Ayub 38:2

38:2 “Who is this ¹  who darkens counsel ² 

with words without knowledge?

Ayub 28:22

28:22 Destruction ³  and Death say,

‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.’ ⁴ 

Ayub 17:7

17:7 My eyes have grown dim ⁵  with grief;

my whole frame ⁶  is but a shadow.

[38:2]  ¹ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used here to emphasize the interrogative pronoun (see GKC 442 §136.c).

[38:2]  ² sn The referent of “counsel” here is not the debate between Job and the friends, but the purposes of God (see Ps 33:10; Prov 19:21; Isa 19:17). Dhorme translates it “Providence.”

[28:22]  ³ tn Heb “Abaddon.”

[28:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “heard a report of it,” which means a report of its location, thus “where it can be found.”

[17:7]  ⁵ tn See the usage of this verb in Gen 27:1 and Deut 34:7. Usually it is age that causes the failing eyesight, but here it is the grief.

[17:7]  ⁶ tn The word יְצֻרִים (yÿtsurim), here with a suffix, occurs only here in the Bible. The word is related to יָצַר (yatsar, “to form, fashion”). And so Targum Job has “my forms,” and the Vulgate “my members.” The Syriac uses “thoughts” to reflect יֵצֶר (yetser). Some have followed this to interpret, “all my thoughts have dissolved into shadows.” But the parallel with “eye” would suggest “form.” The plural “my forms, all of them” would refer to the whole body.