Ayub 38:35

38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?

Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

Ayub 36:10

36:10 And he reveals ¹  this ²  for correction,

and says that they must turn ³  from evil.

Ayub 36:32

36:32 With his hands ⁴  he covers ⁵  the lightning,

and directs it against its target.

Ayub 14:20

14:20 You overpower him once for all, ⁶ 

and he departs;

you change ⁷  his appearance

and send him away.

Ayub 21:11

21:11 They allow their children to run ⁸  like a flock;

their little ones dance about.

Ayub 22:9

22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms ⁹  of the orphans you crushed. ¹⁰ 

Ayub 1:14

1:14 and a messenger came to Job, saying, “The oxen were plowing ¹¹  and the donkeys were grazing beside them,

Ayub 1:4

1:4 Now his sons used to go ¹²  and hold ¹³  a feast in the house of each one in turn, ¹⁴  and they would send and invite ¹⁵  their three ¹⁶  sisters to eat and to drink with them.

Ayub 12:19

12:19 He leads priests away stripped ¹⁷ 

and overthrows ¹⁸  the potentates. ¹⁹ 

Ayub 38:12

38:12 Have you ever in your life ²⁰  commanded the morning,

or made the dawn know ²¹  its place,

Ayub 24:10

24:10 They go about naked, without clothing,

and go hungry while they carry the sheaves. ²² 

Ayub 38:13

38:13 that it might seize the corners of the earth, ²³ 

and shake the wicked out of it?

Ayub 39:20

39:20 Do you make it leap ²⁴  like a locust?

Its proud neighing ²⁵  is terrifying!

Ayub 37:6

37:6 For to the snow he says, ‘Fall ²⁶  to earth,’

and to the torrential rains, ²⁷  ‘Pour down.’ ²⁸ 

Ayub 37:12

37:12 The clouds ²⁹  go round in circles,

wheeling about according to his plans,

to carry out ³⁰  all that he commands them

over the face of the whole inhabited world.

Ayub 15:5

15:5 Your sin inspires ³¹  your mouth;

you choose the language ³²  of the crafty. ³³ 

Ayub 38:20

38:20 that you may take them to their borders

and perceive the pathways to their homes? ³⁴ 

Ayub 38:34

38:34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds

so that a flood of water covers you? ³⁵ 

Ayub 6:22

Friends’ Fears

6:22 “Have I ³⁶  ever said, ³⁷  ‘Give me something,

and from your fortune ³⁸  make gifts ³⁹  in my favor’?

Ayub 9:25

Renewed Complaint

9:25 “My days ⁴⁰  are swifter than a runner, ⁴¹ 

they speed by without seeing happiness.

Ayub 24:4

24:4 They turn the needy from the pathway,

and the poor of the land hide themselves together. ⁴² 

Ayub 33:16

33:16 Then he gives a revelation ⁴³  to people,

and terrifies them with warnings, ⁴⁴ 

Ayub 39:12

39:12 Can you count on ⁴⁵  it to bring in ⁴⁶  your grain, ⁴⁷ 

and gather the grain ⁴⁸  to your threshing floor? ⁴⁹ 

Ayub 39:27

39:27 Is it at your command ⁵⁰  that the eagle soars,

and builds its nest on high?

Ayub 40:11

40:11 Scatter abroad ⁵¹  the abundance ⁵²  of your anger.

Look at every proud man ⁵³  and bring him low;

Ayub 42:4

42:4 You said, ⁵⁴ 

‘Pay attention, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you will answer me.’

Ayub 9:12

9:12 If he snatches away, ⁵⁵  who can turn him back? ⁵⁶ 

Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

Ayub 20:23

20:23 “While he is ⁵⁷  filling his belly,

God ⁵⁸  sends his burning anger ⁵⁹  against him,

and rains down his blows upon him. ⁶⁰ 

Ayub 39:5

39:5 Who let the wild donkey go free?

Who released the bonds of the donkey,

Ayub 39:10

39:10 Can you bind the wild ox ⁶¹  to a furrow with its rope,

will it till the valleys, following after you?

Ayub 42:9

42:9 So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and did just as the Lord had told them; and the Lord had respect for Job. ⁶² 

[36:10]  ¹ tn The idiom once again is “he uncovers their ear.”

[36:10]  ² tn The revelation is in the preceding verse, and so a pronoun must be added to make the reference clear.

[36:10]  ³ tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to turn; to return”) is one of the two major words in the OT for “repent” – to return from evil. Here the imperfect should be obligatory – they must do it.

[36:32]  ⁴ tn R. Gordis (Job, 422) prefers to link this word with the later Hebrew word for “arch,” not “hands.”

[36:32]  ⁵ tn Because the image might mean that God grabs the lightning and hurls it like a javelin (cf. NLT), some commentators want to change “covers” to other verbs. Dhorme has “lifts” (נִשָּׂא [nissa’] for כִּסָּה [kissah]). This fit the idea of God directing the lightning bolts.

