Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Job 1:5,11--A Euphemism?

NLT: "But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!"

The Hebrew word barak appears here (בָרַךְ), a term that normally means "to bless" (Genesis 2:3; 12:3). 

BDB entry for barak: "bless, with the antithetical meaning curse (Thes) from the greeting in departing, saying adieu to, taking leave of; but rather a blessing overdone and so really a curse as in vulgar English as well as in the Shemitic cognates: 1 Kings 21:10,13; Job 1:5,11; Job 2:5,9; Psalm 10:3."

John Gray (The Book of Job, page 121): "MT uberaku (lit. ‘and blessed’), a regular euphemism of the orthodox scribes, to whom ‘curse God’ was intolerable."

Commenting on Job 1:5, John E. Hartley offers this perspective (The Book of Job, page 65): 

"The word translated 'curse,' barak (also in 2:5,9), which usually means 'bless,' is used euphemistically. Many consider it a scribal change for an original qillelu (which Targ. reads here), but there is no reason why this euphemistic style may not have been original."

Commenting on Job 1:5, Robert Alden writes (Job, NAC):  “ 'Curse' is the translation of the common brk that ordinarily means 'bless.' The context makes clear that brk is intended here as a euphemism. Such a diametrically opposite meaning occurs again at 1:11; 2:5,9."

In a footnote, Alden adds:  "Used in this polar sense brk occurs also in 1 Kgs 21:10,13; Ps 10:3. E. Tov (Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992], 272) explains that it could be either a scribal change or a euphemism used by the original author."
Compare Douglas Mangum. "Euphemism in Biblical Hebrew and the Euphemistic ‘bless’ in the Septuagint of Job." 
  • October 2020. 
    • HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 76(4).

    DOI:10.4102/hts.v76i4.6140

    Another source that explains these Job verses in terms of a potential euphemism or scribal substitution is Robert Alter's The Hebrew Bible.
    at

    27 comments:

    1. Duncan10:16 AM

      http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1015-87582018000300007#:~:text=A%20literal%20translation%20of%20the,God%20and%20die%22%20as%20normative.

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    2. Duncan10:36 AM

      https://biblehub.com/text/leviticus/24-15.htm

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    3. Edgar Foster10:41 AM

      https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/JSEM/article/view/2531/1334

      See page 134.

      https://ixtheo.de/Record/1649998120

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    4. Duncan10:47 AM

      Leviticus 24:15,16 tells a different story about what an actual curse does.

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    5. Edgar Foster2:30 PM

      That's one reason why I don't think Job cursed God with his lips or in his heart. Job 2:9-10.

      Orthodox Jewish Bible: "But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the nevalot (foolish women) speaketh. What? Shall we receive hatov from Elohim, and shall we not accept harah? In all this did not Iyov sin in what he said."

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    6. Duncan11:40 PM

      "saying, whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin; which some understand of anyone of another nation, that cursed the God he used to serve in his own country; but it can hardly be thought that a law should be made by the one only living and true God, to preserve the honour and credit of false gods, when he is so jealous of his own glory; and those are spoken of in Scripture with the greatest contempt, as dunghill deities, and are actually cursed, Jer 10:11; but they are rather to be interpreted of judges and all civil magistrates, who, as Aben Ezra observes, are sometimes called Elohim or gods, Ps 82:1; and the rather, as it is probable this man had cursed his judges, and so this is a distinct sin from what follows; and not only the manner of expressing it, but the punishment of it, seem to be different; for the phrase, “to bear his sin”, is used where the punishment is not expressly declared, and is by Jarchi and others interpreted of cutting off from his people, but in what way is not certain; whereas the punishment of a blasphemer of God is before and after clearly expressed; see Le 20:19."

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    7. Duncan11:52 PM

      Have You not made a hedge around him, and around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed (barak) the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out Your hand, please, and strike all that he has, surely he will curse (barak) You to Your face! (Job 1:10-11)

      There is more to understand in job and it is not straight forward. I would look for a root meaning of Barack, but I know you tend not to go that way.

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      Replies
      1. Edgar Foster8:31 AM

        Root meanings imply etymology to me, which has severe limits. Brk is supposed to be the root. Even if I take that route, not sure it will shed light on Job.

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      2. Edgar Foster8:58 AM

        You know the story. Context and usage trump root meanings. Barr is convincing to me on this point.

