Ayub 9:24

9:24 If a land ¹  has been given

into the hand of a wicked man, ² 

he covers ³  the faces of its judges; ⁴ 

if it is not he, then who is it? ⁵ 

Ayub 12:14

12:14 If ⁶  he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt;

if he imprisons a person, there is no escape. ⁷ 

Ayub 34:25

34:25 Therefore, he knows their deeds,

he overthrows them ⁸  in the night ⁹ 

and they are crushed.

Ayub 37:12

37:12 The clouds ¹⁰  go round in circles,

wheeling about according to his plans,

to carry out ¹¹  all that he commands them

over the face of the whole inhabited world.

[9:24]  ¹ tn Some would render this “earth,” meaning the whole earth, and having the verse be a general principle for all mankind. But Job may have in mind the more specific issue of individual land.

[9:24]  ² sn The details of the verse are not easy to explain, but the meaning of the whole verse seems to be about the miscarriage of justice in the courts and the failure of God to do anything about it.

[9:24]  ³ tn The subject of the verb is God. The reasoning goes this way: it is the duty of judges to make sure that justice prevails, that restitution and restoration are carried through; but when the wicked gain control of the land of other people, and the judges are ineffective to stop it, then God must be veiling their eyes.

[9:24]  ⁴ sn That these words are strong, if not wild, is undeniable. But Job is only taking the implications of his friends’ speeches to their logical conclusion – if God dispenses justice in the world, and there is no justice, then God is behind it all. The LXX omitted these words, perhaps out of reverence for God.

[9:24]  ⁵ tn This seems to be a broken-off sentence (anacoluthon), and so is rather striking. The scribes transposed the words אֵפוֹא (’efo’) and הוּא (hu’) to make the smoother reading: “If it is not he, who then is it?”

[12:14]  ⁶ tn The use of הֵן (hen, equivalent to הִנֵּה, hinneh, “behold”) introduces a hypothetical condition.

[12:14]  ⁷ tn The verse employs antithetical ideas: “tear down” and “build up,” “imprison” and “escape.” The Niphal verbs in the sentences are potential imperfects. All of this is to say that humans cannot reverse the will of God.

[34:25]  ⁸ tn The direct object “them” is implied and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:25]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term “night” is an accusative of time.

[37:12]  ¹⁰ tn The words “the clouds” are supplied from v. 11; the sentence itself actually starts: “and it goes round,” referring to the cloud.

[37:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “that it may do.”