Ayub 15:21

15:21 Terrifying sounds fill ¹  his ears;

in a time of peace marauders ²  attack him.

Ayub 19:12

19:12 His troops ³  advance together;

they throw up ⁴  a siege ramp against me,

and they camp around my tent.

Ayub 20:17

20:17 He will not look on the streams, ⁵ 

the rivers, which are the torrents ⁶ 

of honey and butter. ⁷ 

Ayub 30:15

30:15 Terrors are turned loose ⁸  on me;

they drive away ⁹  my honor like the wind,

and like a cloud my deliverance has passed away.

Ayub 40:20

40:20 For the hills bring it food, ¹⁰ 

where all the wild animals play.

[15:21]  ¹ tn The word “fill” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.

[15:21]  ² tn The word שׁוֹדֵד (shoded) means “a robber; a plunderer” (see Job 12:6). With the verb bo’ the sentence means that the robber pounces on or comes against him (see GKC 373 §118.f). H. H. Rowley observes that the text does not say that he is under attack, but that the sound of fears is in his ears, i.e., that he is terrified by thoughts of this.

[19:12]  ³ sn Now the metaphor changes again. Since God thinks of Job as an enemy, he attacks with his troops, builds the siege ramp, and camps around him to besiege him. All the power and all the forces are at God’s disposal in his attack of Job.

[19:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “they throw up their way against me.” The verb סָלַל (salal) means “to build a siege ramp” or “to throw up a ramp”; here the object is “their way.” The latter could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “as their way.” But as the object it fits just as well. Some delete the middle clause; the LXX has “Together his troops fell upon me, they beset my ways with an ambush.”

[20:17]  ⁵ tn The word פְּלַגּוֹת (pÿlaggot) simply means “streams” or “channels.” Because the word is used elsewhere for “streams of oil” (cf. 29:6), and that makes a good parallelism here, some supply “oil” (cf. NAB, NLT). But the second colon of the verse is probably in apposition to the first. The verb “see” followed by the preposition bet, “to look on; to look over,” means “to enjoy as a possession,” an activity of the victor.

[20:17]  ⁶ tn The construct nouns here have caused a certain amount of revision. It says “rivers of, torrents of.” The first has been emended by Klostermann to יִצְהָר (yitshar, “oil”) and connected to the first colon. Older editors argued for a נָהָר (nahar) that meant “oil” but that was not convincing. On the other hand, there is support for having more than one construct together serving as apposition (see GKC 422 §130.e). If the word “streams” in the last colon is a construct, that would mean three of them; but that one need not be construct. The reading would be “He will not see the streams, [that is] the rivers [which are] the torrents of honey and butter.” It is unusual, but workable.

[20:17]  ⁷ sn This word is often translated “curds.” It is curdled milk, possibly a type of butter.

[30:15]  ⁸ tn The passive singular verb (Hophal) is used with a plural subject (see GKC 388 §121.b).

[30:15]  ⁹ tc This translation assumes that “terrors” (in the plural) is the subject. Others emend the text in accordance with the LXX, which has, “my hope is gone like the wind.”

[40:20]  ¹⁰ tn The word בּוּל (bul) probably refers to food. Many take it as an abbreviated form of יְבוּל (yÿvul, “produce of the field”). The vegetation that is produced on the low hills is what is meant.