Ayub 3:17

3:17 There ¹  the wicked ²  cease ³  from turmoil, ⁴ 

and there the weary ⁵  are at rest.

Ayub 6:22

Friends’ Fears

6:22 “Have I ⁶  ever said, ⁷  ‘Give me something,

and from your fortune ⁸  make gifts ⁹  in my favor’?

Ayub 9:4

9:4 He is wise in heart ¹⁰  and mighty ¹¹  in strength ¹²  –

who has resisted ¹³  him and remained safe? ¹⁴ 

Ayub 9:19

9:19 If it is a matter of strength, ¹⁵ 

most certainly ¹⁶  he is the strong one!

And if it is a matter of justice,

he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’ ¹⁷ 

Ayub 24:22

24:22 But God ¹⁸  drags off the mighty by his power;

when God ¹⁹  rises up against him, he has no faith in his life. ²⁰ 

Ayub 26:2

26:2 “How you have helped ²¹  the powerless! ²² 

How you have saved the person who has no strength! ²³ 

Ayub 30:2

30:2 Moreover, the strength of their ²⁴  hands –

what use was it to me?

Men whose strength ²⁵  had perished;

Ayub 30:18

30:18 With great power God ²⁶  grasps my clothing; ²⁷ 

he binds me like the collar ²⁸  of my tunic.

Ayub 31:39

31:39 if I have eaten its produce without paying, ²⁹ 

or caused the death ³⁰  of its owners, ³¹ 

Ayub 36:5

36:5 Indeed, God is mighty; and he does not despise people, ³² 

he ³³  is mighty, and firm ³⁴  in his intent. ³⁵ 

Ayub 36:19

36:19 Would your wealth ³⁶  sustain you,

so that you would not be in distress, ³⁷ 

even all your mighty efforts? ³⁸ 

Ayub 36:22

36:22 Indeed, God is exalted in his power;

who is a teacher ³⁹  like him?

Ayub 39:11

39:11 Will you rely on it because its strength is great?

Will you commit ⁴⁰  your labor to it?

Ayub 39:21

39:21 It ⁴¹  paws the ground in the valley, ⁴² 

exulting mightily, ⁴³ 

it goes out to meet the weapons.

Ayub 40:16

40:16 Look ⁴⁴  at its strength in its loins,

and its power in the muscles of its belly.

[3:17]  ¹ sn The reference seems to be death, or Sheol, the place where the infant who is stillborn is either buried (the grave) or resides (the place of departed spirits) and thus does not see the light of the sun.

[3:17]  ² sn The wicked are the ungodly, those who are not members of the covenant (normally) and in this context especially those who oppress and torment other people.

[3:17]  ³ tn The parallelism uses the perfect verb in the first parallel part, and the imperfect opposite it in the second. Since the verse projects to the grave or Sheol (“there”) where the action is perceived as still continuing or just taking place, both receive an English present tense translation (GKC 312 §106.l).

[3:17]  ⁴ tn Here the noun רֹגז (rogez) refers to the agitation of living as opposed to the peaceful rest of dying. The associated verb רָגַז (ragaz) means “to be agitated, excited.” The expression indicates that they cease from troubling, meaning all the agitation of their own lives.

[3:17]  ⁵ tn The word יָגִיעַ (yagia’) means “exhausted, wearied”; it is clarified as a physical exhaustion by the genitive of specification (“with regard to their strength”).

[6:22]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew הֲכִי (hakhi) literally says “Is it because….”

[6:22]  ⁷ sn For the next two verses Job lashes out in sarcasm against his friends. If he had asked for charity, for their wealth, he might have expected their cold response. But all he wanted was sympathy and understanding (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 63).

[6:22]  ⁸ tn The word כֹּחַ (koakh) basically means “strength, force”; but like the synonym חַיִל (khayil), it can also mean “wealth, fortune.” E. Dhorme notes that to the Semitic mind, riches bring power (Job, 90).

