Ayub 13:23

13:23 How many are my ¹  iniquities and sins?

Show me my transgression and my sin. ² 

Ayub 31:4-6

31:4 Does he not see my ways

and count all my steps?

31:5 If ³  I have walked in falsehood,

and if ⁴  my foot has hastened ⁵  to deceit –

31:6 let him ⁶  weigh me with honest ⁷  scales;

then God will discover ⁸  my integrity.

[13:23]  ¹ tn The pronoun “my” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied here in the translation.

[13:23]  ² sn Job uses three words for sin here: “iniquities,” which means going astray, erring; “sins,” which means missing the mark or the way; and “transgressions,” which are open rebellions. They all emphasize different kinds of sins and different degrees of willfulness. Job is demanding that any sins be brought up. Both Job and his friends agree that great afflictions would have to indicate great offenses – he wants to know what they are.

[31:5]  ³ tn The normal approach is to take this as the protasis, and then have it resumed in v. 7 after a parenthesis in v. 6. But some take v. 6 as the apodosis and a new protasis in v. 7.

[31:5]  ⁴ tn The “if” is understood by the use of the consecutive verb.

[31:5]  ⁵ sn The verbs “walk” and “hasten” (referring in the verse to the foot) are used metaphorically for the manner of life Job lived.

[31:6]  ⁶ tn “God” is undoubtedly the understood subject of this jussive. However, “him” is retained in the translation at this point to avoid redundancy since “God” occurs in the second half of the verse.

[31:6]  ⁷ tn The word צֶדֶךְ (tsedeq, “righteousness”) forms a fitting genitive for the scales used in trade or justice. The “scales of righteousness” are scales that conform to the standard (see the illustration in Deut 25:13-15). They must be honest scales to make just decisions.

[31:6]  ⁸ tn The verb is וְיֵדַע (vÿyeda’, “and [then] he [God] will know”). The verb could also be subordinated to the preceding jussive, “so that God may know.” The meaning of “to know” here has more the idea of “to come to know; to discover.”