Ayub 11:10

11:10 If he comes by ¹  and confines ²  you ³ 

and convenes a court, ⁴ 

then who can prevent ⁵  him?

Ayub 12:24

12:24 He deprives the leaders of the earth ⁶ 

of their understanding; ⁷ 

he makes them wander

in a trackless desert waste. ⁸ 

Ayub 37:13

37:13 Whether it is for punishment ⁹  for his land,

or whether it is for mercy,

he causes it to find its mark. ¹⁰ 

[11:10]  ¹ tn The verb יַחֲלֹף (yakhalof) is literally “passes by/through” (NIV “comes along” in the sense of “if it should so happen”). Many accept the emendation to יַחְתֹּף (yakhtof, “he seizes,” cf. Gordis, Driver), but there is not much support for these.

[11:10]  ² tn The verb is the Hiphil of סָגַר (sagar, “to close; to shut”) and so here in this context it probably means something like “to shut in; to confine.” But this is a difficult meaning, and the sentence is cryptic. E. Dhorme (Job, 162) thinks this word and the next have to be antithetical, and so he suggests from a meaning “to keep confined” the idea of keeping a matter secret; and with the next verb, “to convene an assembly,” he offers “to divulge it.”

[11:10]  ³ tn The pronoun “you” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation.

[11:10]  ⁴ tn The denominative Hiphil of קָהָל (qahal, “an assembly”) has the idea of “to convene an assembly.” In this context there would be the legal sense of convening a court, i.e., calling Job to account (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 255). See E. Ullendorff, “The Meaning of QHLT,” VT 12 (1962): 215; he defines the verb also as “argue, rebuke.”

[11:10]  ⁵ tn The verb means “turn him back.” Zophar uses Job’s own words (see 9:12).

[12:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “the heads of the people of the earth.”

[12:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “heart.”

[12:24]  ⁸ tn The text has בְּתֹהוּ לֹא־דָרֶךְ (bÿtohu lo’ darekh): “in waste – no way,” or “in a wasteland [where there is] no way,” thus, “trackless” (see the discussion of negative attributes using לֹא [lo’] in GKC 482 §152.u).

[37:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.

[37:13]  ¹⁰ tn This is interpretive; Heb “he makes find it.” The lightning could be what is intended here, for it finds its mark. But R. Gordis (Job, 429) suggests man is the subject – let him find what it is for, i.e., the fate appropriate for him.