GOD MIND: Keeping a Score Card of Wrongs
On the other hand, Jesus’ teaching was rich with exhortations to love one’s enemies; taking vengeance is forbidden, as is harboring resentment (Matt 5:39, Luke 6:35; see Rom 12:14–21). The disciple must be forgiving in spirit even if the offender is hardhearted. Again, this ideal is not absent from Judaism; again, T. Gad 6:7 provides a parallel: If the offender does not repent at all “forgive him from the heart and leave vengeance with God.” But whatever the parallels, the concept springs into life in Luke 23:34—“Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Jesus forgiving of his own executioners is mirrored by Stephen (Acts 7:60), and by a number of later victims of Roman persecution.
Hannah’s shrewish rival, Peninnah, became the mother of many children and made constant fun of Hannah, apparently unaware that her infertility was caused by the Lord (1 Sam 1:5–6; cf. similarly Gen 15:3; 16:2; 20:18; 30:2). So merciless and continuous was the provocation that Hannah not only often wept and refused to eat but also became “resentful” (1 Sam 1:8; literally, had a “bad/angry heart”; for the only other precise parallel cf. Deut 15:10, where the same phrase means “grudging[ly]”). On such occasions Elkanah would attempt to console her with the thought that he was better for her than ten sons.
BITTER; BITTERNESS [Heb. mar, mārar, mōrâ, merî, merōrâ, merōrîm, tamrûrîm, memer, mammerōrîm, merîrûṯ, mārûḏ, also la‘anâ—‘wormwood’ (“bitter fruit,” Dt. 29:18), rō‘š—‘gall’ (Lam. 3:5), nihyâ (Mic. 2:4); Gk. pikraínō, pikrós, pikría]; AV also GRIEF, GRIEVE, MISERY, VEX, PROVOKE, GALL, WORMWOOD, HEAVY (Prov. 31:6), DOLEFUL (Mic. 2:4); NEB also CONTENTION, WORMWOOD, “great,” RESENTFUL, CRUEL, EMBITTER (ED), “mighty,” MISERY, “rebellion” (Jer. 4:18), “behind” (Lam. 3:5), GALL, “exaltation” (Ezk. 3:14), “thrice told” (Mic. 2:4), SAVAGE, SPITE, POISON, SOUR, etc.; BITTERLY [Heb. ’mar, mārar (also “weep bitterly”), beḵeh, beḵî gāḏôl, bāḵâ with inf. abs., dāma‘ with inf. abs., “curse bitterly,” ʾārar with inf. abs.; Gk. pikrṓs]; AV also SORE; NEB also LOUD, etc.
The healing of a woman who seems literally to have buckled under the pressures of life is described in Lk. 13:11, where Luke’s medical terminology indicates a case of spondylitis deformans. This is an arthritic condition in which union (ankylosis) of the discs and vertebrae produces an abnormal curvature of the spine (kyphosis). The psychosomatic relationship between arthritis and chronic anger is now well established, and the dispelling of resentment has been known to produce dramatic healings of a number of arthritic conditions. See also Bent Over.
GRUDGE [Heb. nāṭar] (“bear a grudge,” Lev. 19:18); NEB CHERISH ANGER; [hiphil of rʿʿ + ʿayin—‘eye’] (Dt. 28:54, 56); AV “eye shall be evil”; NEB “will not share”; [Gk. enéchō] (“have a grudge,” Mk. 6:19); AV HAVE A QUARREL; NEB NURSE A GRUDGE; GRUDGING [qal of Heb. rʿʿ—‘look with displeasure at’] (Dt. 15:10); AV “be grieved.” In the RSV “grudge” occurs as a verb only in Dt. 28:54, 56, where it means to do or give something unwillingly (see Evil Eye). In earlier versions it was used frequently as a verb with the obsolete meaning of “murmur” or “grumble,” e.g., Wyclift has in Lk. 15:2, “The farisies and scribis grucchiden seiyenge.…” The AV employs it in this sense in Ps. 59:15 (MT 16) and Jas. 5:9.
