Ayub 12:3

12:3 I also have understanding ¹  as well as you;

I am not inferior to you. ² 

Who does not know such things as these? ³ 

Ayub 16:8

16:8 You have seized me, ⁴ 

and it ⁵  has become a witness;

my leanness ⁶  has risen up against me

and testifies against me.

Ayub 30:28

30:28 I go about blackened, ⁷  but not by the sun;

in the assembly I stand up and cry for help.

Ayub 32:21

32:21 I will not show partiality to anyone, ⁸ 

nor will I confer a title ⁹  on any man.

Ayub 40:23

40:23 If the river rages, ¹⁰  it is not disturbed,

it is secure, ¹¹  though the Jordan

should surge up to its mouth.

Ayub 42:5

42:5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye has seen you. ¹² 

[12:3]  ¹ tn The word is literally “heart,” meaning a mind or understanding.

[12:3]  ² tn Because this line is repeated in 13:2, many commentators delete it from this verse (as does the LXX). The Syriac translates נֹפֵל (nofel) as “little,” and the Vulgate “inferior.” Job is saying that he does not fall behind them in understanding.

[12:3]  ³ tn Heb “With whom are not such things as these?” The point is that everyone knows the things that these friends have been saying – they are commonplace.

[16:8]  ⁴ tn The verb is קָמַט (qamat) which is used only here and in 22:16; it means “to seize; to grasp.” By God’s seizing him, Job means his afflictions.

[16:8]  ⁵ tn The subject is “my calamity.”

[16:8]  ⁶ tn The verb is used in Ps 109:24 to mean “to be lean”; and so “leanness” is accepted here for the noun by most. Otherwise the word is “lie, deceit.” Accordingly, some take it here as “my slanderer” or “my liar” (gives evidence against me).

[30:28]  ⁷ tn The construction uses the word קֹדֵר (qoder) followed by the Piel perfect of הָלַךְ (halakh, “I go about”). The adjective “blackened” refers to Job’s skin that has been marred by the disease. Adjectives are often used before verbs to describe some bodily condition (see GKC 374-75 §118.n).

[32:21]  ⁸ tn The idiom is “I will not lift up the face of a man.” Elihu is going to show no favoritism, but speak his mind.

[32:21]  ⁹ tn The verb means “to confer an honorary title; to give a mark of distinction,” but it is often translated with the verb “flatter.” Elihu will not take sides, he will not use pompous titles.

[40:23]  ¹⁰ tn The word ordinarily means “to oppress.” So many commentators have proposed suitable changes: “overflows” (Beer), “gushes” (Duhm), “swells violently” (Dhorme, from a word that means “be strong”).

[40:23]  ¹¹ tn Or “he remains calm.”

[42:5]  ¹² sn This statement does not imply there was a vision. He is simply saying that this experience of God was real and personal. In the past his knowledge of God was what he had heard – hearsay. This was real.