”

[22:22]  ¹ tn The verb “afflict” is a Piel imperfect from עָנָה (’anah); it has a wide range of meanings: “afflict, oppress, humiliate, rape.” These victims are at the mercy of the judges, businessmen, or villains. The righteous king and the righteous people will not mistreat them (see Isa 1:17; Job 31:16, 17, 21).

[22:23]  ² tn The accusative here is the masculine singular pronoun, which leads S. R. Driver to conclude that this line is out of place, even though the masculine singular can be used in places like this (Exodus, 232). U. Cassuto says its use is to refer to certain classes (Exodus, 292).

[22:23]  ³ tn Here again and with “cry” the infinitive absolute functions with a diminished emphasis (GKC 342-43 §113.o).

[22:23]  ⁴ tn Here is the normal use of the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense to emphasize the verb: “I will surely hear,” implying, “I will surely respond.”

[22:24]  ⁵ sn The punishment will follow the form of talionic justice, an eye for an eye, in which the punishment matches the crime. God will use invading armies (“sword” is a metonymy of adjunct here) to destroy them, making their wives widows and their children orphans.

[22:9]  ⁶ tn The “arms of the orphans” are their helps or rights on which they depended for support.

[22:9]  ⁷ tn The verb in the text is Pual: יְדֻכָּא (yÿdukka’, “was [were] crushed”). GKC 388 §121.b would explain “arms” as the complement of a passive imperfect. But if that is too difficult, then a change to Piel imperfect, second person, will solve the difficulty. In its favor is the parallelism, the use of the second person all throughout the section, and the reading in all the versions. The versions may have simply assumed the easier reading, however.

[31:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “kept the poor from [their] desire.”

[31:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “and an orphan did not eat from it.”

[31:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he grew up with me.” Several commentators have decided to change the pronoun to “I,” and make it causative.

[31:18]  ¹¹ tn The expression “from my mother’s womb” is obviously hyperbolic. It is a way of saying “all his life.”

[31:18]  ¹² tn Heb “I guided her,” referring to the widow mentioned in v. 16.

[31:20]  ¹³ tn The MT has simply “if his loins did not bless me.” In the conditional clause this is another protasis. It means, “if I saw someone dying and if he did not thank me for clothing them.” It is Job’s way of saying that whenever he saw a need he met it, and he received his share of thanks – which prove his kindness. G. R. Driver has it “without his loins having blessed me,” taking “If…not” as an Aramaism, meaning “except” (AJSL 52 [1935/36]: 164f.).

[31:20]  ¹⁴ tn This clause is interpreted here as a subordinate clause to the first half of the verse. It could also be a separate clause: “was he not warmed…?”

[12:40]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “who,” continuing the sentence begun in v. 38.

[12:40]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “houses,” “households”; however, the term can have the force of “property” or “possessions” as well (O. Michel, TDNT 5:131; BDAG 695 s.v. οἶκια 1.a).

[20:47]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “who,” continuing the sentence begun in v. 46.

[20:47]  ¹⁸ sn How they were able to devour widows’ houses is debated. Did they seek too much for contributions, or take too high a commission for their work, or take homes after debts failed to be paid? There is too little said here to be sure.

[20:47]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “houses,” “households”; however, the term can have the force of “property” or “possessions” as well (O. Michel, TDNT 5:131; BDAG 695 s.v. οἶκια 1.a).

[20:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and said, saying to him.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[20:2]  ²¹ tn On this phrase, see BDAG 844 s.v. ποῖος 2.a.γ.

[20:2]  ²² sn The leadership is looking back to acts like the temple cleansing (19:45-48). How could a Galilean preacher do these things?

[3:6]  ²³ tn Or “on us richly.”

[1:10]  ²⁴ tc ‡ The earliest and best mss lack καί (kai) after πολλοί (polloi; so א A C P 088 81 104 365 614 629 630 al sy co), though the conjunction is found in several significant witnesses, chiefly of the Western and Byzantine texts (D F G I Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï lat). Although it is possible that some scribes omitted the word, thinking it was superfluous, it is also possible that others added the conjunction for clarification. Judging by the pedigree of the witnesses and the inconclusiveness of the internal evidence, the shorter reading is considered to be most likely original. NA²⁷ puts the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[1:10]  ²⁵ tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” Some translations take this to refer to Jewish converts to Christianity (cf. NAB “Jewish Christians”; TEV “converts from Judaism”; CEV “Jewish followers”) while others are less clear (cf. NLT “those who insist on circumcision for salvation”).

[1:2]  ²⁶ tn Grk “before eternal ages.”

[2:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “has his eyes in his head.” The term עַיִן (’ayin, “eye”) is used figuratively in reference to mental and spiritual faculties (BDB 744 s.v. עַיִן 3.a). The term “eye” is a metonymy of cause (eye) for effect (sight and perception).

[2:14]  ²⁸ sn The common fate to which Qoheleth refers is death.

[2:14]  ²⁹ tn The term כֻּלָּם (kullam, “all of them”) denotes “both of them.” This is an example of synecdoche of general (“all of them”) for the specific (“both of them,” that is, both the wise man and the fool).

[2:15]  ³⁰ tn The emphatic use of the 1st person common singular personal pronoun אֲנִי (’ani, “me”) with the emphatic particle of association גַּם (gam, “even, as well as”; HALOT 195–96 s.v. גַּם) appears to emphasize the 1st person common singular suffix on יִקְרֵנִי (yiqreni) “it will befall [or “happen to”] me” (Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 1st person common singular suffix from קָרָה, qarah, “to befall; to happen to”); see GKC 438 §135.e. Qoheleth laments not that the fate of the wise man is the same as that of the fool, but that even he himself – the wisest man of all – would fare no better in the end than the most foolish.

[2:15]  ³¹ tn The adjective יוֹתֵר (yoter) means “too much; excessive,” e.g., 7:16 “excessively righteous” (HALOT 404 s.v. יוֹתֵר 2; BDB 452 s.v. יוֹתֵר). It is derived from the root יֶתֶר (yeter, “what is left over”); see HALOT 452 s.v. I יֶתֶר. It is related to the verbal root יתר (Niphal “to be left over”; Hiphil “to have left over”); see HALOT 451–52 s.v. I יתר. The adjective is related to יִתְרוֹן (yitron, “advantage; profit”) which is a key-term in this section, creating a word-play: The wise man has a relative “advantage” (יִתְרוֹן) over the fool (2:13-14a); however, there is no ultimate advantage because both share the same fate, i.e., death (2:14b-15a). Thus, Qoheleth’s acquisition of tremendous wisdom (1:16; 2:9) was “excessive” because it exceeded its relative advantage over folly: it could not deliver him from the same fate as the fool. He had striven to obtain wisdom, yet it held no ultimate advantage.

[2:15]  ³² tn Heb “And why was I wise (to) excess?” The rhetorical question is an example of negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “I gained nothing!” (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949).

[2:15]  ³³ tn Heb “So I said in my heart.”

[2:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and also this,” referring to the relative advantage of wisdom over folly.

[2:15]  ³⁵ tn The word “ultimately” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.