“Grudge” occurs twice as a noun in the RSV in the phrase “bear a grudge” or “have a grudge” (Lev. 19:18; Mk. 6:19). In each case the verb translated has reference to the nursing of feelings of ill will and resentment. According to Dt. 15:10 the creditors were to loan freely to the poor even when the year of release was near, without any grudge (P. C. Craigie, comm on Deuteronomy [NICOT, 1976], p. 237).
JEALOUS [Heb. qanṇ-aʾ (Ex. 20:5; 34:14; Dt. 4:24; 5:9; 6:15), qannôʾ (Josh. 24:19; Nah. 1:2)]; JEALOUS WRATH [Heb. qinʾâ] (Ps. 79:5; Ezk. 36:6; Zeph. 1:18; 3:8); AV JEALOUSY; NEB JEALOUSY, ANGER; BE JEALOUS [Heb. piel of qānāʾ (Gen. 37:11; Nu. 11:29; 1 K. 19:10, 14; etc.); Gk. zēlóō (Acts 7:9; 17:5; 1 Cor. 13:4)]; AV also ENVY, ZEALOUS (Nu. 25:11, 13); NEB also SUSPECT (Nu. 5:14, 30), ZEAL, etc.; MAKE JEALOUS [Gk. parazēlóō] (Rom. 10:19; 11:11, 14); AV PROVOKE TO JEALOUSY; NEB also STIR ENVY; JEALOUSY [Heb. qinʾâ (Nu. 25:11; Job 5:2; Prov. 6:34; 27:4; Ezk. 8:3, 5; etc.); Gk. zḗlos (Acts 5:17; 13:45; Rom. 13:13; 1 Cor. 3:3; 2 Cor. 11:2; 12:20; Gal. 5:20; Jas. 3:14, 16)]; AV also ZEAL (Ezk. 5:13), ENVY, ENVYING; NEB also RESENTMENT (Dt. 29:20), etc.; JEALOUSY [Gk. prós phthónon] (Jas. 4:5), AV UNTO ENVYING; NEB TOWARDS EVIL DESIRES. Jealousy is the intense emotion aroused by the infringement of one’s right (or presumed right) to exclusive possession or loyalty.
VENGEANCE [Heb. nāqam]; AV also AVENGE (Lev. 19:18; Josh. 10:13), REVENGE (Jer. 15:15; Ezk. 25:12); NEB also AVENGE (Gen. 4:15; Jer. 51:36; Ezk. 25:15), SEEK REVENGE (Lev. 19:18); [piel of bāqaš] (Josh. 22:23; 1 S. 20:16); AV REQUITE, REQUIRE; NEB EXACT PUNISHMENT, CALL TO ACCOUNT; [hiphil of yāšaʿ] (1 S. 25:26, 31); AV AVENGE; NEB GIVING VENT/WAY TO ANGER; [nāqām]; NEB also DAY OF PUNISHMENT (Dt. 32:35); [neqamâ]; AV also AVENGE (Nu. 31:3; 2 S. 22:48 par Ps. 18:47 [MT 48]); NEB also AVENGING (Jer. 51:11); [Gk. ekdíkēsis] (Lk. 21:22; Rom. 12:19; 2 Thess. 1:8; He. 10:30); NEB RETRIBUTION, JUSTICE; REVENGE [Heb. nāqām] (Prov. 6:34); AV, NEB, VENGEANCE; [neqāmâ] (Jer. 20:10); REVENGEFULLY [Heb. binqōm nāqām (Ezk. 25:12), binqāmâ (v 15)]; AV TAKING VENGEANCE BY REVENGE; NEB TAKE DELIBERATE REVENGE. “Vengeance” means to return an injury for an injury, in punishment or retribution. “Revenge” implies retaliation for an injury against oneself and connotes personal malice and bitter resentment as the moving force.
VEXATION [Heb. kaʿas (1 S. 1:16; Ps. 10:14; etc.; emended from kāʿas in Eccl. 5:17 [MT 16]), kaʿaś (Job 5:2; 6:2; 10:17)]; AV GRIEF, WRATH, INDIGNATION, SPITE, SORROW; NEB MISERY, ANGRY PASSIONS, GROUNDS FOR RESENTMENTS, ANGER, etc.; VEXED [Heb. qāṣar—‘be shortened,’ ‘become impatient’] (Jgs. 16:16); NEB WEARYING; [sar—‘sullen’] (1 K. 21:4f); AV HEAVY, SAD; NEB SULLEN; [Gk. basanízō—‘torment’] (2 Pet. 2:8); NEB TORTURED. A state of distress or agitation.
