Ayub 30:1-2

Job’s Present Misery

30:1 “But now they mock me, those who are younger ¹  than I,

whose fathers I disdained too much ² 

to put with my sheep dogs. ³ 

30:2 Moreover, the strength of their ⁴  hands –

what use was it to me?

Men whose strength ⁵  had perished;

Matius 25:30

25:30 And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Lukas 17:10

17:10 So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; ⁶  we have only done what was our duty.’” ⁷ 

Roma 3:12

3:12 All have turned away,

together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” ⁸ 

Roma 3:1

3:1 Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision?

Pengkhotbah 2:10

2:10 I did not restrain myself from getting whatever I wanted; ⁹ 

I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. ¹⁰ 

So all my accomplishments gave me joy; ¹¹ 

this was my reward for all my effort. ¹² 

[30:1]  ¹ tn Heb “smaller than I for days.”

[30:1]  ² tn Heb “who I disdained their fathers to set…,” meaning “whose fathers I disdained to set.” The relative clause modifies the young fellows who mock; it explains that Job did not think highly enough of them to put them with the dogs. The next verse will explain why.

[30:1]  ³ sn Job is mocked by young fellows who come from low extraction. They mocked their elders and their betters. The scorn is strong here – dogs were despised as scavengers.

[30:2]  ⁴ tn The reference is to the fathers of the scorners, who are here regarded as weak and worthless.

[30:2]  ⁵ tn The word כֶּלַח (kelakh) only occurs in Job 5:26; but the Arabic cognate gives this meaning “strength.” Others suggest כָּלַח (kalakh, “old age”), ֹכּל־חַיִל (kol-khayil, “all vigor”), כֹּל־לֵחַ (kol-leakh, “all freshness”), and the like. But there is no reason for such emendation.

[17:10]  ⁶ tn Some translations describe the slaves as “worthless” (NRSV) or “unworthy” (NASB, NIV) but that is not Jesus’ point. These disciples have not done anything deserving special commendation or praise (L&N 33.361), but only what would normally be expected of a slave in such a situation (thus the translation “we have only done what was our duty”).

[17:10]  ⁷ tn Or “we have only done what we were supposed to do.”

[3:12]  ⁸ sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.

[2:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “all which my eyes asked for, I did not withhold from them.”

[2:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I did not refuse my heart any pleasure.” The term לִבִּי (libbi, “my heart”) is a synecdoche of part (i.e., heart) for the whole (i.e., whole person); see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 648. The term is repeated twice in 2:10 for emphasis.

[2:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “So my heart was joyful from all my toil.”

[2:10]  ¹² tn Heb “and this was my portion from all my toil.”