Ayub 3:16

3:16 Or why ¹  was ²  I not buried ³ 

like a stillborn infant, ⁴ 

like infants ⁵  who have never seen the light? ⁶ 

Ayub 5:7

5:7 but people ⁷  are born ⁸  to trouble,

as surely as the sparks ⁹  fly ¹⁰  upward. ¹¹ 

Ayub 15:6

15:6 Your own mouth condemns ¹²  you, not I;

your own lips testify against ¹³  you.

Ayub 21:4

21:4 Is my ¹⁴  complaint against a man? ¹⁵ 

If so, ¹⁶  why should I not be impatient? ¹⁷ 

Ayub 22:4

22:4 Is it because of your piety ¹⁸  that he rebukes you

and goes to judgment with you? ¹⁹ 

Ayub 22:9

22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms ²⁰  of the orphans you crushed. ²¹ 

Ayub 23:16

23:16 Indeed, God has made my heart faint; ²² 

the Almighty has terrified me.

Ayub 28:13

28:13 Mankind does not know its place; ²³ 

it cannot be found in the land of the living.

Ayub 32:14

32:14 Job ²⁴  has not directed ²⁵  his words to me,

and so I will not reply to him with your arguments. ²⁶ 

Ayub 35:10

35:10 But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator,

who gives songs in the night, ²⁷ 

Ayub 40:4

40:4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy ²⁸  – how could I reply to you?

I put ²⁹  my hand over my mouth to silence myself. ³⁰ 

[3:16]  ¹ tn The verb is governed by the interrogative of v. 12 that introduces this series of rhetorical questions.

[3:16]  ² tn The verb is again the prefix conjugation, but the narrative requires a past tense, or preterite.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “hidden.” The LXX paraphrases: “an untimely birth, proceeding from his mother’s womb.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn The noun נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”) is the abortive thing that falls (hence the verb) from the womb before the time is ripe (Ps 58:9). The idiom using the verb “to fall” from the womb means to come into the world (Isa 26:18). The epithet טָמוּן (tamun, “hidden”) is appropriate to the verse. The child comes in vain, and disappears into the darkness – it is hidden forever.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn The word עֹלְלִים (’olÿlim) normally refers to “nurslings.” Here it must refer to infants in general since it refers to a stillborn child.

[3:16]  ⁶ tn The relative clause does not have the relative pronoun; the simple juxtaposition of words indicates that it is modifying the infants.

[5:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “man [is].” Because “man” is used in a generic sense for humanity here, the generic “people” has been used in the translation.

[5:7]  ⁸ tn There is a slight difficulty here in that vv. 6 and 7 seem to be saying the opposite thing. Many commentators, therefore, emend the the Niphal יוּלָּד (yullad, “is born”) to an active participle יוֹלֵד (yoled, “begets”) to place the source of trouble in man himself. But the LXX seems to retain the passive idea: “man is born to trouble.” The contrast between the two verses does not seem too difficult, for it still could imply that trouble’s source is within the man.

[5:7]  ⁹ tn For the Hebrew בְנֵי־רֶשֶׁף (bÿne reshef, “sons of the flame”) the present translation has the rendering “sparks.” E. Dhorme (Job, 62) thinks it refers to some kind of bird, but renders it “sons of the lightning” because the eagle was associated with lightning in ancient interpretations. Sparks, he argues, do not soar high above the earth. Other suggestions include Resheph, the Phoenician god of lightning (Pope), the fire of passion (Buttenwieser), angels (Peake), or demons (Targum Job). None of these are convincing; the idea of sparks flying upward fits the translation well and makes clear sense in the passage.

[5:7]  ¹⁰ tn The simple translation of the last two words is “fly high” or “soar aloft” which would suit the idea of an eagle. But, as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 53) concludes, the argument to identify the expression preceding this with eagles is far-fetched.

[5:7]  ¹¹ tn The LXX has the name of a bird here: “the vulture’s young seek the high places.” The Targum to Job has “sons of demons” or “the sparks which shoot from coals of fire.”

[15:6]  ¹² tn The Hiphil of this root means “declare wicked, guilty” (a declarative Hiphil), and so “condemns.”

[15:6]  ¹³ tn The verb עָנָה (’anah) with the ל (lamed) preposition following it means “to testify against.” For Eliphaz, it is enough to listen to Job to condemn him.

[21:4]  ¹⁴ tn The addition of the independent pronoun at the beginning of the sentence (“Is it I / against a man / my complaint”) strengthens the pronominal suffix on “complaint” (see GKC 438 §135.f).

[21:4]  ¹⁵ sn The point seems to be that if his complaint were merely against men he might expect sympathy from other men; but no one dares offer him sympathy when his complaint is against God. So he will give free expression to his spirit (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 147).

[21:4]  ¹⁶ tn On disjunctive interrogatives, see GKC 475 §150.g.

[21:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “why should my spirit/breath not be short” (see Num 21:4; Judg 16:16).

[22:4]  ¹⁸ tn The word “your fear” or “your piety” refers to Job’s reverence – it is his fear of God (thus a subjective genitive). When “fear” is used of religion, it includes faith and adoration on the positive side, fear and obedience on the negative.

[22:4]  ¹⁹ sn Of course the point is that God does not charge Job because he is righteous; the point is he must be unrighteous.

[22:9]  ²⁰ tn The “arms of the orphans” are their helps or rights on which they depended for support.

[22:9]  ²¹ tn The verb in the text is Pual: יְדֻכָּא (yÿdukka’, “was [were] crushed”). GKC 388 §121.b would explain “arms” as the complement of a passive imperfect. But if that is too difficult, then a change to Piel imperfect, second person, will solve the difficulty. In its favor is the parallelism, the use of the second person all throughout the section, and the reading in all the versions. The versions may have simply assumed the easier reading, however.

[23:16]  ²² tn The verb הֵרַךְ (kherakh) means “to be tender”; in the Piel it would have the meaning “to soften.” The word is used in parallel constructions with the verbs for “fear.” The implication is that God has made Job fearful.

[28:13]  ²³ tc The LXX has “its way, apparently reading דַּרְכָה (darkhah) in place of עֶרְכָּהּ (’erkah, “place”). This is adopted by most modern commentators. But R. Gordis (Job, 308) shows that this change is not necessary, for עֶרֶךְ (’erekh) in the Bible means “order; row; disposition,” and here “place.” An alternate meaning would be “worth” (NIV, ESV).

[32:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:14]  ²⁵ tn The verb עַרַךְ (’arakh) means “to arrange in order; to set forth; to direct; to marshal.” It is used in military contexts for setting the battle array; it is used in legal settings for preparing the briefs.

[32:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “your words.”

[35:10]  ²⁷ tn There have been several attempts to emend the line, none of which are particularly helpful or interesting. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 225) says, “It is a pity to rob Elihu of a poetic line when he creates one.”

[40:4]  ²⁸ tn The word קַלֹּתִי (qalloti) means “to be light; to be of small account; to be unimportant.” From this comes the meaning “contemptible,” which in the causative stem would mean “to treat with contempt; to curse.” Dhorme tries to make the sentence a conditional clause and suggests this meaning: “If I have been thoughtless.” There is really no “if” in Job’s mind.

[40:4]  ²⁹ tn The perfect verb here should be classified as an instantaneous perfect; the action is simultaneous with the words.

[40:4]  ³⁰ tn The words “to silence myself” are supplied in the translation for clarity.