Mazmur 31:11

31:11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me; ¹ 

my neighbors are appalled by my suffering ²  –

those who know me are horrified by my condition; ³ 

those who see me in the street run away from me.

Ayub 6:21-23

6:21 For now ⁴  you have become like these streams that are no help; ⁵ 

you see a terror, ⁶  and are afraid.

Friends’ Fears

6:22 “Have I ⁷  ever said, ⁸  ‘Give me something,

and from your fortune ⁹  make gifts ¹⁰  in my favor’?

6:23 Or ‘Deliver me ¹¹  from the enemy’s power, ¹² 

and from the hand of tyrants ¹³  ransom ¹⁴  me’?

Ayub 19:13-17

Job’s Forsaken State

19:13 “He has put my relatives ¹⁵  far from me;

my acquaintances only ¹⁶  turn away from me.

19:14 My kinsmen have failed me;

my friends ¹⁷  have forgotten me. ¹⁸ 

19:15 My guests ¹⁹  and my servant girls

consider ²⁰  me a stranger;

I am a foreigner ²¹  in their eyes.

19:16 I summon ²²  my servant, but he does not respond,

even though I implore ²³  him with my own mouth.

19:17 My breath is repulsive ²⁴  to my wife;

I am loathsome ²⁵  to my brothers. ²⁶ 

Matius 26:56

26:56 But this has happened so that ²⁷  the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Yohanes 16:32

16:32 Look, a time ²⁸  is coming – and has come – when you will be scattered, each one to his own home, ²⁹  and I will be left alone. ³⁰  Yet ³¹  I am not alone, because my Father ³²  is with me.

[31:11]  ¹ tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”

[31:11]  ² tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests it is textually corrupt. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (me’od, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (’ed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (’ed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).

[31:11]  ³ tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”

[6:21]  ⁴ tn There is a textual problem in this line, an issue of Kethib-Qere. Some read the form with the Qere as the preposition with a suffix referring to “the river,” with the idea “you are like it.” Others would read the form with the Kethib as the negative “not,” meaning “for now you are nothing.” The LXX and the Syriac read the word as “to me.” RSV follows this and changes כִּי (ki, “for”) to כֵּן (ken, “thus”). However, such an emendation is unnecessary since כִּי (ki) itself can be legitimately employed as an emphatic particle. In that case, the translation would be, “Indeed, now you are” in the sense of “At this time you certainly are behaving like those streams.” The simplest reading is “for now you have become [like] it.” The meaning seems clear enough in the context that the friends, like the river, proved to be of no use. But D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 161) points out that the difficulty with this is that all references so far to the rivers have been in the plural.

[6:21]  ⁵ tn The perfect of הָיָה (hayah) could be translated as either “are” or “have been” rather than “have become” (cf. Joüon 2:373 §113.p with regard to stative verbs). “Like it” refers to the intermittent stream which promises water but does not deliver. The LXX has a paraphrase: “But you also have come to me without pity.”

[6:21]  ⁶ tn The word חֲתַת (khatat) is a hapax legomenon. The word חַת (khat) means “terror” in 41:25. The construct form חִתַּת (khittat) is found in Gen 35:5; and חִתִּית (khittit) is found in Ezek 26:17, 32:23). The Akkadian cognate means “terror.” It probably means that in Job’s suffering they recognized some dreaded thing from God and were afraid to speak any sympathy toward him.

[6:22]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew הֲכִי (hakhi) literally says “Is it because….”

[6:22]  ⁸ sn For the next two verses Job lashes out in sarcasm against his friends. If he had asked for charity, for their wealth, he might have expected their cold response. But all he wanted was sympathy and understanding (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 63).

[6:22]  ⁹ tn The word כֹּחַ (koakh) basically means “strength, force”; but like the synonym חַיִל (khayil), it can also mean “wealth, fortune.” E. Dhorme notes that to the Semitic mind, riches bring power (Job, 90).

[6:22]  ¹⁰ tn Or “bribes.” The verb שִׁחֲדוּ (shikhadu) means “give a שֹׁחַד (shokhad, “bribe”).” The significance is simply “make a gift” (especially in the sense of corrupting an official [Ezek 16:33]). For the spelling of the form in view of the guttural, see GKC 169 §64.a.

[6:23]  ¹¹ tn The verse now gives the ultimate reason why Job might have urged his friends to make a gift – if it were possible. The LXX, avoiding the direct speech in the preceding verse and this, does make this verse the purpose statement – “to deliver from enemies….”

[6:23]  ¹² tn Heb “hand,” as in the second half of the verse.

