Ayub 13:19

13:19 Who ¹  will contend with me?

If anyone can, I will be silent and die. ² 

Ayub 16:6

Abandonment by God and Man

16:6 “But ³  if I speak, my pain is not relieved, ⁴ 

and if I refrain from speaking

– how ⁵  much of it goes away?

Ayub 34:4

34:4 Let us evaluate ⁶  for ourselves what is right; ⁷ 

let us come to know among ourselves what is good.

Ayub 42:6

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ⁸ 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

[13:19]  ¹ tn The interrogative is joined with the emphatic pronoun, stressing “who is he [who] will contend,” or more emphatically, “who in the world will contend.” Job is confident that no one can bring charges against him. He is certain of success.

[13:19]  ² sn Job is confident that he will be vindicated. But if someone were to show up and have proof of sin against him, he would be silent and die (literally “keep silent and expire”).

[16:6]  ³ tn “But” is supplied in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

[16:6]  ⁴ tn The Niphal יֵחָשֵׂךְ (yekhasekh) means “to be soothed; to be assuaged.”

[16:6]  ⁵ tn Some argue that מָה (mah) in the text is the Arabic ma, the simple negative. This would then mean “it does not depart far from me.” The interrogative used rhetorically amounts to the same thing, however, so the suggestion is not necessary.

[34:4]  ⁶ sn Elihu means “choose after careful examination.”

[34:4]  ⁷ tn The word is מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) again, with the sense of what is right or just.

[42:6]  ⁸ tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).