Ayub 10:9

10:9 Remember that you have made me as with ¹  the clay;

will ²  you return me to dust?

Ayub 14:15

14:15 You will call ³  and I ⁴  – I will answer you;

you will long for ⁵  the creature you have made. ⁶ 

Ayub 32:21

32:21 I will not show partiality to anyone, ⁷ 

nor will I confer a title ⁸  on any man.

Ayub 35:9

35:9 “People ⁹  cry out

because of the excess of oppression; ¹⁰ 

they cry out for help

because of the power ¹¹  of the mighty. ¹² 

Ayub 41:10

41:10 Is it not fierce ¹³  when it is awakened?

Who is he, then, who can stand before it? ¹⁴ 

[10:9]  ¹ tn The preposition “like” creates a small tension here. So some ignore the preposition and read “clay” as an adverbial accusative of the material (GKC 371 §117.hh but cf. 379 §119.i with reference to beth essentiae: “as it were, by clay”). The NIV gets around the problem with a different meaning for the verb: “you molded me like clay.” Some suggest the meaning was “as [with] clay” (in the same manner that we have “as [in] the day of Midian” [Isa 9:4]).

[10:9]  ² tn The text has a conjunction: “and to dust….”

[14:15]  ³ sn The idea would be that God would sometime in the future call Job into his fellowship again when he longed for the work of his hands (cf. Job 10:3).

[14:15]  ⁴ tn The independent personal pronoun is emphatic, as if to say, “and I on my part will answer.”

[14:15]  ⁵ tn The word כָּסַף (kasaf) originally meant “to turn pale.” It expresses the sentiment that causes pallor of face, and so is used for desire ardently, covet. The object of the desire is always introduced with the ל (lamed) preposition (see E. Dhorme, Job, 202).

[14:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “long for the work of your hands.”

[32:21]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[35:9]  ⁹ tn The word “people” is supplied, because the sentence only has the masculine plural verb.

[35:9]  ¹⁰ tn The final noun is an abstract plural, “oppression.” There is no reason to change it to “oppressors” to fit the early versions. The expression is literally “multitude of oppression.”

[35:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the arm,” a metaphor for strength or power.

[35:9]  ¹² tn Or “of the many” (see HALOT 1172 s.v. I רַב 6.a).

[41:10]  ¹³ sn The description is of the animal, not the hunter (or fisherman). Leviathan is so fierce that no one can take him on alone.

[41:10]  ¹⁴ tc MT has “before me” and can best be rendered as “Who then is he that can stand before me?” (ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT, NJPS). The following verse (11) favors the MT since both express the lesson to be learned from Leviathan: If a man cannot stand up to Leviathan, how can he stand up to its creator? The translation above has chosen to read the text as “before him” (cf. NRSV, NJB).