Ayub 3:24

3:24 For my sighing comes in place of ¹  my food, ² 

and my groanings ³  flow forth like water. ⁴ 

Ayub 19:22

19:22 Why do you pursue me like God does? ⁵ 

Will you never be satiated with my flesh? ⁶ 

Ayub 36:14

36:14 They die ⁷  in their youth,

and their life ends among the male cultic prostitutes. ⁸ 

[3:24]  ¹ tn For the prepositional לִפְנֵי (lifne), the temporal meaning “before” (“my sighing comes before I eat”) makes very little sense here (as the versions have it). The meaning “in place of, for” fits better (see 1 Sam 1:16, “count not your handmaid for a daughter of Belial”).

[3:24]  ² sn The line means that Job’s sighing, which results from the suffering (metonymy of effect) is his constant, daily food. Parallels like Ps 42:3 which says “my tears have been my bread/food” shows a similar figure.

[3:24]  ³ tn The word normally describes the “roaring” of a lion (Job 4:10); but it is used for the loud groaning or cries of those in distress (Pss 22:1; 32:3).

[3:24]  ⁴ tn This second colon is paraphrased in the LXX to say, “I weep being beset with terror.” The idea of “pouring forth water” while groaning can be represented by “I weep.” The word “fear, terror” anticipates the next verse.

[19:22]  ⁵ sn Strahan comments, “The whole tragedy of the book is packed into these extraordinary words.”

[19:22]  ⁶ sn The idiom of eating the pieces of someone means “slander” in Aramaic (see Dan 3:8), Arabic and Akkadian.

[36:14]  ⁷ tn The text expresses this with “their soul dies.”

[36:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “among the male prostitutes” who were at the temple – the “holy ones,” with “holy” being used in that sense of “separated to that form of temple service.” So uncleanness and shame are some of the connotations of the reference. Some modern translations give the general sense only: “their life ends in shame” (NRSV); “and perish among the reprobate” (NAB); “die…after wasting their lives in immoral living” (NLT).