Ayub 12:4

12:4 I am ¹  a laughingstock ²  to my friends, ³ 

I, who called on God and whom he answered ⁴  –

a righteous and blameless ⁵  man

is a laughingstock!

Ayub 17:8-9

17:8 Upright men are appalled ⁶  at this;

the innocent man is troubled ⁷  with the godless.

17:9 But the righteous man holds to his way,

and the one with clean hands grows stronger. ⁸ 

Ayub 23:11-12

23:11 My feet ⁹  have followed ¹⁰  his steps closely;

I have kept to his way and have not turned aside. ¹¹ 

23:12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion. ¹² 

[12:4]  ¹ tn Some are troubled by the disharmony with “I am” and “to his friend.” Even though the difficulty is not insurmountable, some have emended the text. Some simply changed the verb to “he is,” which was not very compelling. C. D. Isbell argued that אֶהְיֶה (’ehyeh, “I am”) is an orthographic variant of יִהְיֶה (yihyeh, “he will”) – “a person who does not know these things would be a laughingstock” (JANESCU 37 [1978]: 227-36). G. R. Driver suggests the meaning of the MT is something like “(One that is) a mockery to his friend I am to be.”

[12:4]  ² tn The word simply means “laughter”; but it can also mean the object of laughter (see Jer 20:7). The LXX jumps from one “laughter” to the next, eliminating everything in between, presumably due to haplography.

[12:4]  ³ tn Heb “his friend.” A number of English versions (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) take this collectively, “to my friends.”

[12:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “one calling to God and he answered him.” H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 92) contends that because Job has been saying that God is not answering him, these words must be part of the derisive words of his friends.

[12:4]  ⁵ tn The two words, צַדִּיק תָּמִים (tsadiq tamim), could be understood as a hendiadys (= “blamelessly just”) following W. G. E. Watson (Classical Hebrew Poetry, 327).

[17:8]  ⁶ tn This verb שָׁמַם (shamam, “appalled”) is the one found in Isa 52:14, translated there “astonished.”

[17:8]  ⁷ tn The verb means “to rouse oneself to excitement.” It naturally means “to be agitated; to be stirred up.”

[17:9]  ⁸ tn The last two words are the imperfect verb יֹסִיף (yosif) which means “he adds,” and the abstract noun “energy, strength.” This noun is not found elsewhere; its Piel verb occurs in Job 4:4 and 16:5. “he increases strength.”

[23:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “my foot.”

[23:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “held fast.”

[23:11]  ¹¹ tn The last clause, “and I have not turned aside,” functions adverbially in the sentence. The form אָט (’at) is a pausal form of אַתֶּה (’atteh), the Hiphil of נָטָה (natah, “stretch out”).

[23:12]  ¹² tc The form in the MT (מֵחֻקִּי, mekhuqqi) means “more than my portion” or “more than my law.” An expanded meaning results in “more than my necessary food” (see Ps 119:11; cf. KJV, NASB, ESV). HALOT 346 s.v. חֹק 1 indicates that חֹק (khoq) has the meaning of “portion” and is here a reference to “what is appointed for me.” The LXX and the Latin versions, along with many commentators, have בְּחֵקִי (bÿkheqi, “in my bosom”).