Ayub 30:7

30:7 They brayed ¹  like animals among the bushes

and were huddled together ²  under the nettles.

Ayub 39:6

39:6 to whom I appointed the steppe for its home,

the salt wastes as its dwelling place?

Ayub 39:12

39:12 Can you count on ³  it to bring in ⁴  your grain, ⁵ 

and gather the grain ⁶  to your threshing floor? ⁷ 

Ayub 39:15

39:15 She forgets that a foot might crush them,

or that a wild animal ⁸  might trample them.

Ayub 40:20

40:20 For the hills bring it food, ⁹ 

where all the wild animals play.

[30:7]  ¹ tn The verb נָהַק (nahaq) means “to bray.” It has cognates in Arabic, Aramaic, and Ugaritic, so there is no need for emendation here. It is the sign of an animal’s hunger. In the translation the words “like animals” are supplied to clarify the metaphor for the modern reader.

[30:7]  ² tn The Pual of the verb סָפַח (safakh, “to join”) also brings out the passivity of these people – “they were huddled together” (E. Dhorme, Job, 434).

[39:12]  ³ tn The word is normally translated “believe” in the Bible. The idea is that of considering something dependable and acting on it. The idea of reliability is found also in the Niphal stem usages.

[39:12]  ⁴ tc There is a textual problem here: יָשׁוּב (yashuv) is the Kethib, meaning “[that] he will return”; יָשִׁיב (yashiv) is the Qere, meaning “that he will bring in.” This is the preferred reading, since the object follows it. For commentators who think the line too unbalanced for this, the object is moved to the second colon, and the reading “returns” is taken for the first. But the MT is perfectly clear as it stands.

[39:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “your seed”; this must be interpreted figuratively for what the seed produces.

[39:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “gather it”; the referent (the grain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:12]  ⁷ tn Simply, the MT has “and your threshing floor gather.” The “threshing floor” has to be an adverbial accusative of place.

[39:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “an animal of the field.”

[40:20]  ⁹ tn The word בּוּל (bul) probably refers to food. Many take it as an abbreviated form of יְבוּל (yÿvul, “produce of the field”). The vegetation that is produced on the low hills is what is meant.