Ayub 15:28

15:28 he lived in ruined towns ¹ 

and in houses where ²  no one lives,

where they are ready to crumble into heaps. ³ 

Ayub 21:23

Death Levels Everything

21:23 “One man dies in his full vigor, ⁴ 

completely secure and prosperous,

Ayub 35:12

35:12 Then ⁵  they cry out – but he does not answer –

because of the arrogance of the wicked.

Ayub 36:5

36:5 Indeed, God is mighty; and he does not despise people, ⁶ 

he ⁷  is mighty, and firm ⁸  in his intent. ⁹ 

[15:28]  ¹ sn K&D 11:266 rightly explains that these are not cities that he, the wicked, has destroyed, but that were destroyed by a judgment on wickedness. Accordingly, Eliphaz is saying that the wicked man is willing to risk such a curse in his confidence in his prosperity (see further H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 113).

[15:28]  ² tn The verbal idea serves here to modify “houses” as a relative clause; so a relative pronoun is added.

[15:28]  ³ tn The Hebrew has simply “they are made ready for heaps.” The LXX translates it, “what they have prepared, let others carry away.” This would involve a complete change of the last word.

[21:23]  ⁴ tn The line has “in the bone of his perfection.” The word עֶצֶם (’etsem), which means “bone,” is used pronominally to express “the same, very”; here it is “in the very fullness of his strength” (see GKC 449 §139.g). The abstract תֹּם (tom) is used here in the sense of physical perfection and strengths.

[35:12]  ⁵ tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) connects this verse to v. 11. “There” can be locative or temporal – and here it is temporal (= “then”).

[36:5]  ⁶ tn The object “people” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.

[36:5]  ⁷ tn The text simply repeats “mighty.”

[36:5]  ⁸ tn The last two words are simply כֹּחַ לֵב (koakh lev, “strong in heart”), meaning something like “strong; firm in his decisions.”

[36:5]  ⁹ tc There are several problems in this verse: the repetition of “mighty,” the lack of an object for “despise,” and the meaning of “strength of heart.” Many commentators reduce the verse to a single line, reading something like “Lo, God does not reject the pure in heart” (Kissane). Dhorme and Pope follow Nichols with: “Lo, God is mighty in strength, and rejects not the pure in heart.” This reading moved “mighty” to the first line and took the second to be בַּר (bar, “pure”).