Ayub 22:9

22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms ¹  of the orphans you crushed. ² 

Ayub 29:13

29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, ³ 

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; ⁴ 

Ayub 31:13

31:13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants

or my female servants

when they disputed ⁵  with me,

Ayub 31:16

31:16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, ⁶ 

or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

[22:9]  ¹ tn The “arms of the orphans” are their helps or rights on which they depended for support.

[22:9]  ² tn The verb in the text is Pual: יְדֻכָּא (yÿdukka’, “was [were] crushed”). GKC 388 §121.b would explain “arms” as the complement of a passive imperfect. But if that is too difficult, then a change to Piel imperfect, second person, will solve the difficulty. In its favor is the parallelism, the use of the second person all throughout the section, and the reading in all the versions. The versions may have simply assumed the easier reading, however.

[29:13]  ³ tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320).

[29:13]  ⁴ tn The verb אַרְנִן (’arnin) is from רָנַן (ranan, “to give a ringing cry”) but here “cause to give a ringing cry,” i.e., shout of joy. The rejoicing envisioned in this word is far greater than what the words “sing” or “rejoice” suggest.

[31:13]  ⁵ tn This construction is an adverbial clause using the temporal preposition, the infinitive from רִיב (riv, “contend”), and the suffix which is the subjective genitive.

[31:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “kept the poor from [their] desire.”