Mazmur 113:7-8

113:7 He raises the poor from the dirt,

and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile, ¹ 

113:8 that he might seat him with princes,

with the princes of his people.

Rut 4:14-17

4:14 The village women said to Naomi, “May the Lord be praised because he has not left you without a guardian ²  today! May he ³  become famous in Israel! ⁴  4:15 He will encourage you and provide for you when you are old, ⁵  for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given him birth. She ⁶  is better to you than seven sons!” 4:16 Naomi took the child and placed him on her lap; ⁷  she became his caregiver. ⁸  4:17 The neighbor women named him, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. ⁹  Now he became the father of Jesse – David’s father!

Rut 4:1

Boaz Settles the Matter

4:1 Now Boaz went up ¹⁰  to the village gate and sat there. Then along came the guardian ¹¹  whom Boaz had mentioned to Ruth! ¹²  Boaz said, “Come ¹³  here and sit down, ‘John Doe’!” ¹⁴  So he came ¹⁵  and sat down.

1 Samuel 2:8

2:8 He lifts the weak ¹⁶  from the dust;

he raises ¹⁷  the poor from the ash heap

to seat them with princes

and to bestow on them an honored position. ¹⁸ 

The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord,

and he has placed the world on them.

Ester 8:15-17

8:15 Now Mordecai went out from the king’s presence in purple and white royal attire, with a large golden crown and a purple linen mantle. The city of Susa shouted with joy. ¹⁹  8:16 For the Jews there was radiant happiness and joyous honor. ²⁰  8:17 Throughout every province and throughout every city where the king’s edict and his law arrived, the Jews experienced happiness and joy, banquets and holidays. Many of the resident peoples ²¹  pretended ²²  to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had overcome them. ²³ 

Ayub 5:11

5:11 he sets ²⁴  the lowly ²⁵  on high,

that those who mourn ²⁶  are raised ²⁷  to safety.

Ayub 8:7

8:7 Your beginning ²⁸  will seem so small,

since your future will flourish. ²⁹ 

Ayub 11:15-19

11:15 For ³⁰  then you will lift up your face

without ³¹  blemish; ³² 

you will be securely established ³³ 

and will not fear.

11:16 For you ³⁴  will forget your trouble; ³⁵ 

you will remember it

like water that ³⁶  has flowed away.

11:17 And life ³⁷  will be brighter ³⁸  than the noonday;

though there be darkness, ³⁹ 

it will be like the morning.

11:18 And you will be secure, because there is hope;

you will be protected ⁴⁰ 

and will take your rest in safety.

11:19 You will lie down with ⁴¹  no one to make you afraid,

and many will seek your favor. ⁴² 

Ayub 42:10-12

42:10 So the Lord ⁴³  restored what Job had lost ⁴⁴  after he prayed for his friends, ⁴⁵  and the Lord doubled ⁴⁶  all that had belonged to Job. 42:11 So they came to him, all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they dined ⁴⁷  with him in his house. They comforted him and consoled him for all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver ⁴⁸  and a gold ring. ⁴⁹ 

42:12 So the Lord blessed the second part of Job’s life more than the first. He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

Yeremia 52:31-34

Jehoiachin in Exile

52:31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth ⁵⁰  day of the twelfth month, ⁵¹  Evil-Merodach, in the first year of his reign, pardoned ⁵²  King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. 52:32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than ⁵³  the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 52:33 Jehoiachin ⁵⁴  took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. 52:34 He was given daily provisions by the king of Babylon for the rest of his life until the day he died.

Yakobus 5:11

5:11 Think of how we regard ⁵⁵  as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. ⁵⁶ 

[113:7]  ¹ sn The language of v. 7 is almost identical to that of 1 Sam 2:8.

[4:14]  ² tn Or “redeemer.” See the note on the phrase “guardian of the family interests” in 3:9. As the following context indicates, the child is referred to here.

[4:14]  ³ tn The “guardian” is the subject of the verb, as the next verse makes clear.

[4:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “may his name be called [i.e., “perpetuated”; see Gen 48:16] in Israel.”

[4:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he will become for you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age” (NASB similar).

[4:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “who, she”; KJV “which is better to thee.”

[4:16]  ⁷ tn Or “breast”; KJV, NRSV “in her bosom.”

[4:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “his nurse,” but this refers to a dry nurse, not a medical attendant. Cf. NIV “and cared for him”; TEV “and took (+ good CEV) care of him.”

[4:17]  ⁹ tn The name “Obed” means “one who serves,” perhaps anticipating how he would help Naomi (see v. 15).

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn The disjunctive clause structure (note the pattern vav [ו] + subject + verb) here signals the beginning of a new scene.

[4:1]  ¹¹ tn Sometimes translated “redeemer.” See the note on the phrase “guardian of the family interests” in 3:9.

[4:1]  ¹² tn Heb “look, the guardian was passing by of whom Boaz had spoken.”

