Ayub 33:22

33:22 He ¹  draws near to the place of corruption,

and his life to the messengers of death. ² 

Ayub 33:24

33:24 and if ³  God ⁴  is gracious to him and says,

‘Spare ⁵  him from going down

to the place of corruption,

I have found a ransom for him,’ ⁶ 

Ayub 33:28

33:28 He redeemed my life ⁷ 

from going down to the place of corruption,

and my life sees the light!’

Ayub 33:30

33:30 to turn back his life from the place of corruption,

that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

[33:22]  ¹ tn Heb “his soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, “life”] draws near.”

[33:22]  ² tn The MT uses the Hiphil participle, “to those who cause death.” This seems to be a reference to the belief in demons that brought about death, an idea not mentioned in the Bible itself. Thus many proposals have been made for this expression. Hoffmann and Budde divide the word into לְמוֹ מֵתִּים (lÿmo metim) and simply read “to the dead.” Dhorme adds a couple of letters to get לִמְקוֹם מֵתִּים (limqom metim, “to the place [or abode] of the dead”).

[33:24]  ³ tn This verse seems to continue the protasis begun in the last verse, with the apodosis coming in the next verse.

[33:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:24]  ⁵ tc The verb is either taken as an anomalous form of פָּדַע (pada’, “to rescue; to redeem,” or “to exempt him”), or it is emended to some similar word, like פָּרַע (para’, “to let loose,” so Wright).

[33:24]  ⁶ sn This verse and v. 28 should be compared with Ps 49:7-9, 15 (8-10, 16 HT) where the same basic vocabulary and concepts are employed.

[33:28]  ⁷ sn See note on “him” in v. 24.