[6:22]  ⁹ tn Or “bribes.” The verb שִׁחֲדוּ (shikhadu) means “give a שֹׁחַד (shokhad, “bribe”).” The significance is simply “make a gift” (especially in the sense of corrupting an official [Ezek 16:33]). For the spelling of the form in view of the guttural, see GKC 169 §64.a.

[9:4]  ¹⁰ tn The genitive phrase translated “in heart” would be a genitive of specification, specifying that the wisdom of God is in his intelligent decisions.

[9:4]  sn The heart is the seat of intelligence and understanding, the faculty of decision making.

[9:4]  ¹¹ sn The words אַמִּיץ (’ammits) and כֹּחַ (koakh) are synonyms, the first meaning “sturdy; mighty; robust,” and the second “strength.” It too can be interpreted as a genitive of specification – God is mighty with respect to his power. But that comes close to expressing a superlative idea (like “song of songs” or “anger of his wrath”).

[9:4]  ¹² tn The first half of the verse simply has “wise of heart and mighty of strength.” The entire line is a casus pendens that will refer to the suffix on אֵלָיו (’elayv) in the second colon. So the question is “Who has resisted the one who is wise of heart and mighty of strength?” Again, the rhetorical question is affirming that no one has done this.

[9:4]  ¹³ tn The verb is the Hiphil of the verb קָשָׁה (qashah, “to be hard”). It frequently is found with the word for “neck,” describing people as “stiff-necked,” i.e., stubborn, unbending. So the idea of resisting God fits well. The fact that this word occurs in Exodus with the idea of hardening the heart against God may indicate that there is an allusion to Pharaoh here.

[9:4]  ¹⁴ tn The use of שָׁלֵם (shalem) in the Qal is rare. It has been translated “remain safe” by E. Dhorme, “survived” by the NEB, “remained unscathed” by the NAB and NIV, or “succeeded” by KJV, G. R. Driver.

[9:19]  ¹⁵ tn The MT has only “if of strength.”

[9:19]  ¹⁶ tn “Most certainly” translates the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh).

[9:19]  ¹⁷ tn The question could be taken as “who will summon me?” (see Jer 49:19 and 50:44). This does not make immediate sense. Some have simply changed the suffix to “who will summon him.” If the MT is retained, then supplying something like “he will say” could make the last clause fit the whole passage. Another option is to take it as “Who will reveal it to me?” – i.e., Job could be questioning his friends’ qualifications for being God’s emissaries to bring God’s charges against him (cf. KJV, NKJV; and see 10:2 where Job uses the same verb in the Hiphil to request that God reveal what his sin has been that has led to his suffering).

[9:19]  sn Job is saying that whether it is a trial of strength or an appeal to justice, he is unable to go against God.

[24:22]  ¹⁸ tn God has to be the subject of this clause. None is stated in the Hebrew text, but “God” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[24:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. See the note on the word “life” at the end of the line.

[24:22]  ²⁰ tn This line has been given a number of interpretations due to its cryptic form. The verb יָקוּם (yaqum) means “he rises up.” It probably is meant to have God as the subject, and be subordinated as a temporal clause to what follows. The words “against him” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation to specify the object and indicate that “rise up” is meant in a hostile sense. The following verb וְלֹא־יַאֲמִין (vÿlo’-ya’amin), by its very meaning of “and he does not believe,” cannot have God as the subject, but must refer to the wicked.

[26:2]  ²¹ tn The interrogative clause is used here as an exclamation, and sarcastic at that. Job is saying “you have in no way helped the powerless.” The verb uses the singular form, for Job is replying to Bildad.

[26:2]  ²² tn The “powerless” is expressed here by the negative before the word for “strength; power” – “him who has no power” (see GKC 482 §152.u, v).

[26:2]  ²³ tn Heb “the arm [with] no strength.” Here too the negative expression is serving as a relative clause to modify “arm,” the symbol of strength and power, which by metonymy stands for the whole person. “Man of arm” denoted the strong in 22:8.