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “turn aside” (so KJV, NASB); NIV, TEV, NLT “Come over here.”

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a certain one”; KJV, ASV “such a one.” The expression פְלֹנִי אַלְמֹנִי (pÿloni ’almoni) is not the name of the nearest relative, but an idiom which literally means “such and such” or “a certain one” (BDB 811-12 s.v. פְלֹנִי), which is used when one wishes to be ambiguous (1 Sam 21:3; 2 Kgs 6:8). Certainly Boaz would have known his relative’s name, especially in such a small village, and would have uttered his actual name. However the narrator refuses to record his name in a form of poetic justice because he refused to preserve Mahlon’s “name” (lineage) by marrying his widow (see 4:5, 9-10). This close relative, who is a literary foil for Boaz, refuses to fulfill the role of family guardian. Because he does nothing memorable, he remains anonymous in a chapter otherwise filled with names. His anonymity contrasts sharply with Boaz’s prominence in the story and the fame he attains through the child born to Ruth. Because the actual name of this relative is not recorded, the translation of this expression is difficult since contemporary English style expects either a name or title. This is usually supplied in modern translations: “friend” (NASB, NIV, RSV, NRSV, NLT), “so-and-so” (JPS, NJPS). Perhaps “Mr. So-And-So!” or “Mr. No-Name!” makes the point. For discussion see Adele Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 99-101; R. L. Hubbard, Jr., Ruth (NICOT), 233-35; F. W. Bush, Ruth, Esther (WBC), 196-97. In the present translation “John Doe” is used since it is a standard designation for someone who is a party to legal proceedings whose true name is unknown.

[4:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he turned aside” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “And he went over.”

[2:8]  ¹⁶ tn Or “lowly”; Heb “insignificant.”

[2:8]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form, which is parallel to the participle in the preceding line, is best understood here as indicating what typically happens.

[2:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a seat of honor.”

[8:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “shouted and rejoiced.” The expression is a hendiadys (see the note on 5:10 for an explanation of this figure).

[8:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “light and gladness and joy and honor” (so NASB). The present translation understands the four terms to be a double hendiadys.

[8:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “peoples of the land” (so NASB); NIV “people of other nationalities”; NRSV “peoples of the country.”

[8:17]  ²² tn Heb “were becoming Jews”; NAB “embraced Judaism.” However, the Hitpael stem of the verb is sometimes used of a feigning action rather than a genuine one (see, e.g., 2 Sam 13:5, 6), which is the way the present translation understands the use of the word here (cf. NEB “professed themselves Jews”; NRSV “professed to be Jews”). This is the only occurrence of this verb in the Hebrew Bible, so there are no exact parallels. However, in the context of v. 17 the motivation of their conversion (Heb “the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them”) should not be overlooked. The LXX apparently understood the conversion described here to be genuine, since it adds the words “they were being circumcised and” before “they became Jews.”

[8:17]  ²³ tn Heb “had fallen upon them” (so NRSV); NIV “had seized them.”

[5:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “setting.” The infinitive construct clause is here taken as explaining the nature of God, and so parallel to the preceding descriptions. If read simply as a purpose clause after the previous verse, it would suggest that the purpose of watering the earth was to raise the humble (cf. NASB, “And sends water on the fields, // So that He sets on high those who are lowly”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 39) makes a case for this interpretation, saying that God’s gifts in nature have the wider purpose of blessing man, but he prefers to see the line as another benevolence, parallel to v. 10, and so suggests a translation “setting up” rather than “to set up.”

[5:11]  ²⁵ tn The word שְׁפָלִים (shÿfalim) refers to “those who are down.” This refers to the lowly and despised of the earth. They are the opposite of the “proud” (see Ps 138:6). Here there is a deliberate contrast between “lowly” and “on high.”

[5:11]  ²⁶ tn The meaning of the word is “to be dark, dirty”; therefore, it refers to the ash-sprinkled head of the mourner (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 54). The custom was to darken one’s face in sorrow (see Job 2:12; Ps 35:14; 38:7).

[5:11]  ²⁷ tn The perfect verb may be translated “be set on high; be raised up.” E. Dhorme (Job, 64) notes that the perfect is parallel to the infinitive of the first colon, and so he renders it in the same way as the infinitive, comparing the construction to that of 28:25.

[8:7]  ²⁸ tn The reference to “your beginning” is a reference to Job’s former estate of wealth and peace. The reference to “latter end” is a reference to conditions still in the future. What Job had before will seem so small in comparison to what lies ahead.

[8:7]  ²⁹ tn The verb has the idea of “to grow”; here it must mean “to flourish; to grow considerably” or the like. The statement is not so much a prophecy; rather Bildad is saying that “if Job had recourse to God, then….” This will be fulfilled, of course, at the end of the book.

