Ayub 16:21

16:21 and ¹  he contends with God on behalf of man

as a man ²  pleads ³  for his friend.

Ayub 24:11

24:11 They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees; ⁴ 

they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty. ⁵ 

Ayub 42:6

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ⁶ 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

[16:21]  ¹ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 240) alters this slightly to read “Would that” or “Ah! if only.”

[16:21]  ² tn This is the simple translation of the expression “son of man” in Job. But some commentators wish to change the word בֵּן (ben, “son”) to בֵּין (ben, “between”). It would then be “[as] between a man and [for] his friend.” Even though a few mss have this reading, it is to be rejected. But see J. Barr, “Some Notes on ‘ben’ in Classical Hebrew,” JSS 23 (1978): 1-22.

[16:21]  ³ tn The verb is supplied from the parallel clause.

[24:11]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew term is שׁוּרֹתָם (shurotam), which may be translated “terraces” or “olive rows.” But that would not be the proper place to have a press to press the olives and make oil. E. Dhorme (Job, 360-61) proposes on the analogy of an Arabic word that this should be read as “millstones” (which he would also write in the dual). But the argument does not come from a clean cognate, but from a possible development of words. The meaning of “olive rows” works well enough.

[24:11]  ⁵ tn The final verb, a preterite with the ו (vav) consecutive, is here interpreted as a circumstantial clause.

[42:6]  ⁶ 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).