Ayub 9:16

9:16 If I summoned him, and he answered me, ¹ 

I would not believe ² 

that he would be listening to my voice –

Ayub 11:3

11:3 Will your idle talk ³  reduce people to silence, ⁴ 

and will no one rebuke ⁵  you when you mock? ⁶ 

Ayub 21:14

21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!

We do not want to ⁷  know your ways. ⁸ 

Ayub 22:19

22:19 The righteous see their destruction ⁹  and rejoice;

the innocent mock them scornfully, ¹⁰  saying,

Ayub 23:12

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. ¹¹ 

Ayub 28:17

28:17 Neither gold nor crystal ¹²  can be compared with it,

nor can a vase ¹³  of gold match its worth.

Ayub 37:5

37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; ¹⁴ 

he does great things beyond our understanding. ¹⁵ 

Ayub 39:4

39:4 Their young grow strong, and grow up in the open; ¹⁶ 

they go off, and do not return to them.

Ayub 41:8

41:8 If you lay your hand on it,

you will remember ¹⁷  the fight,

and you will never do it again!

[9:16]  ¹ sn The idea of “answer” in this line is that of responding to the summons, i.e., appearing in court. This preterite and the perfect before it have the nuance of hypothetical perfects since they are in conditional clauses (GKC 330 §111.x). D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 219) translates literally, “If I should call and he should answer.”

[9:16]  ² tn The Hiphil imperfect in the apodosis of this conditional sentence expresses what would (not) happen if God answered the summons.

[11:3]  ³ tn The word means “chatter, pratings, boastings” (see Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30).

[11:3]  ⁴ tn The verb חָרַשׁ (kharash) in the Hiphil means “to silence” (41:4); here it functions in a causative sense, “reduce to silence.”

[11:3]  ⁵ tn The form מַכְלִם (makhlim, “humiliating, mocking”) is the Hiphil participle. The verb כָּלַם (kalam) has the meaning “cover with shame, insult” (Job 20:3).

[11:3]  ⁶ tn The construction shows the participle to be in the circumstantial clause: “will you mock – and [with] no one rebuking.”

[21:14]  ⁷ tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”

[21:14]  ⁸ sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.

[22:19]  ⁹ tn The line is talking about the rejoicing of the righteous when judgment falls on the wicked. An object (“destruction”) has to be supplied here to clarify this (see Pss 52:6 [8]; 69:32 [33]; 107:42).

[22:19]  ¹⁰ sn In Ps 2:4 it was God who mocked the wicked by judging them.

[23:12]  ¹¹ 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”).

[28:17]  ¹² tn The word is from זָכַךְ (zakhakh, “clear”). It describes a transparent substance, and so “glass” is an appropriate translation. In the ancient world it was precious and so expensive.

[28:17]  ¹³ tc The MT has “vase”; but the versions have a plural here, suggesting jewels of gold.

[37:5]  ¹⁴ tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.

[37:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and we do not know.”

[39:4]  ¹⁶ tn The idea is that of the open countryside. The Aramaism is found only here.

[41:8]  ¹⁷ tn The verse uses two imperatives which can be interpreted in sequence: do this, and then this will happen.