Ayub 3:16

3:16 Or why ¹  was ²  I not buried ³ 

like a stillborn infant, ⁴ 

like infants ⁵  who have never seen the light? ⁶ 

Ayub 5:7

5:7 but people ⁷  are born ⁸  to trouble,

as surely as the sparks ⁹  fly ¹⁰  upward. ¹¹ 

Ayub 9:35

9:35 Then ¹²  would I speak and not fear him,

but it is not so with me. ¹³ 

Ayub 12:10

12:10 in whose hand ¹⁴  is the life ¹⁵  of every creature

and the breath of all the human race. ¹⁶ 

Ayub 12:12

12:12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? ¹⁷ 

Does not long life bring understanding?

Ayub 13:16

13:16 Moreover, this will become my deliverance,

for no godless person would come before him. ¹⁸ 

Ayub 21:23

Death Levels Everything

21:23 “One man dies in his full vigor, ¹⁹ 

completely secure and prosperous,

Ayub 21:29

21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?

Do you not recognize their accounts ²⁰  –

Ayub 22:2

22:2 “Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit?

Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable? ²¹ 

Ayub 22:4

22:4 Is it because of your piety ²²  that he rebukes you

and goes to judgment with you? ²³ 

Ayub 22:9

22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms ²⁴  of the orphans you crushed. ²⁵ 

Ayub 23:16

23:16 Indeed, God has made my heart faint; ²⁶ 

the Almighty has terrified me.

Ayub 28:13

28:13 Mankind does not know its place; ²⁷ 

it cannot be found in the land of the living.

Ayub 35:10

35:10 But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator,

who gives songs in the night, ²⁸ 

Ayub 37:21

37:21 But now, the sun ²⁹  cannot be looked at ³⁰  –

it is bright in the skies –

after a wind passed and swept the clouds away. ³¹ 

Ayub 38:5

38:5 Who set its measurements – if ³²  you know –

or who stretched a measuring line across it?

Ayub 40:4

40:4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy ³³  – how could I reply to you?

I put ³⁴  my hand over my mouth to silence myself. ³⁵ 

Ayub 41:9

41:9 (41:1) ³⁶  See, his expectation is wrong, ³⁷ 

he is laid low even at the sight of it. ³⁸ 

[3:16]  ¹ tn The verb is governed by the interrogative of v. 12 that introduces this series of rhetorical questions.

[3:16]  ² tn The verb is again the prefix conjugation, but the narrative requires a past tense, or preterite.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “hidden.” The LXX paraphrases: “an untimely birth, proceeding from his mother’s womb.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn The noun נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”) is the abortive thing that falls (hence the verb) from the womb before the time is ripe (Ps 58:9). The idiom using the verb “to fall” from the womb means to come into the world (Isa 26:18). The epithet טָמוּן (tamun, “hidden”) is appropriate to the verse. The child comes in vain, and disappears into the darkness – it is hidden forever.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn The word עֹלְלִים (’olÿlim) normally refers to “nurslings.” Here it must refer to infants in general since it refers to a stillborn child.

[3:16]  ⁶ tn The relative clause does not have the relative pronoun; the simple juxtaposition of words indicates that it is modifying the infants.

[5:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “man [is].” Because “man” is used in a generic sense for humanity here, the generic “people” has been used in the translation.

[5:7]  ⁸ tn There is a slight difficulty here in that vv. 6 and 7 seem to be saying the opposite thing. Many commentators, therefore, emend the the Niphal יוּלָּד (yullad, “is born”) to an active participle יוֹלֵד (yoled, “begets”) to place the source of trouble in man himself. But the LXX seems to retain the passive idea: “man is born to trouble.” The contrast between the two verses does not seem too difficult, for it still could imply that trouble’s source is within the man.