[6:23]  ¹³ tn The עָרִיצִים (’aritsim) are tyrants, the people who inspire fear (Job 15:20; 27:13); the root verb עָרַץ (’arats) means “to terrify” (Job 13:25).

[6:23]  ¹⁴ tn The verb now is the imperfect; since it is parallel to the imperative in the first half of the verse it is imperfect of instruction, much like English uses the future for instruction. The verb פָּדָה (padah) means “to ransom, redeem,” often in contexts where payment is made.

[19:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “brothers.”

[19:13]  ¹⁶ tn The LXX apparently took אַךְ־זָרוּ (’akh, “even, only,” and zaru, “they turn away”) together as if it was the verb אַכְזָרוּ (’akhzaru, “they have become cruel,” as in 20:21). But the grammar in the line would be difficult with this. Moreover, the word is most likely from זוּר (zur, “to turn away”). See L. A. Snijders, “The Meaning of zar in the Old Testament,” OTS 10 (1964): 1-154 (especially p. 9).

[19:14]  ¹⁷ tn The Pual participle is used for those “known” to him, or with whom he is “familiar,” whereas קָרוֹב (qarov, “near”) is used for a relative.

[19:14]  ¹⁸ tn Many commentators add the first part of v. 15 to this verse, because it is too loaded and this is too short. That gives the reading “My kinsmen and my familiar friends have disappeared, they have forgotten me (15) the guests I entertained.” There is not much support for this, nor is there much reason for it.

[19:15]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew גָּרֵי בֵיתִי (gare beti, “the guests of my house”) refers to those who sojourned in my house – not residents, but guests.

[19:15]  ²⁰ tn The form of the verb is a feminine plural, which would seem to lend support to the proposed change of the lines (see last note to v. 14). But the form may be feminine primarily because of the immediate reference. On the other side, the suffix of “their eyes” is a masculine plural. So the evidence lies on both sides.

[19:15]  ²¹ tn This word נָכְרִי (nokhri) is the person from another race, from a strange land, the foreigner. The previous word, גֵּר (ger), is a more general word for someone who is staying in the land but is not a citizen, a sojourner.

[19:16]  ²² tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the ל (lamed) preposition means “to summon.” Contrast Ps 123:2.

[19:16]  ²³ tn Heb “plead for grace” or “plead for mercy” (ESV).

[19:17]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew appears to have “my breath is strange to my wife.” This would be the meaning if the verb was from זוּר (zur, “to turn aside; to be a stranger”). But it should be connected to זִיר (zir), cognate to Assyrian zaru, “to feel repugnance toward.” Here it is used in the intransitive sense, “to be repulsive.” L. A. Snijders, following Driver, doubts the existence of this second root, and retains “strange” (“The Meaning of zar in the Old Testament,” OTS 10 [1964]: 1-154).

[19:17]  ²⁵ tn The normal meaning here would be based on the root חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious”). And so we have versions reading “although I entreated” or “my supplication.” But it seems more likely it is to be connected to another root meaning “to be offensive; to be loathsome.” For the discussion of the connection to the Arabic, see E. Dhorme, Job, 278.

[19:17]  ²⁶ tn The text has “the sons of my belly [= body].” This would normally mean “my sons.” But they are all dead. And there is no suggestion that Job had other sons. The word “my belly” will have to be understood as “my womb,” i.e., the womb I came from. Instead of “brothers,” the sense could be “siblings” (both brothers and sisters; G. R. Driver and G. B. Gray, Job [ICC], 2:168).

[26:56]  ²⁷ tn Grk “But so that”; the verb “has happened” is implied.

[16:32]  ²⁸ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:32]  ²⁹ tn Grk “each one to his own”; the word “home” is not in the Greek text but is implied. The phrase “each one to his own” may be completed in a number of different ways: “each one to his own property”; “each one to his own family”; or “each one to his own home.” The last option seems to fit most easily into the context and so is used in the translation.

[16:32]  ³⁰ sn The proof of Jesus’ negative evaluation of the disciples’ faith is now given: Jesus foretells their abandonment of him at his arrest, trials, and crucifixion (I will be left alone). This parallels the synoptic accounts in Matt 26:31 and Mark 14:27 when Jesus, after the last supper and on the way to Gethsemane, foretold the desertion of the disciples as a fulfillment of Zech 13:7: “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Yet although the disciples would abandon Jesus, he reaffirmed that he was not alone, because the Father was still with him.

[16:32]  ³¹ tn Grk “And” (but with some contrastive force).

[16:32]  ³² tn Grk “the Father.”