Wheareas the AV uses “vexation” to render Heb. reʿûṯ (Eccl. 1:14; 2:11, 17, 26; etc. [RSV “striving”]), raʿyôn (Eccl. 1:17; 2:22; 4:16 [RSV “striving,” “strain”]), mehûmâ (Dt. 28:20; 2 Ch. 15:5; Ezk. 22:5 [RSV “confusion,” “disturbances,” “tumult”]), zewāʿâ (Isa. 28:19 [RSV “terror”]), and šēḇer (Isa. 65:14 [RSV “anguish”]), the RSV uses this translation only for kaʿas (and the dialectical variant kaʿaś), which is derived from the root kāʿas (“be discontent, irritated, angry”). The noun kaʿas denotes the anger or distress that a person experiences in response to suffering (esp when one receives undeserved ill-treatment). Although it is used most often to describe God’s response to human unfaithfulness (see Provocation; cf. Job 10:17), the RSV generally translates it “vexation” only when it describes a human response to suffering, e.g., to childlessness (1 S. 1:16), calamity (Job. 6:2), oppression (Ps. 10:14), and the human condition in general (Eccl. 1:18; cf. 2:23; 5:17 [MT 16]; 11:10). Wisdom literature warned against the foolishness of being easily vexed (Job. 5:2; Prov. 12:16).
The AV uses “vex” and “vexed” to render more than twenty Hebrew and Greek terms with a broad range of meanings, e.g., Heb. bāhēl (lit “terrify, be terrified”; niphal in Ps. 6:2f, 10 [MT 3f, 11]; piel in 2:5), the hiphil of yānâ (“oppress”; Ex. 22:21; Lev. 19:33; etc.), ṣārar (“be hostile toward”; Nu. 25:17f.; 33:55; etc.); Gk. daimonízomai (“be possessed by a demon”; Mt. 15:22), kataponéomai (“be oppressed, worn out”; 2 Pet. 2:7). The RSV uses “vexed” much less often. The Hebrew noun sar is derived from sārar, “be stubborn, rebellious”; in 1 K. 21:4f it describes Ahab’s sullen response to being rebuffed. By contrast, Lot’s vexation was a righteous response to the lawlessness that surrounded him (2 Pet. 2:8).
ZEAL [Heb. qinʾâ] (2 K. 10:16; 19:31; Ps. 69:9 [MT 10]; 119:139; etc.); AV also ENVY (Isa. 26:11); NEB also “bitter enemies,” RESENTMENT; [qānāʾ] (2 S. 21:2); [Gk. zḗlos] (Jn. 2:17; Rom. 10:2; 2 Cor. 7:7, 11; 9:2; Phil. 3:6); AV also “fervent mind”; NEB also “long for,” EAGERNESS; [haplótēs] (Rom. 12:8); AV SIMPLICITY; NEB “exert yourself”; [spoudḗ] (Rom. 12:11; 2 Cor. 7:12); AV BUSINESS, CARE; NEB ENERGY, DEVOTED; (BE) ZEALOUS [Gk. zēlōtḗs] (Acts 21:20; 22:3; Gal. 1:14; Tit. 2:14; 1 Pet. 3:13); AV also FOLLOWER; NEB STAUNCH UPHOLDER, ARDENT, etc.; [spoudázō] (2 Pet. 1:10; 3:14); AV GIVE DILIGENCE, BE DILIGENT; NEB EXERT ONESELF, DO ONE’S UTMOST; [zēleúō] (Rev. 3:19); NEB “be on your mettle.” Impassioned devotion to a person or cause, which may be either worthy or unworthy. At times the orginal term would be better translated “jealousy”; under certain conditions jealousy is justified (e.g., God’s jealousy for His people), but selfish jealousy is sinful (see Jealous).
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