[30:2]  ²⁴ tn The reference is to the fathers of the scorners, who are here regarded as weak and worthless.

[30:2]  ²⁵ tn The word כֶּלַח (kelakh) only occurs in Job 5:26; but the Arabic cognate gives this meaning “strength.” Others suggest כָּלַח (kalakh, “old age”), ֹכּל־חַיִל (kol-khayil, “all vigor”), כֹּל־לֵחַ (kol-leakh, “all freshness”), and the like. But there is no reason for such emendation.

[30:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:18]  ²⁷ tc This whole verse is difficult. The first problem is that this verb in the MT means “is disguised [or disfigured],” indicating that Job’s clothes hang loose on him. But many take the view that the verb is a phonetic variant of חָבַשׁ (khavash, “to bind; to seize”) and that the Hitpael form is a conflation of the third and second person because of the interchange between them in the passage (R. Gordis, Job, 335). The commentaries list a number of conjectural emendations, but the image in the verse is probably that God seizes Job by the garment and throws him down.

[30:18]  ²⁸ tn The phrase “like the collar” is difficult, primarily because their tunics did not have collars. A translation of “neck” would suit better. Some change the preposition to בּ (bet), getting a translation “by the neck of my tunic.”

[31:39]  ²⁹ tn Heb “without silver.”

[31:39]  ³⁰ tc The versions have the verb “grieved” here. The Hebrew verb means “to breathe,” but the form is Hiphil. This verb in that stem could mean something of a contemptuous gesture, like “sniff” in Mal 1:13. But with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) in Job 11:20 it means “to cause death,” i.e., “to cause to breathe out; to expire.” This is likely the meaning here, although it is possible that it only meant “to cause suffering” to the people.

[31:39]  ³¹ tn There is some debate over the meaning of בְּעָלֶיהָ (bÿ’aleyha), usually translated “its owners.” Dahood, following others (although without their emendations), thought it referred to “laborers” (see M. Dahood, Bib 41 [1960]: 303; idem, Bib 43 [1962]: 362).

[36:5]  ³² tn The object “people” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.

[36:5]  ³³ tn The text simply repeats “mighty.”

[36:5]  ³⁴ tn The last two words are simply כֹּחַ לֵב (koakh lev, “strong in heart”), meaning something like “strong; firm in his decisions.”

[36:5]  ³⁵ 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”).

[36:19]  ³⁶ tn The form in the MT is “your cry (for help).” See J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 472-73) and E. Dhorme (Job, 547-48) on the difficulties.

[36:19]  ³⁷ tn This part has only two words לֹא בְצָר (lo’ bÿtsar, “not in distress”). The negated phrase serves to explain the first colon.

[36:19]  ³⁸ tc For the many suggestions and the reasoning here, see the commentaries.

[36:22]  ³⁹ tn The word מוֹרֶה (moreh) is the Hiphil participle from יָרַה (yarah). It is related to the noun תּוֹרָה (torah, “what is taught” i.e., the law).

[39:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “leave.”

[39:21]  ⁴¹ tc The Hebrew text has a plural verb, “they paw.” For consistency and for stylistic reasons this is translated as a singular.

[39:21]  ⁴² tn The armies would prepare for battles that were usually fought in the valleys, and so the horse was ready to charge. But in Ugaritic the word `mk means “force” as well as “valley.” The idea of “force” would fit the parallelism here well (see M. Dahood, “Value of Ugaritic for textual criticism,” Bib 40 [1959]: 166).

[39:21]  ⁴³ tn Or “in strength.”

[40:16]  ⁴⁴ tn In both of these verses הִנֶּה (hinneh, “behold”) has the deictic force (the word is from Greek δείκνυμι, deiknumi, “to show”). It calls attention to something by pointing it out. The expression goes with the sudden look, the raised eye, the pointing hand – “O look!”