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    8. Edgar Foster10:02 AM

      https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:1m2093&datastreamId=POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS-DOCUMENT.PDF

      James Barr, The Book of Job and Its Modern Interpreters.

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    9. Duncan11:16 AM

      I just look at the text in the original language and read from start to finish. If you take a supposed context from later in the text and impose it on the earlier part of it then it never worked.

      Also trying to impose an opposite on what you think it means in the first place is dangerous. This is far more subtle and complex. This whole account my hinge on the few words made by his wife and it could just as easily read bless God! And die.

      Isn't the root something to do with kneeling?

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    10. Duncan11:23 AM

      Three alternative translations of the Aaronic blessing (the first being most concrete) -

      Yehovah will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection.

      Yehovah will illuminate the wholeness of his being toward you bringing order and he will give you comfort and sustenance.

      Yehovah will lift up his wholeness of being and look upon you and he will set in place all you need to be whole and complete.

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    11. Edgar Foster11:28 AM

      By context, I mean the surrounding words and the immediate setting. We have to take account of these things in English much less in Hebrew and Greek. Linguists and grammarians drive this point home all the time.

      If Job's wife was saying bless God, then why did he give the response in Job 2:9-10? It also makes less sense if the Satan tells Jehovah that Job will bless him if he takes away his goods, etc.

      Yes that is correct about the root and it can mean bless.

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    12. Duncan11:47 AM

      I'd not say that is what his wife said.

      https://www.sefaria.org/Job.2.9?ven=Tanakh:_The_Holy_Scriptures,_published_by_JPS&vhe=Tanach_with_Ta%27amei_Hamikra&lang=bi&with=Translations

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    13. Edgar Foster1:22 PM

      Okay, but that's what I've been stating up to now. The euphemism view says that brk is being used to mean Job's wife told him to curse or blaspheme God, not to bless God.

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    14. Duncan2:42 PM

      https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.24.12?lang=bi&aliyot=0

      https://biblehub.com/text/leviticus/24-11.htm

      https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.24.11?lang=bi&with=Rashi&lang2=en

      https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.24.11?lang=bi&with=Halakhah%20ConnectionsList&lang2=en

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    15. Duncan3:06 PM

      https://adventistbiblicalresearch-org.webpkgcache.com/doc/-/s/adventistbiblicalresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/jobs-wife.pdf

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    16. Duncan3:10 PM

      https://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-hebrew/2009-January/037083.html

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    17. Edgar Foster8:43 PM

      As with any biblical account, there could be more than one way to read the Job account. Yet, a number of things support the euphemistic understanding of the texts and that includes the reception history of Job, what various lexicographers have said, and the LXX and Targum for Job. Job 1:5, 11; 2:9-10 make more sense to me when read in the light of the euphemistic understanding. See J. Moskala, "The God of Job and Our Adversary."

      See https://faculty.washington.edu/snoegel/PDFs/articles/noegel%2063-euphemism-EHLL-2013.pdf

      https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004494114/B9789004494114_s022.xml

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    18. Edgar Foster10:18 PM

      See Rashi's take on Job 1:5, 11: https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Job.1.5.4?lang=bi

      https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%202%3A9-11&version=NET

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    19. Duncan9:45 AM

      https://biblehub.com/text/job/1-5.htm

      What euphemism?

      In case they may have sinned and imagine they have gods blessing.

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    20. Duncan1:20 PM

      https://biblehub.com/text/psalms/10-3.htm

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    21. Edgar Foster7:07 PM

      https://psalms.cdbr.org/w/The_Grammar_and_Meaning_of_Psalm_10:3b

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    22. Edgar Foster7:14 PM

      C.L. Seow: It is likely that brk, “bless,” is antiphrastic, that is, used in a sense opposite to its normal sense (as also in 1 Kgs 21:10,13; Ps 10:3; see Blank 1950-51, 83-84). This is a euphemism or irony (see O'Connor 1996, 48-65) . . .

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    23. Edgar Foster7:17 PM

      https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Meaning_and_Significance_of_Brk_to_B/UcXOAAAAMAAJ?hl=en

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    24. Duncan11:39 AM

      I think he thinks it is better to interpret as blaspheme than curse.

      My preference at the moment is to the improper blessing option.

      https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/20728/why-does-job-use-bless-to-mean-curse

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    25. Edgar Foster2:23 PM

      Some prefer "renounce" and they appeal to how the Maoretes handled such passages. Whatever it's meaning, the issue is interesting.

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