[5:7]  ⁹ tn For the Hebrew בְנֵי־רֶשֶׁף (bÿne reshef, “sons of the flame”) the present translation has the rendering “sparks.” E. Dhorme (Job, 62) thinks it refers to some kind of bird, but renders it “sons of the lightning” because the eagle was associated with lightning in ancient interpretations. Sparks, he argues, do not soar high above the earth. Other suggestions include Resheph, the Phoenician god of lightning (Pope), the fire of passion (Buttenwieser), angels (Peake), or demons (Targum Job). None of these are convincing; the idea of sparks flying upward fits the translation well and makes clear sense in the passage.

[5:7]  ¹⁰ tn The simple translation of the last two words is “fly high” or “soar aloft” which would suit the idea of an eagle. But, as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 53) concludes, the argument to identify the expression preceding this with eagles is far-fetched.

[5:7]  ¹¹ tn The LXX has the name of a bird here: “the vulture’s young seek the high places.” The Targum to Job has “sons of demons” or “the sparks which shoot from coals of fire.”

[9:35]  ¹² tn There is no conjunction with this cohortative; but the implication from the context is that if God’s rod were withdrawn, if the terror were removed, then Job would speak up without fear.

[9:35]  ¹³ tn The last half of the verse is rather cryptic: “but not so I with me.” NIV renders it “but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” This is very smooth and interpretive. Others transpose the two halves of the verse to read, “Since it is not so, I with myself // will commune and not fear him.” Job would be saying that since he cannot contend with God on equal terms, and since there is no arbiter, he will come on his own terms. English versions have handled this differently: “for I know I am not what I am thought to be” (NEB); “since this is not the case with me” (NAB); “I do not see myself like that at all” (JB).

[12:10]  ¹⁴ tn The construction with the relative clause includes a resumptive pronoun referring to God: “who in his hand” = “in whose hand.”

[12:10]  ¹⁵ tn The two words נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) and רוּחַ (ruakh) are synonymous in general. They could be translated “soul” and “spirit,” but “soul” is not precise for נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), and so “life” is to be preferred. Since that is the case for the first half of the verse, “breath” will be preferable in the second part.

[12:10]  ¹⁶ tn Human life is made of “flesh” and “spirit.” So here the line reads “and the spirit of all flesh of man.” If the text had simply said “all flesh,” that would have applied to all flesh in which there is the breath of life (see Gen 6:17; 7:15). But to limit this to human beings requires the qualification with “man.”

[12:12]  ¹⁷ tn The statement in the Hebrew Bible simply has “among the aged – wisdom.” Since this seems to be more the idea of the friends than of Job, scholars have variously tried to rearrange it. Some have proposed that Job is citing his friends: “With the old men, you say, is wisdom” (Budde, Gray, Hitzig). Others have simply made it a question (Weiser). But others take לֹא (lo’) from the previous verse and make it the negative here, to say, “wisdom is not….” But Job will draw on the wisdom of the aged, only with discernment, for ultimately all wisdom is with God.

[13:16]  ¹⁸ sn The fact that Job will dare to come before God and make his case is evidence – to Job at least – that he is innocent.

[21:23]  ¹⁹ tn The line has “in the bone of his perfection.” The word עֶצֶם (’etsem), which means “bone,” is used pronominally to express “the same, very”; here it is “in the very fullness of his strength” (see GKC 449 §139.g). The abstract תֹּם (tom) is used here in the sense of physical perfection and strengths.

[21:29]  ²⁰ tc The LXX reads, “Ask those who go by the way, and do not disown their signs.”

[21:29]  tn The idea is that the merchants who travel widely will talk about what they have seen and heard. These travelers give a different account of the wicked; they tell how he is spared. E. Dhorme (Job, 322) interprets “signs” concretely: “Their custom was to write their names and their thoughts somewhere at the main cross-roads. The main roads of Sinai are dotted with these scribblings made by such passers of a day.”

[22:2]  ²¹ tn Some do not take this to be parallel to the first colon, taking this line as a statement, but the parallel expressions here suggest the question is repeated.

