Biblical Hebrew Forum

[John Estell <oldearther AT yahoo.com>]

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?

Thanks,

John



>From hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net  Tue Jan 27 16:28:49 2009
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] barak (bless? curse?) in the Book of Job
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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
>