[14:20]  ⁶ tn D. W. Thomas took נֵצַח (netsakh) here to have a superlative meaning: “You prevail utterly against him” (“Use of netsach as a superlative in Hebrew,” JSS 1 [1956]: 107). Death would be God’s complete victory over him.

[14:20]  ⁷ tn The subject of the participle is most likely God in this context. Some take it to be man, saying “his face changes.” Others emend the text to read an imperfect verb, but this is not necessary.

[21:11]  ⁸ tn The verb שָׁלַח (shalakh) means “to send forth,” but in the Piel “to release; to allow to run free.” The picture of children frolicking in the fields and singing and dancing is symbolic of peaceful, prosperous times.

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

[22:9]  ¹⁰ 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.

[1:14]  ¹¹ tn The use of the verb “to be” with the participle gives emphasis to the continuing of the action in the past (GKC 360 §116.r).

[1:4]  ¹² tn The perfect verb with the ו (vav), וְהָלְכוּ (vÿhalÿkhu, “they went”) indicates their characteristic action, actions that were frequently repeated (GKC 335-36 §112.dd).

[1:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “make a feast.”

[1:4]  ¹⁴ tn The sense is cryptic; it literally says “house – a man – his day.” The word “house” is an adverbial accusative of place: “in the house.” “Man” is the genitive; it also has a distributive sense: “in the house of each man.” And “his day” is an adverbial accusative: “on his day.” The point is that they feasted every day of the week in rotation.

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tn The use of קָרָא (qara’, “to call, invite”) followed by the ל (lamed) usually has the force of “to summon.” Here the meaning would not be so commanding, but would refer to an invitation (see also 1 Kgs 1:19, 25, 26).

[1:4]  ¹⁶ tn Normally cardinal numerals tend to disagree in gender with the numbered noun. In v. 2 “three daughters” consists of the masculine numeral followed by the feminine noun. However, here “three sisters” consists of the feminine numeral followed by the feminine noun. The distinction appears to be that the normal disagreement between numeral and noun when the intent is merely to fix the number (3 daughters as opposed to 2 or 4 daughters). However, when a particular, previously known group is indicated, the numeral tends to agree with the noun in gender. A similar case occurs in Gen 3:13 (“three wives” of Noah’s sons).

[12:19]  ¹⁷ tn Except for “priests,” the phraseology is identical to v. 17a.

[12:19]  ¹⁸ tn The verb has to be defined by its context: it can mean “falsify” (Exod 23:8), “make tortuous” (Prov 19:3), or “plunge” into misfortune (Prov 21:12). God overthrows those who seem to be solid.

[12:19]  ¹⁹ tn The original meaning of אֵיתָן (’eytan) is “perpetual.” It is usually an epithet for a torrent that is always flowing. It carries the connotations of permanence and stability; here applied to people in society, it refers to one whose power and influence does not change. These are the pillars of society.

[38:12]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew idiom is “have you from your days?” It means “never in your life” (see 1 Sam 25:28; 1 Kgs 1:6).

[38:12]  ²¹ tn The verb is the Piel of יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) with a double accusative.

[24:10]  ²² sn The point should not be missed – amidst abundant harvests, carrying sheaves about, they are still going hungry.

[38:13]  ²³ sn The poetic image is that darkness or night is like a blanket that covers the earth, and at dawn it is taken by the edges and shaken out. Since the wicked function under the cover of night, they are included in the shaking when the dawn comes up.

[39:20]  ²⁴ sn The same ideas are found in Joel 2:4. The leaping motion is compared to the galloping of the horse.

[39:20]  ²⁵ tn The word could mean “snorting” as well (see Jer 8:16). It comes from the root “to blow.” If the horse is running and breathing hard, this could be the sense here.

[37:6]  ²⁶ tn The verb actually means “be” (found here in the Aramaic form). The verb “to be” can mean “to happen, to fall, to come about.”

[37:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and [to the] shower of rain and shower of rains, be strong.” Many think the repetition grew up by variant readings; several Hebrew mss delete the second pair, and so many editors do. But the repetition may have served to stress the idea that the rains were heavy.

[37:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Be strong.”

[37:12]  ²⁹ tn The words “the clouds” are supplied from v. 11; the sentence itself actually starts: “and it goes round,” referring to the cloud.

[37:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “that it may do.”

[15:5]  ³¹ tn The verb אַלֵּף (’allef) has the meaning of “to teach; to instruct,” but it is unlikely that the idea of revealing is intended. If the verb is understood metonymically, then “to inspire; to prompt” will be sufficient. Dahood and others find another root, and render the verb “to increase,” reversing subject and object: “your mouth increases your iniquity.”

[15:5]  ³² tn Heb “tongue.”

[15:5]  ³³ tn The word means “shrewd; crafty; cunning” (see Gen 3:1). Job uses clever speech that is misleading and destructive.

[38:20]  ³⁴ tn The suffixes are singular (“that you may take it to its border…to its home”), referring to either the light or the darkness. Because either is referred to, the translation has employed plurals, since singulars would imply that only the second item, “darkness,” was the referent. Plurals are also employed by NAB and NIV.

