Ayub 29:21

Job’s Reputation

29:21 “People ¹  listened to me and waited silently; ² 

they kept silent for my advice.

Ayub 32:17

32:17 I too will answer my part,

I too will explain what I know.

Ayub 38:12

38:12 Have you ever in your life ³  commanded the morning,

or made the dawn know ⁴  its place,

[29:21]  ¹ tn “People” is supplied; the verb is plural.

[29:21]  ² tc The last verb of the first half, “wait, hope,” and the first verb in the second colon, “be silent,” are usually reversed by the commentators (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 86). But if “wait” has the idea of being silent as they wait for him to speak, then the second line would say they were silent for the reason of his advice. The reading of the MT is not impossible.

[38:12]  ³ tn The Hebrew idiom is “have you from your days?” It means “never in your life” (see 1 Sam 25:28; 1 Kgs 1:6).

[38:12]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Piel of יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) with a double accusative.