Ayub 21:25

21:25 And another man ¹  dies in bitterness of soul, ² 

never having tasted ³  anything good.

Ayub 24:21

24:21 He preys on ⁴  the barren and childless woman, ⁵ 

and does not treat the widow well.

Ayub 28:5

28:5 The earth, from which food comes,

is overturned below as though by fire; ⁶ 

Ayub 31:38

Job’s Final Solemn Oath ⁷ 

31:38 “If my land cried out against me ⁸ 

and all its furrows wept together,

[21:25]  ¹ tn The expression “this (v. 23)…and this” (v. 25) means “one…the other.”

[21:25]  ² tn The text literally has “and this [man] dies in soul of bitterness.” Some simply reverse it and translate “in the bitterness of soul.” The genitive “bitterness” may be an attribute adjective, “with a bitter soul.”

[21:25]  ³ tn Heb “eaten what is good.” It means he died without having enjoyed the good life.

[24:21]  ⁴ tc The form in the text is the active participle, “feed; graze; shepherd.” The idea of “prey” is not natural to it. R. Gordis (Job, 270) argues that third he (ה) verbs are often by-forms of geminate verbs, and so the meaning here is more akin to רָעַע (ra’a’, “to crush”). The LXX seems to have read something like הֵרַע (hera’, “oppressed”).

[24:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “the childless [woman], she does not give birth.” The verbal clause is intended to serve as a modifier here for the woman. See on subordinate verbal clauses GKC 490 §156.d, f.

[28:5]  ⁶ sn The verse has been properly understood, on the whole, as comparing the earth above and all its produce with the upheaval down below.

[31:38]  ⁷ sn Many commentators place vv. 38-40b at the end of v. 34, so that there is no return to these conditional clauses after his final appeal.

[31:38]  ⁸ sn Some commentators have suggested that the meaning behind this is that Job might not have kept the year of release (Deut 15:1), and the law against mixing seed (Lev 19:19). But the context will make clear that the case considered is obtaining the land without paying for it and causing the death of its lawful owner (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 206). Similar to this would be the case of Naboth’s vineyard.