[11:15]  ³⁰ tn The absolute certainty of the statement is communicated with the addition of כִּי (ki) (see GKC 498 §159.ee).

[11:15]  ³¹ tn For this use of the preposition מִן (min) see GKC 382 §119.w.

[11:15]  ³² tn The word “lift up” is chosen to recall Job’s statement that he could not lift up his head (10:15); and the words “without spot” recall his words “filled with shame.” The sentence here says that he will lift up his face in innocence and show no signs of God’s anger on him.

[11:15]  ³³ tn The form מֻצָק (mutsaq) is a Hophal participle from יָצַק (yatsaq, “to pour”). The idea is that of metal being melted down and then poured to make a statue, and so hard, firm, solid. The LXX reads the verse, “for thus your face shall shine again, like pure water, and you shall divest yourself of uncleanness, and shall not fear.”

[11:16]  ³⁴ tn For a second time (see v. 13) Zophar employs the emphatic personal pronoun. Could he be providing a gentle reminder that Job might have forgotten the sin that has brought this trouble? After all, there will come a time when Job will not remember this time of trial.

[11:16]  ³⁵ sn It is interesting to note in the book that the resolution of Job’s trouble did not come in the way that Zophar prescribed it.

[11:16]  ³⁶ tn The perfect verb forms an abbreviated relative clause (without the pronoun) modifying “water.”

[11:17]  ³⁷ tn Some translations add the pronoun to make it specifically related to Job (“your life”), but this is not necessary. The word used here has the nuance of lasting life.

[11:17]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and more than the noonday life will arise.” The present translation is an interpretation in the context. The connotation of “arise” in comparison with the noonday, and in contrast with the darkness, supports the interpretation.

[11:17]  ³⁹ tn The form in the MT is the 3fsg imperfect verb, “[though] it be dark.” Most commentators revocalize the word to make it a noun (תְּעֻפָה, tÿ’ufah), giving the meaning “the darkness [of your life] will be like the morning.” The contrast is with Job 10:22; here the darkness will shine like the morning.

[11:18]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew verb means “to dig”; but this does not provide a good meaning for the verse. A. B. Davidson offers an interpretation of “search,” suggesting that before retiring at night Job would search and find everything in order. Some offer a better solution, namely, redefining the word on the basis of Arabic hafara, “to protect” and repointing it to וְחֻפַרְתָּ (vÿkhufarta, “you will be protected”). Other attempts to make sense of the line have involved the same process, but they are less convincing (for some of the more plausible proposals, see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 257).

[11:19]  ⁴¹ tn The clause that reads “and there is no one making you afraid,” is functioning circumstantially here (see 5:4; 10:7).

[11:19]  ⁴² tn Heb “they will stroke your face,” a picture drawn from the domestic scene of a child stroking the face of the parent. The verb is a Piel, meaning “stroke, make soft.” It is used in the Bible of seeking favor from God (supplication); but it may on the human level also mean seeking to sway people by flattery. See further D. R. Ap-Thomas, “Notes on Some Terms Relating to Prayer,” VT 6 (1956): 225-41.

[42:10]  ⁴³ tn The paragraph begins with the disjunctive vav, “Now as for the Lord, he….”

[42:10]  ⁴⁴ sn The expression here is interesting: “he returned the captivity of Job,” a clause used elsewhere in the Bible of Israel (see e.g., Ps 126). Here it must mean “the fortunes of Job,” i.e., what he had lost. There is a good deal of literature on this; for example, see R. Borger, “Zu sub sb(i)t,” ZAW 25 (1954): 315-16; and E. Baumann, ZAW 6 (1929): 17ff.

[42:10]  ⁴⁵ tn This is a temporal clause, using the infinitive construct with the subject genitive suffix. By this it seems that this act of Job was also something of a prerequisite for restoration – to pray for them.

[42:10]  ⁴⁶ tn The construction uses the verb “and he added” with the word “repeat” (or “twice”).

[42:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “ate bread.”

[42:11]  ⁴⁸ tn The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (qÿsitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown.

[42:11]  sn The Hebrew word refers to a piece of silver, yet uncoined. It is the kind used in Gen 33:19 and Josh 24:32. It is what would be expected of a story set in the patriarchal age.

[42:11]  ⁴⁹ sn This gold ring was worn by women in the nose, or men and women in the ear.

[52:31]  ⁵⁰ sn The parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:28 has “twenty-seventh.”

[52:31]  ⁵¹ sn The twenty-fifth day would be March 20, 561 b.c. in modern reckoning.

[52:31]  ⁵² tn Heb “lifted up the head of.”

[52:32]  ⁵³ tn Heb “made his throne above the throne of

[52:33]  ⁵⁴ tn The subject is unstated in the Hebrew text, but Jehoiachin is clearly the subject of the following verb.

[5:11]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “Behold! We regard…”

[5:11]  ⁵⁶ sn An allusion to Exod 34:6; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 102:13; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2.