Ayub 4:16

4:16 It stands still, ¹ 

but I cannot recognize ²  its appearance;

an image is before my eyes,

and I hear a murmuring voice: ³ 

Ayub 6:5

Complaints Reflect Suffering

6:5 “Does the wild donkey ⁴  bray ⁵  when it is near grass? ⁶ 

Or ⁷  does the ox low near its fodder? ⁸ 

Ayub 9:19

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

most certainly ¹⁰  he is the strong one!

And if it is a matter of justice,

he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’ ¹¹ 

Ayub 12:6

12:6 But ¹²  the tents of robbers are peaceful,

and those who provoke God are confident ¹³  –

who carry their god in their hands. ¹⁴ 

Ayub 13:15

13:15 Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; ¹⁵ 

I will surely ¹⁶  defend ¹⁷  my ways to his face!

Ayub 17:8

17:8 Upright men are appalled ¹⁸  at this;

the innocent man is troubled ¹⁹  with the godless.

Ayub 23:8

The Inaccessibility and Power of God

23:8 “If I go to the east, he is not there,

and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.

Ayub 33:27

33:27 That person sings ²⁰  to others, ²¹  saying:

‘I have sinned and falsified what is right,

but I was not punished according to what I deserved. ²² 

Ayub 37:5

37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; ²³ 

he does great things beyond our understanding. ²⁴ 

Ayub 37:13

37:13 Whether it is for punishment ²⁵  for his land,

or whether it is for mercy,

he causes it to find its mark. ²⁶ 

[4:16]  ¹ tc The LXX has the first person of the verb: “I arose and perceived it not, I looked and there was no form before my eyes; but I only heard a breath and a voice.”

[4:16]  ² tn The imperfect verb is to be classified as potential imperfect. Eliphaz is unable to recognize the figure standing before him.

[4:16]  ³ sn The colon reads “a silence and a voice I hear.” Some have rendered it “there is a silence, and then I hear.” The verb דָּמַם (damam) does mean “remain silent” (Job 29:21; 31:34) and then also “cease.” The noun דְּמָמָה (dÿmamah, “calm”) refers to the calm after the storm in Ps 107:29. Joined with the true object of the verb, “voice,” it probably means something like stillness or murmuring or whispering here. It is joined to “voice” with a conjunction, indicating that it is a hendiadys, “murmur and a voice” or a “murmuring voice.”

[6:5]  ⁴ tn There have been suggestions to identify this animal as something other than a wild donkey, but the traditional interpretation has been confirmed (see P. Humbert, “En marge du dictionnaire hébraïque,” ZAW 62 [1950]: 199-207).

[6:5]  ⁵ tn The verb נָהַק (nahaq, “bray”) occurs in Arabic and Aramaic and only in Job 30:7 in Hebrew, where it refers to unfortunate people in the wilderness who utter cries like the hungry wild donkey.

[6:5]  ⁶ sn In this brief section Job indicates that it would be wiser to seek the reason for the crying than to complain of the cry. The wild donkey will bray when it finds no food (see Jer 14:6).

[6:5]  ⁷ tn The construction forms a double question (אִם...הֲ, ha…’im) but not to express mutually exclusive questions in this instance. Instead, it is used to repeat the same question in different words (see GKC 475 §150.h).

[6:5]  ⁸ tc The LXX captures the meaning of the verse, but renders it in a more expansive way.

[6:5]  tn This word occurs here and in Isa 30:24. In contrast to the grass that grows on the fields for the wild donkey, this is fodder prepared for the domesticated animals.

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

[9:19]  ¹⁰ tn “Most certainly” translates the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh).

[9:19]  ¹¹ 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.

[12:6]  ¹² tn The verse gives the other side of the coin now, the fact that the wicked prosper.

[12:6]  ¹³ tn The plural is used to suggest the supreme degree of arrogant confidence (E. Dhorme, Job, 171).

[12:6]  ¹⁴ sn The line is perhaps best understood as describing one who thinks he is invested with the power of God.

[13:15]  ¹⁵ tn There is a textual difficulty here that factors into the interpretation of the verse. The Kethib is לֹא (lo’, “not”), but the Qere is לוֹ (lo, “to him”). The RSV takes the former: “Behold, he will slay me, I have no hope.” The NIV takes it as “though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Job is looking ahead to death, which is not an evil thing to him. The point of the verse is that he is willing to challenge God at the risk of his life; and if God slays him, he is still confident that he will be vindicated – as he says later in this chapter. Other suggestions are not compelling. E. Dhorme (Job, 187) makes a slight change of אֲיַחֵל (’ayakhel, “I will hope”) to אַחִיל (’akhil, “I will [not] tremble”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 98) retains the MT, but interprets the verb more in line with its use in the book: “I will not wait” (cf. NLT).

[13:15]  ¹⁶ tn On אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) see GKC 483 §153 on intensive clauses.

[13:15]  ¹⁷ tn The verb once again is יָכָה (yakhah, in the Hiphil, “argue a case, plead, defend, contest”). But because the word usually means “accuse” rather than “defend,” I. L. Seeligmann proposed changing “my ways” to “his ways” (“Zur Terminologie für das Gerichtsverfahren im Wortschatz des biblischen Hebräisch,” VTSup 16 [1967]: 251-78). But the word can be interpreted appropriately in the context without emendation.

[17:8]  ¹⁸ tn This verb שָׁמַם (shamam, “appalled”) is the one found in Isa 52:14, translated there “astonished.”

[17:8]  ¹⁹ tn The verb means “to rouse oneself to excitement.” It naturally means “to be agitated; to be stirred up.”

[33:27]  ²⁰ tc The verb יָשֹׁר (yashor) is unusual. The typical view is to change it to יָשִׁיר (yashir, “he sings”), but that may seem out of harmony with a confession. Dhorme suggests a root שׁוּר (shur, “to repeat”), but this is a doubtful root. J. Reider reads it יָשֵׁיר (yasher) and links it to an Arabic word “confesses” (ZAW 24 [1953]: 275).

[33:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “to men.”

[33:27]  ²² tn The verb שָׁוָה (shavah) has the impersonal meaning here, “it has not been requited to me.” The meaning is that the sinner has not been treated in accordance with his deeds: “I was not punished according to what I deserved.”

[37:5]  ²³ tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.

[37:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and we do not know.”

[37:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.

[37:13]  ²⁶ tn This is interpretive; Heb “he makes find it.” The lightning could be what is intended here, for it finds its mark. But R. Gordis (Job, 429) suggests man is the subject – let him find what it is for, i.e., the fate appropriate for him.