Ayub 9:17

9:17 he who ¹  crushes ²  me with a tempest,

and multiplies my wounds for no reason. ³ 

Ayub 16:7

16:7 Surely now he ⁴  has worn me out,

you have devastated my entire household.

Ayub 19:14

19:14 My kinsmen have failed me;

my friends ⁵  have forgotten me. ⁶ 

Ayub 19:20

19:20 My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; ⁷ 

I have escaped ⁸  alive ⁹  with only the skin of my teeth.

Ayub 20:2

20:2 “This is why ¹⁰  my troubled thoughts bring me back ¹¹  –

because of my feelings ¹²  within me.

Ayub 31:30

31:30 I ¹³  have not even permitted my mouth ¹⁴  to sin

by asking ¹⁵  for his life through a curse –

Ayub 31:33

31:33 if ¹⁶  I have covered my transgressions as men do, ¹⁷ 

by hiding ¹⁸  iniquity in my heart, ¹⁹ 

Ayub 34:5

34:5 For Job says, ‘I am innocent, ²⁰ 

but God turns away my right.

[9:17]  ¹ tn The relative pronoun indicates that this next section is modifying God, the Judge. Job does not believe that God would respond or listen to him, because this is the one who is crushing him.

[9:17]  ² tn The verb יְשׁוּפֵנִי (yÿshufeni) is the same verb that is used in Gen 3:15 for the wounding of the serpent. The Targum to Job, the LXX, and the Vulgate all translate it “to crush; to pound,” or “to bruise.” The difficulty for many exegetes is that this is to be done “with a tempest.” The Syriac and Targum Job see a different vocalization and read “with a hair.” The text as it stands is understandable and so no change is needed. The fact that the word “tempest” is written with a different sibilant in other places in Job is not greatly significant in this consideration.

[9:17]  ³ tn חִנָּם (khinnam) is adverbial, meaning “gratuitously, without a cause, for no reason, undeservedly.” See its use in 2:4.

[16:7]  ⁴ tn In poetic discourse there is often an abrupt change from person to another. See GKC 462 §144.p. Some take the subject of this verb to be God, others the pain (“surely now it has worn me out”).

[19:14]  ⁵ tn The Pual participle is used for those “known” to him, or with whom he is “familiar,” whereas קָרוֹב (qarov, “near”) is used for a relative.

[19:14]  ⁶ tn Many commentators add the first part of v. 15 to this verse, because it is too loaded and this is too short. That gives the reading “My kinsmen and my familiar friends have disappeared, they have forgotten me (15) the guests I entertained.” There is not much support for this, nor is there much reason for it.

[19:20]  ⁷ tn The meaning would be “I am nothing but skin and bones” in current English idiom. Both lines of this verse need attention. The first half seems to say, “My skin and my flesh sticks to my bones.” Some think that this is too long, and that the bones can stick to the skin, or the flesh, but not both. Dhorme proposes “in my skin my flesh has rotted away” (רָקַב, raqav). This involves several changes in the line, however. He then changes the second line to read “and I have gnawed my bone with my teeth” (transferring “bone” from the first half and omitting “skin”). There are numerous other renderings of this; some of the more notable are: “I escape, my bones in my teeth” (Merx); “my teeth fall out” (Duhm); “my teeth fall from my gums” (Pope); “my bones protrude in sharp points” (Kissane). A. B. Davidson retains “the skin of my teeth,” meaning “gums. This is about the last thing that Job has, or he would not be able to speak. For a detailed study of this verse, D. J. A. Clines devotes two full pages of textual notes (Job [WBC], 430-31). He concludes with “My bones hang from my skin and my flesh, I am left with only the skin of my teeth.”

[19:20]  ⁸ tn Or “I am left.”

[19:20]  ⁹ tn The word “alive” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[20:2]  ¹⁰ tn The ordinary meaning of לָכֵן (lakhen) is “therefore,” coming after an argument. But at the beginning of a speech it is an allusion to what follows.

[20:2]  ¹¹ tn The verb is שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”), but in the Hiphil, “bring me back,” i.e., prompt me to make another speech. The text makes good sense as it is, and there is no reason to change the reading to make a closer parallel with the second half – indeed, the second part explains the first.

[20:2]  ¹² tn The word is normally taken from the root “to hasten,” and rendered “because of my haste within me.” But K&D 11:374 proposed another root, and similarly, but closer to the text, E. Dhorme (Job, 289-90) found an Arabic word with the meaning “feeling, sensation.” He argues that from this idea developed the meanings in the cognates of “thoughts” as well. Similarly, Gordis translates it “my feeling pain.” See also Eccl 2:25.

[31:30]  ¹³ tn This verse would then be a parenthesis in which he stops to claim his innocence.

[31:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I have not given my palate.”

[31:30]  ¹⁵ tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition (“by asking”) serves in an epexegetical capacity here, explaining the verb of the first colon (“permitted…to sin”). To seek a curse on anyone would be a sin.

[31:33]  ¹⁶ tn Now the protasis continues again.

[31:33]  ¹⁷ sn Some commentators suggest taking the meaning here to be “as Adam,” referring to the Paradise story of the sin and denial.

[31:33]  ¹⁸ tn The infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first line.

[31:33]  ¹⁹ tn The MT has “in my bosom.” This is the only place in the OT where this word is found. But its meaning is well attested from Aramaic.

[34:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “righteous,” but in this context it means to be innocent or in the right.