Ayub 12:5

12:5 For calamity, ¹  there is derision

(according to the ideas of the fortunate ² ) –

a fate ³  for those whose feet slip!

Ayub 5:18

5:18 For ⁴  he ⁵  wounds, ⁶  but he also bandages;

he strikes, but his hands also heal.

Ayub 19:21

19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me,

for the hand of God has struck me.

Ayub 1:15

1:15 and the Sabeans ⁷  swooped down ⁸  and carried them all away, and they killed ⁹  the servants with the sword! ¹⁰  And I – only I alone ¹¹  – escaped to tell you!”

Ayub 1:17

1:17 While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “The Chaldeans ¹²  formed three bands and made a raid ¹³  on the camels and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! ¹⁴  And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

[12:5]  ¹ tn The first word, לַפִּיד (lapid), could be rendered “a torch of scorn,” but this gives no satisfying meaning. The ל (lamed) is often taken as an otiose letter, and the noun פִּיד (pid) is “misfortune, calamity” (cf. Job 30:24; 31:29).

[12:5]  ² tn The noun עַשְׁתּוּת (’ashtut, preferably עַשְׁתּוֹת, ’ashtot) is an abstract noun from עָשַׁת (’ashat, “to think”). The word שַׁאֲנָן (sha’anan) means “easy in mind, carefree,” and “happy.”

[12:5]  ³ tn The form has traditionally been taken to mean “is ready” from the verb כּוּן (kun, “is fixed, sure”). But many commentators look for a word parallel to “calamity.” So the suggestion has been put forward that נָכוֹן (nakhon) be taken as a noun from נָכָה (nakhah, “strike, smite”): “a blow” (Schultens, Dhorme, Gordis), “thrust” or “kick” (HALOT 698 s.v. I נָכוֹן).

[5:18]  ⁴ sn Verses 18-23 give the reasons why someone should accept the chastening of God – the hand that wounds is the same hand that heals. But, of course, the lines do not apply to Job because his suffering is not due to divine chastening.

[5:18]  ⁵ tn The addition of the independent pronoun here makes the subject emphatic, as if to say, “For it is he who makes….”

[5:18]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbs in this verse describe the characteristic activities of God; the classification as habitual imperfect fits the idea and is to be rendered with the English present tense.

[1:15]  ⁷ tn The LXX has “the spoilers spoiled them” instead of “the Sabeans swooped down.” The translators might have connected the word to שְָׁבָה (shavah, “to take captive”) rather than שְׁבָא (shÿva’, “Sabeans”), or they may have understood the name as general reference to all types of Bedouin invaders from southern Arabia (HALOT 1381 s.v. שְׁבָא 2.c).

[1:15]  sn The name “Sheba” is used to represent its inhabitants, or some of them. The verb is feminine because the name is a place name. The Sabeans were a tribe from the Arabian peninsula. They were traders mostly (6:19). The raid came from the south, suggesting that this band of Sabeans were near Edom. The time of the attack seems to be winter since the oxen were plowing.

[1:15]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew is simply “fell” (from נָפַל, nafal). To “fall upon” something in war means to attack quickly and suddenly.

[1:15]  ⁹ sn Job’s servants were probably armed and gave resistance, which would be the normal case in that time. This was probably why they were “killed with the sword.”

[1:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the edge/mouth of the sword”; see T. J. Meek, “Archaeology and a Point of Hebrew Syntax,” BASOR 122 (1951): 31-33.

[1:15]  ¹¹ tn The pleonasms in the verse emphasize the emotional excitement of the messenger.

[1:17]  ¹² sn The name may have been given to the tribes that roamed between the Euphrates and the lands east of the Jordan. These are possibly the nomadic Kaldu who are part of the ethnic Aramaeans. The LXX simply has “horsemen.”

[1:17]  ¹³ tn The verb פָּשַׁט (pashat) means “to hurl themselves” upon something (see Judg 9:33, 41). It was a quick, plundering raid to carry off the camels.

[1:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with the edge/mouth of the sword.”