Ayub 12:24

12:24 He deprives the leaders of the earth ¹ 

of their understanding; ² 

he makes them wander

in a trackless desert waste. ³ 

Ayub 14:3

14:3 Do you fix your eye ⁴  on such a one? ⁵ 

And do you bring me ⁶  before you for judgment?

Ayub 17:3

17:3 Make then my pledge ⁷  with you.

Who else will put up security for me? ⁸ 

Ayub 23:13

23:13 But he is unchangeable, ⁹  and who can change ¹⁰  him?

Whatever he ¹¹  has desired, he does.

Ayub 28:8

28:8 Proud beasts ¹²  have not set foot on it,

and no lion has passed along it.

[12:24]  ¹ tn Heb “the heads of the people of the earth.”

[12:24]  ² tn Heb “heart.”

[12:24]  ³ tn The text has בְּתֹהוּ לֹא־דָרֶךְ (bÿtohu lo’ darekh): “in waste – no way,” or “in a wasteland [where there is] no way,” thus, “trackless” (see the discussion of negative attributes using לֹא [lo’] in GKC 482 §152.u).

[14:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “open the eye on,” an idiom meaning to prepare to judge someone.

[14:3]  ⁵ tn The verse opens with אַף־עַל־זֶה (’af-’al-zeh), meaning “even on such a one!” It is an exclamation of surprise.

[14:3]  ⁶ tn The text clearly has “me” as the accusative; but many wish to emend it to say “him” (אֹתוֹ, ’oto). But D. J. A. Clines rightly rejects this in view of the way Job is written, often moving back and forth from his own tragedy and others’ tragedies (Job [WBC], 283).

[17:3]  ⁷ tn The MT has two imperatives: “Lay down, pledge me, with me.” Most commentators think that the second imperative should be a noun, and take it to say, “Lay my pledge with/beside you.” A. B. Davidson (Job, 126) suggests that the first verb means “give a pledge,” and so the two similar verbs would be emphatic: “Give a pledge, be my surety.” Other than such a change (which would involve changing the vowels) one would have to interpret similarly by seeing the imperatives as a kind of hendiadys, with the main emphasis being on the second imperative, “make a pledge.”

[17:3]  ⁸ sn The idiom is “to strike the hand.” Here the wording is a little different, “Who is he that will strike himself into my hand?”

[23:13]  ⁹ tc The MT has “But he [is] in one.” Many add the word “mind” to capture the point that God is resolute and unchanging. Some commentators find this too difficult, and so change the text from בְאֶחָד (bÿ’ekhad, here “unchangeable”) to בָחָר (bakhar, “he has chosen”). The wording in the text is idiomatic and should be retained. R. Gordis (Job, 262) translates it “he is one, i.e., unchangeable, fixed, determined.” The preposition בּ (bet) is a bet essentiae – “and he [is] as one,” or “he is one” (see GKC 379 §119.i).

[23:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “cause him to return.”

[23:13]  ¹¹ tn Or “his soul.”

[28:8]  ¹² tn Heb “the sons of pride.” In Job 41:26 the expression refers to carnivorous wild beasts.