Ayub 1:4

1:4 Now his sons used to go ¹  and hold ²  a feast in the house of each one in turn, ³  and they would send and invite ⁴  their three ⁵  sisters to eat and to drink with them.

Ayub 5:9

5:9 He does ⁶  great and unsearchable ⁷  things,

marvelous things without ⁸  number; ⁹ 

Ayub 7:17

Insignificance of Humans

7:17 “What is mankind ¹⁰  that you make so much of them, ¹¹ 

and that you pay attention ¹²  to them?

Ayub 21:30

21:30 that the evil man is spared

from the day of his misfortune,

that he is delivered ¹³ 

from the day of God’s wrath?

Ayub 24:17

24:17 For all of them, ¹⁴  the morning is to them

like deep darkness;

they are friends with the terrors of darkness.

Ayub 32:7

32:7 I said to myself, ‘Age ¹⁵  should speak, ¹⁶ 

and length of years ¹⁷  should make wisdom known.’

Ayub 32:21

32:21 I will not show partiality to anyone, ¹⁸ 

nor will I confer a title ¹⁹  on any man.

Ayub 40:15

The Description of Behemoth ²⁰ 

40:15 “Look now at Behemoth, ²¹  which I made as ²²  I made you;

it eats grass like the ox.

[1:4]  ¹ tn The perfect verb with the ו (vav), וְהָלְכוּ (vÿhalÿkhu, “they went”) indicates their characteristic action, actions that were frequently repeated (GKC 335-36 §112.dd).

[1:4]  ² tn Heb “make a feast.”

[1:4]  ³ tn The sense is cryptic; it literally says “house – a man – his day.” The word “house” is an adverbial accusative of place: “in the house.” “Man” is the genitive; it also has a distributive sense: “in the house of each man.” And “his day” is an adverbial accusative: “on his day.” The point is that they feasted every day of the week in rotation.

[1:4]  ⁴ tn The use of קָרָא (qara’, “to call, invite”) followed by the ל (lamed) usually has the force of “to summon.” Here the meaning would not be so commanding, but would refer to an invitation (see also 1 Kgs 1:19, 25, 26).

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Normally cardinal numerals tend to disagree in gender with the numbered noun. In v. 2 “three daughters” consists of the masculine numeral followed by the feminine noun. However, here “three sisters” consists of the feminine numeral followed by the feminine noun. The distinction appears to be that the normal disagreement between numeral and noun when the intent is merely to fix the number (3 daughters as opposed to 2 or 4 daughters). However, when a particular, previously known group is indicated, the numeral tends to agree with the noun in gender. A similar case occurs in Gen 3:13 (“three wives” of Noah’s sons).

[5:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “who does.” It is common for such doxologies to begin with participles; they follow the pattern of the psalms in this style. Because of the length of the sentence in Hebrew and the conventions of English style, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:9]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew has וְאֵין חֵקֶר (vÿ’en kheqer), literally, “and no investigation.” The use of the conjunction on the expression follows a form of the circumstantial clause construction, and so the entire expression describes the great works as “unsearchable.”

[5:9]  ⁸ tn The preposition in עַד־אֵין (’ad ’en, “until there was no”) is stereotypical; it conveys the sense of having no number (see Job 9:10; Ps 40:13).

[5:9]  ⁹ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 54) notes that the verse fits Eliphaz’s approach very well, for he has good understanding of the truth, but has difficulty in making the correct conclusions from it.

[7:17]  ¹⁰ tn The verse is a rhetorical question; it is intended to mean that man is too little for God to be making so much over him in all this.

[7:17]  ¹¹ tn The Piel verb is a factitive meaning “to magnify.” The English word “magnify” might not be the best translation here, for God, according to Job, is focusing inordinately on him. It means to magnify in thought, appreciate, think highly of. God, Job argues, is making too much of mankind by devoting so much bad attention on them.

[7:17]  ¹² tn The expression “set your heart on” means “concentrate your mind on” or “pay attention to.”

[21:30]  ¹³ tn The verb means “to be led forth.” To be “led forth in the day of trouble” means to be delivered.

[24:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “together.”

[32:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “days.”

[32:7]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect here is to be classified as an obligatory imperfect.

[32:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “abundance of years.”

[32:21]  ¹⁸ tn The idiom is “I will not lift up the face of a man.” Elihu is going to show no favoritism, but speak his mind.

[32:21]  ¹⁹ tn The verb means “to confer an honorary title; to give a mark of distinction,” but it is often translated with the verb “flatter.” Elihu will not take sides, he will not use pompous titles.

[40:15]  ²⁰ sn The next ten verses are devoted to a portrayal of Behemoth (the name means “beast” in Hebrew). It does not fit any of the present material very well, and so many think the section is a later addition. Its style is more like that of a textbook. Moreover, if the animal is a real animal (the usual suggestion is the hippopotamus), then the location of such an animal is Egypt and not Palestine. Some have identified these creatures Behemoth and Leviathan as mythological creatures (Gunkel, Pope). Others point out that these creatures could have been dinosaurs (P. J. Maarten, NIDOTTE, 2:780; H. M. Morris, The Remarkable Record of Job, 115-22). Most would say they are real animals, but probably mythologized by the pagans. So the pagan reader would receive an additional impact from this point about God’s sovereignty over all nature.

[40:15]  ²¹ sn By form the word is the feminine plural of the Hebrew word for “beast.” Here it is an abstract word – a title.

[40:15]  ²² tn Heb “with you.” The meaning could be temporal (“when I made you”) – perhaps a reference to the sixth day of creation (Gen 1:24).