Ayub 4:8

4:8 Even as I have seen, ¹  those who plow ²  iniquity ³ 

and those who sow trouble reap the same. ⁴ 

Ayub 28:16-17

28:16 It cannot be measured out for purchase ⁵  with the gold of Ophir,

with precious onyx ⁶  or sapphires.

28:17 Neither gold nor crystal ⁷  can be compared with it,

nor can a vase ⁸  of gold match its worth.

Ayub 35:15

35:15 And further, ⁹  when you say

that his anger does not punish, ¹⁰ 

and that he does not know transgression! ¹¹ 

[4:8]  ¹ tn The perfect verb here represents the indefinite past. It has no specific sighting in mind, but refers to each time he has seen the wicked do this.

[4:8]  ² sn The figure is an implied metaphor. Plowing suggests the idea of deliberately preparing (or cultivating) life for evil. This describes those who are fundamentally wicked.

[4:8]  ³ tn The LXX renders this with a plural “barren places.”

[4:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “reap it.”

[28:16]  ⁵ tn The word actually means “weighed,” that is, lifted up on the scale and weighed, in order to purchase.

[28:16]  ⁶ tn The exact identification of these stones is uncertain. Many recent English translations, however, have “onyx” and “sapphires.”

[28:17]  ⁷ tn The word is from זָכַךְ (zakhakh, “clear”). It describes a transparent substance, and so “glass” is an appropriate translation. In the ancient world it was precious and so expensive.

[28:17]  ⁸ tc The MT has “vase”; but the versions have a plural here, suggesting jewels of gold.

[35:15]  ⁹ tn The expression “and now” introduces a new complaint of Elihu – in addition to the preceding. Here the verb of v. 14, “you say,” is understood after the temporal ki (כִּי).

[35:15]  ¹⁰ tn The verb פָקַד (paqad) means “to visit” (also “to appoint; to muster; to number”). When God visits, it means that he intervenes in one’s life for blessing or cursing (punishing, destroying).

[35:15]  ¹¹ tn The word פַּשׁ (pash) is a hapax legomenon. K&D 12:275 derived it from an Arabic word meaning “belch,” leading to the idea of “overflow.” BDB 832 s.v. defines it as “folly.” Several define it as “transgression” on the basis of the versions (Theodotion, Symmachus, Vulgate). The RSV took it as “greatly heed,” but that is not exactly “greatly know,” when the text beyond that requires “not know at all.” The NIV has “he does not take the least notice of wickedness.”