Job 2:11

The Visit of Job’s Friends ¹ 

2:11 When Job’s three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country ²  – Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. ³  They met together ⁴  to come to show sympathy ⁵  for him and to console ⁶  him.

Job 11:2

11:2 “Should not this ⁷  abundance of words be answered, ⁸ 

or should this ⁹  talkative man ¹⁰ 

be vindicated? ¹¹ 

Job 42:9

42:9 So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and did just as the Lord had told them; and the Lord had respect for Job. ¹² 

[2:11]  ¹ sn See N. C. Habel, “‘Only the Jackal is My Friend,’ On Friends and Redeemers in Job,” Int 31 (1977): 227-36.

[2:11]  ² tn Heb “a man from his place”; this is the distributive use, meaning “each man came from his place.”

[2:11]  ³ sn Commentators have tried to analyze the meanings of the names of the friends and their locations. Not only has this proven to be difficult (Teman is the only place that is known), it is not necessary for the study of the book. The names are probably not symbolic of the things they say.

[2:11]  ⁴ tn The verb can mean that they “agreed together”; but it also (and more likely) means that they came together at a meeting point to go visit Job together.

[2:11]  ⁵ tn The verb “to show grief” is נוּד (nud), and literally signifies “to shake the head.” It may be that his friends came to show the proper sympathy and express the appropriate feelings. They were not ready for what they found.

[2:11]  ⁶ tn The second infinitive is from נָחָם (nakham, “to comfort, console” in the Piel). This word may be derived from a word with a meaning of sighing deeply.

[11:2]  ⁷ tc The LXX, Targum Job, Symmachus, and Vulgate all assume that the vocalization of רֹב (rov, “abundance”) should be רַב (rav, “great”): “great of words.” This would then mean “one who is abundant of words,” meaning, “a man of many words,” and make a closer parallel to the second half. But the MT makes good sense as it stands.

[11:2]  ⁸ tn The Niphal verb יֵעָנֶה (ye’aneh, “he answered”) would normally require a personal subject, but “abundance” functions as the subject in this sentence. The nuance of the imperfect is obligatory.

[11:2]  ⁹ tn The word is supplied here also for clarification.

[11:2]  ¹⁰ tn The bound construction “man of lips” means “a boaster” or “proud talker” (attributive genitive; and see GKC 417 §128.t). Zophar is saying that Job pours out this stream of words, but he is still not right.

[11:2]  ¹¹ tn The word is literally “be right, righteous.” The idea of being right has appeared before for this word (cf. 9:15). The point here is that just because Job talks a lot does not mean he is right or will be shown to be right through it all.

[42:9]  ¹³ tn The expression “had respect for Job” means God answered his prayer.