Ayub 15:26

15:26 defiantly charging against him ¹ 

with a thick, strong shield! ² 

Ayub 18:13

18:13 It eats away parts of his skin; ³ 

the most terrible death ⁴  devours his limbs.

Ayub 25:1

Bildad’s Third Speech ⁵ 

25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

Ayub 33:20

33:20 so that his life loathes food,

and his soul rejects appetizing fare. ⁶ 

Ayub 33:29

Elihu’s Appeal to Job ⁷ 

33:29 “Indeed, God does all these things,

twice, three times, in his dealings ⁸  with a person,

Ayub 34:7

34:7 What man is like Job,

who ⁹  drinks derision ¹⁰  like water!

[15:26]  ¹ tn Heb “he runs against [or upon] him with the neck.” The RSV takes this to mean “with a stiff neck.” Several commentators, influenced by the LXX’s “insolently,” have attempted to harmonize with some idiom for neck (“outstretched neck,” for example). Others have made more extensive changes. Pope and Anderson follow Tur-Sinai in accepting “with full battle armor.” But the main idea seems to be that of a headlong assault on God.

[15:26]  ² tn Heb “with the thickness of the bosses of his shield.” The bosses are the convex sides of the bucklers, turned against the foe. This is a defiant attack on God.

[18:13]  ³ tn The expression “the limbs of his skin” makes no sense, unless a poetic meaning of “parts” (or perhaps “layers”) is taken. The parallelism has “his skin” in the first colon, and “his limbs” in the second. One plausible suggestion is to take בַּדֵּי (badde, “limbs of”) in the first part to be בִּדְוָי (bidvay, “by a disease”; Dhorme, Wright, RSV). The verb has to be made passive, however. The versions have different things: The LXX has “let the branches of his feet be eaten”; the Syriac has “his cities will be swallowed up by force”; the Vulgate reads “let it devour the beauty of his skin”; and Targum Job has “it will devour the linen garments that cover his skin.”

[18:13]  ⁴ tn The “firstborn of death” is the strongest child of death (Gen 49:3), or the deadliest death (like the “firstborn of the poor, the poorest). The phrase means the most terrible death (A. B. Davidson, Job, 134).

[25:1]  ⁵ sn The third speech of Bildad takes up Job 25, a short section of six verses. It is followed by two speeches from Job; and Zophar does not return with his third. Does this mean that the friends have run out of arguments, and that Job is just getting going? Many scholars note that in chs. 26 and 27 there is material that does not fit Job’s argument. Many have rearranged the material to show that there was a complete cycle of three speeches. In that light, 26:5-14 is viewed as part of Bildad’s speech. Some, however, take Bildad’s speech to be only ch. 25, and make 26:5-14 an interpolated hymn. For all the arguments and suggestions, one should see the introductions and the commentaries.

[33:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “food of desire.” The word “rejects” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[33:29]  ⁷ sn Elihu will repeat these instructions for Job to listen, over and over in painful repetition. See note on the heading to 32:1.

[33:29]  ⁸ tn The phrase “in his dealings” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[34:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “he drinks,” but coming after the question this clause may be subordinated.

[34:7]  ¹⁰ tn The scorn or derision mentioned here is not against Job, but against God. Job scorns God so much, he must love it. So to reflect this idea, Gordis has translated it “blasphemy” (cf. NAB).