[38:34]  ³⁵ tc The LXX has “answer you,” and some editors have adopted this. However, the reading of the MT makes better sense in the verse.

[6:22]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew הֲכִי (hakhi) literally says “Is it because….”

[6:22]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ 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.

[9:25]  ⁴⁰ tn The text has “and my days” following the thoughts in the previous section.

[9:25]  ⁴¹ sn Job returns to the thought of the brevity of his life (7:6). But now the figure is the swift runner instead of the weaver’s shuttle.

[24:4]  ⁴² sn Because of the violence and oppression of the wicked, the poor and needy, the widows and orphans, all are deprived of their rights and forced out of the ways and into hiding just to survive.

[33:16]  ⁴³ tn The idiom is “he uncovers the ear of men.” This expression means “inform” in Ruth 4:4; 1 Sam 20:2, etc. But when God is the subject it means “make a revelation” (see 1 Sam 9:15; 2 Sam 7:27).

[33:16]  ⁴⁴ tc Heb “and seals their bonds.” The form of the present translation, “and terrifies them with warnings,” is derived only by emending the text. Aquila, the Vulgate, Syriac, and Targum Job have “their correction” for “their bond,” which is what the KJV used. But the LXX, Aquila, and the Syriac have “terrifies” for the verb. This involves a change in pointing from יָחְתֹּם (yakhtom) to יְחִתֵּם (yÿkhittem). The LXX has “appearances of fear” instead of “bonds.” The point of the verse seems to be that by terrifying dreams God makes people aware of their ways.

[39:12]  ⁴⁵ tn The word is normally translated “believe” in the Bible. The idea is that of considering something dependable and acting on it. The idea of reliability is found also in the Niphal stem usages.

[39:12]  ⁴⁶ tc There is a textual problem here: יָשׁוּב (yashuv) is the Kethib, meaning “[that] he will return”; יָשִׁיב (yashiv) is the Qere, meaning “that he will bring in.” This is the preferred reading, since the object follows it. For commentators who think the line too unbalanced for this, the object is moved to the second colon, and the reading “returns” is taken for the first. But the MT is perfectly clear as it stands.

[39:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “your seed”; this must be interpreted figuratively for what the seed produces.

[39:12]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “gather it”; the referent (the grain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:12]  ⁴⁹ tn Simply, the MT has “and your threshing floor gather.” The “threshing floor” has to be an adverbial accusative of place.

[39:27]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “your mouth.”

[40:11]  ⁵¹ tn The verb was used for scattering lightning (Job 37:11). God is challenging Job to unleash his power and judge wickedness in the world.

[40:11]  ⁵² tn Heb “the overflowings.”

[40:11]  ⁵³ tn The word was just used in the positive sense of excellence or majesty; now the exalted nature of the person refers to self-exaltation, or pride.

[42:4]  ⁵⁴ tn This phrase, “you said,” is supplied in the translation to introduce the recollection of God’s words.

[9:12]  ⁵⁵ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 133) surveys the usages and concludes that the verb חָתַף (khataf) normally describes the wicked actions of a man, especially by treachery or trickery against another. But a verb חָתַף (khataf) is found nowhere else; a noun “robber” is found in Prov 23:28. Dhorme sees no reason to emend the text, because he concludes that the two verbs are synonymous. Job is saying that if God acts like a plunderer, there is no one who can challenge what he does.

[9:12]  ⁵⁶ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperfect (potential again) from שׁוּב (shuv). In this stem it can mean “turn back, refute, repel” (BDB 999 s.v. Hiph.5).

[20:23]  ⁵⁷ tn D. J. A. Clines observes that to do justice to the three jussives in the verse, one would have to translate “May it be, to fill his belly to the full, that God should send…and rain” (Job [WBC], 477). The jussive form of the verb at the beginning of the verse could also simply introduce a protasis of a conditional clause (see GKC 323 §109.h, i). This would mean, “if he [God] is about to fill his [the wicked’s] belly to the full, he will send….” The NIV reads “when he has filled his belly.” These fit better, because the context is talking about the wicked in his evil pursuit being cut down.

[20:23]  ⁵⁸ tn “God” is understood as the subject of the judgment.

[20:23]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “the anger of his wrath.”

[20:23]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “rain down upon him, on his flesh.” Dhorme changes עָלֵימוֹ (’alemo, “upon him”) to “his arrows”; he translates the line as “he rains his arrows upon his flesh.” The word בִּלְחוּמוֹ (bilkhumo,“his flesh”) has been given a wide variety of translations: “as his food,” “on his flesh,” “upon him, his anger,” or “missiles or weapons of war.”

[39:10]  ⁶¹ tn Some commentators think that the addition of the “wild ox” here is a copyist’s error, making the stich too long. They therefore delete it. Also, binding an animal to the furrow with ropes is unusual. So with a slight emendation Kissane came up with “Will you bind him with a halter of cord?” While the MT is unusual, the sense is understandable, and no changes, even slight ones, are absolutely necessary.

[42:9]  ⁶² tn The expression “had respect for Job” means God answered his prayer.