[b-hebrew] barak (bless? curse?) in the Book of Job

Harold Holmyard hholmyard3 at earthlink.net
Tue Jan 27 16:28:56 EST 2009


John ,
> Young's Literal Translation renders Job 1:11  as such: The work of his hands Thou hast blessed, and his substance hath spread in the land, and yet, put forth, I pray Thee, Thy hand, and strike against anything that he hath -- if not: to Thy face he doth bless Thee!'
>
> I understand that most translations translated barak as "curse" in this verse, as well as in Job 1:5, 2:5, and 2:9.  However, does the usual sense of "to bless" make sense in this context?
>
> Might Satan be asking  God a question that if He put forth His hand against Job
> will Job bless God to His face? Or in 2:5, might Satan have been telling God to put forth His hand and touch all Job has in order to see if he will still bless God?
>   

HH: No, it does not seem to work. The "if not" is a veiled oath formula, 
so Satan is swearing that Job will bless God to his face. And really, 
what does "to your face" mean with "bless"?

Yours,
Harold Holmyard
>   



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