Ayub 13:23

13:23 How many are my ¹  iniquities and sins?

Show me my transgression and my sin. ² 

Ayub 20:2

20:2 “This is why ³  my troubled thoughts bring me back ⁴  –

because of my feelings ⁵  within me.

Ayub 28:26

28:26 When he imposed a limit ⁶  for the rain,

and a path for the thunderstorm, ⁷ 

Ayub 32:15

Job’s Friends Failed to Answer ⁸ 

32:15 “They are dismayed ⁹  and cannot answer any more;

they have nothing left to say. ¹⁰ 

Ayub 34:2

34:2 “Listen to my words, you wise men;

hear ¹¹  me, you learned men. ¹² 

[13:23]  ¹ tn The pronoun “my” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied here in the translation.

[13:23]  ² sn Job uses three words for sin here: “iniquities,” which means going astray, erring; “sins,” which means missing the mark or the way; and “transgressions,” which are open rebellions. They all emphasize different kinds of sins and different degrees of willfulness. Job is demanding that any sins be brought up. Both Job and his friends agree that great afflictions would have to indicate great offenses – he wants to know what they are.

[20:2]  ³ tn The ordinary meaning of לָכֵן (lakhen) is “therefore,” coming after an argument. But at the beginning of a speech it is an allusion to what follows.

[20:2]  ⁴ tn The verb is שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”), but in the Hiphil, “bring me back,” i.e., prompt me to make another speech. The text makes good sense as it is, and there is no reason to change the reading to make a closer parallel with the second half – indeed, the second part explains the first.

[20:2]  ⁵ tn The word is normally taken from the root “to hasten,” and rendered “because of my haste within me.” But K&D 11:374 proposed another root, and similarly, but closer to the text, E. Dhorme (Job, 289-90) found an Arabic word with the meaning “feeling, sensation.” He argues that from this idea developed the meanings in the cognates of “thoughts” as well. Similarly, Gordis translates it “my feeling pain.” See also Eccl 2:25.

[28:26]  ⁶ tn Or “decree.”

[28:26]  ⁷ tn Or “thunderbolt,” i.e., lightning. Heb “the roaring of voices/sounds,” which describes the nature of the storm.

[32:15]  ⁸ sn Elihu now will give another reason why he will speak – the arguments of these friends failed miserably. But before he gets to his argument, he will first qualify his authority.

[32:15]  ⁹ tn The verb חַתּוּ (khattu) is from חָתַת (khatat) which means “to be terrified.” But here it stresses the resulting dilemma. R. Gordis (Job, 369) renders it, “they are shattered, beaten in an argument.”

[32:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “words have moved away from them,” meaning words are gone from them, they have nothing left to say.

[34:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “give ear to me.”

[34:2]  ¹² tn The Hebrew word means “the men who know,” and without a complement it means “to possess knowledge.”