Ayub 12:23

12:23 He makes nations great, ¹  and destroys them;

he extends the boundaries of nations

and disperses ²  them. ³ 

Ayub 15:32

15:32 Before his time ⁴  he will be paid in full, ⁵ 

and his branches will not flourish. ⁶ 

Ayub 18:18

18:18 He is driven ⁷  from light into darkness

and is banished from the world.

Ayub 20:8

20:8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, ⁸ 

and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.

Ayub 22:9

22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms ⁹  of the orphans you crushed. ¹⁰ 

Ayub 27:23

27:23 It claps ¹¹  its hands at him in derision

and hisses him away from his place. ¹² 

Ayub 37:11

37:11 He loads the clouds with moisture; ¹³ 

he scatters his lightning through the clouds.

[12:23]  ¹ tn The word מַשְׂגִּיא (masgi’, “makes great”) is a common Aramaic word, but only occurs in Hebrew here and in Job 8:11 and 36:24. Some mss have a change, reading the form from שָׁגָה (shagah, “leading astray”). The LXX omits the line entirely.

[12:23]  ² tn The difficulty with the verb נָחָה (nakhah) is that it means “to lead; to guide,” but not “to lead away” or “to disperse,” unless this passage provides the context for such a meaning. Moreover, it never has a negative connotation. Some vocalize it וַיַּנִּיחֶם (vayyannikhem), from נוּחַ (nuakh), the causative meaning of “rest,” or “abandon” (Driver, Gray, Gordis). But even there it would mean “leave in peace.” Blommerde suggests the second part is antithetical parallelism, and so should be positive. So Ball proposed וַיִּמְחֶם (vayyimkhem) from מָחָה (makhah): “and he cuts them off.”

[12:23]  ³ sn The rise and fall of nations, which does not seem to be governed by any moral principle, is for Job another example of God’s arbitrary power.

[15:32]  ⁴ tn Heb “before his day.”

[15:32]  ⁵ tn Those who put the last colon of v. 31 with v. 32 also have to change the verb תִּמָּלֵא (timmale’, “will be fulfilled”). E. Dhorme (Job, 225) says, “a mere glance at the use of yimmal…abundantly proves that the original text had timmal (G, Syr., Vulg), which became timmale’ through the accidental transposition of the ‘alep of bÿsi’o…in verse 31….” This, of course, is possible, if all the other changes up to now are granted. But the meaning of a word elsewhere in no way assures it should be the word here. The LXX has “his harvest shall perish before the time,” which could translate any number of words that might have been in the underlying Hebrew text. A commercial metaphor is not out of place here, since parallelism does not demand that the same metaphor appear in both lines.

[15:32]  ⁶ tn Now, in the second half of the verse, the metaphor of a tree with branches begins.

[18:18]  ⁷ tn The verbs in this verse are plural; without the expressed subject they should be taken in the passive sense.

[20:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they do not find him.” The verb has no expressed subject, and so here is equivalent to a passive. The clause itself is taken adverbially in the sentence.

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

[22:9]  ¹⁰ 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.

[27:23]  ¹¹ tn If the same subject is to be carried through here, it is the wind. That would make this a bold personification, perhaps suggesting the force of the wind. Others argue that it is unlikely that the wind claps its hands. They suggest taking the verb with an indefinite subject: “he claps” means “one claps. The idea is that of people rejoicing when the wicked are gone. But the parallelism is against this unless the second line is changed as well. R. Gordis (Job, 296) has “men will clap their hands…men will whistle upon him.”

[27:23]  ¹² tn Or “hisses at him from its place” (ESV).

[37:11]  ¹³ tn The word “moisture” is drawn from רִי (ri) as a contraction for רְוִי (rÿvi). Others emended the text to get “hail” (NAB) or “lightning,” or even “the Creator.” For these, see the various commentaries. There is no reason to change the reading of the MT when it makes perfectly good sense.