[22:4]  ²² tn The word “your fear” or “your piety” refers to Job’s reverence – it is his fear of God (thus a subjective genitive). When “fear” is used of religion, it includes faith and adoration on the positive side, fear and obedience on the negative.

[22:4]  ²³ sn Of course the point is that God does not charge Job because he is righteous; the point is he must be unrighteous.

[22:9]  ²⁴ tn The “arms of the orphans” are their helps or rights on which they depended for support.

[22:9]  ²⁵ 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.

[23:16]  ²⁶ tn The verb הֵרַךְ (kherakh) means “to be tender”; in the Piel it would have the meaning “to soften.” The word is used in parallel constructions with the verbs for “fear.” The implication is that God has made Job fearful.

[28:13]  ²⁷ tc The LXX has “its way, apparently reading דַּרְכָה (darkhah) in place of עֶרְכָּהּ (’erkah, “place”). This is adopted by most modern commentators. But R. Gordis (Job, 308) shows that this change is not necessary, for עֶרֶךְ (’erekh) in the Bible means “order; row; disposition,” and here “place.” An alternate meaning would be “worth” (NIV, ESV).

[35:10]  ²⁸ tn There have been several attempts to emend the line, none of which are particularly helpful or interesting. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 225) says, “It is a pity to rob Elihu of a poetic line when he creates one.”

[37:21]  ²⁹ tn The light here must refer to the sun in the skies that had been veiled by the storm. Then, when the winds blew the clouds away, it could not be looked at because it was so dazzling. Elihu’s analogy will be that God is the same – in his glory one cannot look at him or challenge him.

[37:21]  ³⁰ tn The verb has an indefinite subject, and so should be a passive here.

[37:21]  ³¹ tn Heb “and cleaned them.” The referent is the clouds (v. 18), which has been supplied in the translation for clarity. There is another way of reading this verse: the word translated “bright” means “dark; obscured” in Syriac. In this interpretation the first line would mean that they could not see the sun, because it was darkened by the clouds, but then the wind came and blew the clouds away. Dhorme, Gray, and several others take it this way, as does the NAB.

[38:5]  ³² tn The particle כּ (ki) is taken here for a conditional clause, “if you know” (see GKC 498 §159.dd). Others take it as “surely” with a biting irony.

[40:4]  ³³ tn The word קַלֹּתִי (qalloti) means “to be light; to be of small account; to be unimportant.” From this comes the meaning “contemptible,” which in the causative stem would mean “to treat with contempt; to curse.” Dhorme tries to make the sentence a conditional clause and suggests this meaning: “If I have been thoughtless.” There is really no “if” in Job’s mind.

[40:4]  ³⁴ tn The perfect verb here should be classified as an instantaneous perfect; the action is simultaneous with the words.

[40:4]  ³⁵ tn The words “to silence myself” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[41:9]  ³⁶ sn Job 41:9 in the English Bible is 41:1 in the Hebrew text (BHS). From here to the end of the chapter the Hebrew verse numbers differ from those in the English Bible, with 41:10 ET = 41:2 HT, 41:11 ET = 41:3 HT, etc. See also the note on 41:1.

[41:9]  ³⁷ tn The line is difficult. “His hope [= expectation]” must refer to any assailant who hopes or expects to capture the creature. Because there is no antecedent, Dhorme and others transpose it with the next verse. The point is that the man who thought he was sufficient to confront Leviathan soon finds his hope – his expectation – false (a derivative from the verb כָּזַב [kazab, “lie”] is used for a mirage).

[41:9]  ³⁸ tn There is an interrogative particle in this line, which most commentators ignore. But others freely emend the MT. Gunkel, following the mythological approach, has “his appearance casts down even a god.” Cheyne likewise has: “even divine beings the fear of him brings low” (JQR 9 [1896/97]: 579). Pope has, “Were not the gods cast down at the sight of him?” There is no need to bring in this mythological element.