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The Condition of the Wicked

“May my enemy be like the wicked,[a]
my adversary[b] like the unrighteous.[c]
For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off,[d]
when God takes away his life?[e]
Does God listen to his cry
when distress overtakes him?

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Footnotes

  1. Job 27:7 sn Of course, he means like his enemy when he is judged, not when he is thriving in prosperity and luxury.
  2. Job 27:7 tn The form is the Hitpolel participle from קוּם (qum): “those who are rising up against me,” or “my adversary.”
  3. Job 27:7 tc The LXX made a free paraphrase: “No, but let my enemies be as the overthrow of the ungodly, and they that rise up against me as the destruction of transgressors.”
  4. Job 27:8 tn The verb יִבְצָע (yivtsaʿ) means “to cut off.” It could be translated transitively or intransitively—the latter is better here (“when he is cut off”). Since the next line speaks of prayer, some have thought this verse should be about prayer. Mandelkern, in his concordance (p. 228b), suggested the verb should be “when he prays” (reading יִפְגַּע [yifgaʿ] in place of יִבְצָע [yivtsaʿ]).
  5. Job 27:8 tn The verb יֵשֶׁל (yeshel) is found only here. It has been related spoils [or sheaves]”); שָׁאַל (shaʾal, “to ask”); נָשָׂא (nasaʾ, “to lift up” [i.e., pray]); and a host of others.