³ tn Heb “raises anger.” A common response to painful words is to let one’s temper flare up.

⁴ tn Heb “destruction and suffering,” which here refers metonymically to the wicked, who dish out pain and suffering to their victims.

⁴ tn The word עָמָל (ʿamal) means “work, heavy labor, agonizing labor, struggle” with the idea of fatigue and pain.

¹ tn Many understand the Hebrew term עֹצֶב (ʿotsev) as a noun meaning “pain,” and translate the phrase דֶּרֶךְ עֹצֶב (derekh ʿotsev) as “of pain,” but this makes little sense here. (Some interpret it to refer to actions which bring pain to others.) It is preferable to take עֹצֶב as “idol” (see HALOT 865 s.v. I עֹצֶב) and understand “way of an idol” to refer to idolatrous actions or tendency. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

² tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92). Here is the reversal Jesus mentioned in Luke 6:20-26.

³ sn The ancient practice of pouring olive oil on wounds was designed to ease pain and provide cleansing for the wounds (Isa 1:6).

⁴ tn Heb “Will not pain [here = mental anguish] take hold of you like a woman giving birth.” The question is rhetorical expecting a positive answer.

¹ sn Illness and pain stand by metonymy (or perhaps as metaphors) for sin and its effects, as vv. 11-12 make clear.

¹ sn The similes in this emblematic parallelism focus on things that are incapable of performing certain activities—they are either too painful to use or are ineffective.

² sn The line describes how one who is intoxicated does not feel the pain, even though beaten by others. He does not even remember it.

¹ sn No joy is completely free of grief. There is a joy that is superficial and there is underlying pain that will remain after the joy is gone.

² sn The contrast here is between “evil” (= pain and calamity) and “peace” (= social wholeness and well-being); see, e.g., Pss 34:14; 37:37.

⁴ tn Heb “toil.” The noun עֶצֶב (ʿetsev) has a basic two-fold range of meanings: (1) “toil; labor” which produces pain and sorrow, and (2) “pain; sorrow” which is the result of toil and labor (BDB 780 s.v.). This is the word used of the curse of “toil” in man’s labor (Gen 3:17) and the “pain” in the woman’s child-bearing (Gen 3:16). God’s blessing is pure and untarnished—it does not bring physical pain or emotional sorrow.

³ tn Heb “they announce the pain of your wounded ones” (i.e., “the ones whom you wounded,” as the parallel line makes clear).

¹ tn Heb “many [are the] pains of evil [one].” The singular form is representative here; the typical evildoer, representative of the larger group of wicked people, is in view.

¹ sn Elihu will repeat these instructions for Job to listen, over and over in painful repetition. See note on the heading to 32:1.

¹ sn The use of the verb “rise” is probably fairly literal. When Job painfully tries to get up and walk, the little boys make fun of him.

² tn Heb “and they found him, the ones who shoot with the bow, and he was in pain from the ones shooting.”

¹ tn The vav (ו) conjunction at the beginning of the clause specifies the cases of corpses that are to be avoided, no matter how painful it might be.

¹ sn The word for this painfully intense “groaning” appears elsewhere to describe a response to having two broken arms (Ezek 30:24).