Ayub 3:14

3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth

who built for themselves places now desolate, ¹ 

Ayub 5:25

5:25 You will also know that your children ²  will be numerous,

and your descendants ³  like the grass of the earth.

Ayub 9:28

9:28 I dread ⁴  all my sufferings, ⁵ 

for ⁶  I know that you do not hold me blameless. ⁷ 

Ayub 22:8

22:8 Although you were a powerful man, ⁸  owning land, ⁹ 

an honored man ¹⁰  living on it, ¹¹ 

Ayub 23:6

23:6 Would he contend ¹²  with me with great power?

No, he would only pay attention to me. ¹³ 

Ayub 27:11

27:11 I will teach you ¹⁴  about the power ¹⁵  of God;

What is on the Almighty’s mind ¹⁶  I will not conceal.

Ayub 32:9

32:9 It is not the aged ¹⁷  who are wise,

nor old men who understand what is right.

Ayub 35:7

35:7 If you are righteous, what do you give to God,

or what does he receive from your hand?

Ayub 37:7

37:7 He causes everyone to stop working, ¹⁸ 

so that all people ¹⁹  may know ²⁰  his work.

Ayub 38:32

38:32 Can you lead out

the constellations ²¹  in their seasons,

or guide the Bear with its cubs? ²² 

[3:14]  ¹ tn The difficult term חֳרָבוֹת (khoravot) is translated “desolate [places]”. The LXX confused the word and translated it “who gloried in their swords.” One would expect a word for monuments, or tombs (T. K. Cheyne emended it to “everlasting tombs” [“More Critical Gleanings in Job,” ExpTim 10 (1898/99): 380-83]). But this difficult word is of uncertain etymology and therefore cannot simply be made to mean “royal tombs.” The verb means “be desolate, solitary.” In Isa 48:21 there is the clear sense of a desert. That is the meaning of Assyrian huribtu. It may be that like the pyramids of Egypt these tombs would have been built in the desert regions. Or it may describe how they rebuilt ruins for themselves. He would be saying then that instead of lying here in pain and shame if he had died he would be with the great ones of the earth. Otherwise, the word could be interpreted as a metonymy of effect, indicating that the once glorious tomb now is desolate. But this does not fit the context – the verse is talking about the state of the great ones after their death.

[5:25]  ² tn Heb “your seed.”

[5:25]  ³ tn The word means “your shoots” and is parallel to “your seed” in the first colon. It refers here (as in Isa 34:1 and 42:5) to the produce of the earth. Some commentators suggest that Eliphaz seems to have forgotten or was insensitive to Job’s loss of his children; H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 57) says his conventional theology is untouched by human feeling.

[9:28]  ⁴ tn The word was used in Job 3:25; it has the idea of “dread, fear, tremble at.” The point here is that even if Job changes his appearance, he still dreads the sufferings, because he knows that God is treating him as a criminal.

[9:28]  ⁵ sn See Job 7:15; see also the translation by G. Perles, “I tremble in every nerve” (“The Fourteenth Edition of Gesenius-Buhl’s Dictionary,” JQR 18 [1905/06]: 383-90).

[9:28]  ⁶ tn The conjunction “for” is supplied in the translation.

[9:28]  ⁷ sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 73) appropriately notes that Job’s afflictions were the proof of his guilt in the estimation of God. If God held him innocent, he would remove the afflictions.

[22:8]  ⁸ tn The idiom is “a man of arm” (= “powerful”; see Ps 10:15). This is in comparison to the next line, “man of face” (= “dignity; high rank”; see Isa 3:5).

[22:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “and a man of arm, to whom [was] land.” The line is in contrast to the preceding one, and so the vav here introduces a concessive clause.

[22:8]  ¹⁰ tn The expression is unusual: “the one lifted up of face.” This is the “honored one,” the one to whom the dignity will be given.

[22:8]  ¹¹ tn Many commentators simply delete the verse or move it elsewhere. Most take it as a general reference to Job, perhaps in apposition to the preceding verse.

[23:6]  ¹² tn The verb is now רִיב (riv) and not יָכַח (yakhakh, “contend”); רִיב (riv) means “to quarrel; to dispute; to contend,” often in a legal context. Here it is still part of Job’s questioning about this hypothetical meeting – would God contend with all his power?

[23:6]  ¹³ tn The verbal clause יָשִׂם בִּי (yasim bi) has been translated “he would pay [attention] to me.” Job is saying that God will not need all his power – he will just have pay attention to Job’s complaint. Job does not need the display of power – he just wants a hearing.

[27:11]  ¹⁴ tn The object suffix is in the plural, which gives some support to the idea Job is speaking to them.

[27:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the hand of.”

[27:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[what is] with Shaddai.”

[32:9]  ¹⁷ tn The MT has “the great” or “the many,” meaning great in years according to the parallelism.

[37:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “by the hand of every man he seals.” This line is intended to mean with the heavy rains God suspends all agricultural activity.

[37:7]  ¹⁹ tc This reading involves a change in the text, for in MT “men” is in the construct. It would be translated, “all men whom he made” (i.e., all men of his making”). This is the translation followed by the NIV and NRSV. Olshausen suggested that the word should have been אֲנָשִׁים (’anashim) with the final ם (mem) being lost to haplography.

[37:7]  ²⁰ tn D. W. Thomas suggested a meaning of “rest” for the verb, based on Arabic. He then reads אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) for man, and supplies a ם (mem) to “his work” to get “that every man might rest from his work [in the fields].”

[38:32]  ²¹ tn The word מַזָּרוֹת (mazzarot) is taken by some to refer to the constellations (see 2 Kgs 23:5), and by others as connected to the word for “crown,” and so “corona.”

[38:32]  ²² sn See Job 9:9.