Ayub 5:15

5:15 So he saves ¹  from the sword that comes from their mouth, ² 

even ³  the poor from the hand of the powerful.

Ayub 6:8

A Cry for Death

6:8 “Oh that ⁴  my request would be realized, ⁵ 

and that God would grant me what I long for! ⁶ 

Ayub 9:25

Renewed Complaint

9:25 “My days ⁷  are swifter than a runner, ⁸ 

they speed by without seeing happiness.

Ayub 12:5

12:5 For calamity, ⁹  there is derision

(according to the ideas of the fortunate ¹⁰ ) –

a fate ¹¹  for those whose feet slip!

Ayub 13:16

13:16 Moreover, this will become my deliverance,

for no godless person would come before him. ¹² 

Ayub 15:19

15:19 to whom alone the land was given

when no foreigner passed among them. ¹³ 

Ayub 17:16

17:16 Will ¹⁴  it ¹⁵  go down to the barred gates ¹⁶  of death?

Will ¹⁷  we descend ¹⁸  together into the dust?”

Ayub 19:28

19:28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him,

since the root of the trouble is found in him!’ ¹⁹ 

Ayub 20:5

20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, ²⁰ 

the joy of the godless ²¹  lasts but a moment. ²² 

Ayub 27:3

27:3 for while ²³  my spirit ²⁴  is still in me,

and the breath from God is in my nostrils,

Ayub 27:14

27:14 If his children increase – it is for the sword! ²⁵ 

His offspring never have enough to eat. ²⁶ 

Ayub 28:21

28:21 For ²⁷  it has been hidden

from the eyes of every living creature,

and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.

Ayub 31:12

31:12 For it is a fire that devours even to Destruction, ²⁸ 

and it would uproot ²⁹  all my harvest.

Ayub 38:14

38:14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; ³⁰ 

its features ³¹  are dyed ³²  like a garment.

[5:15]  ¹ tn The verb, the Hiphil preterite of יָשַׁע (yasha’, “and he saves”) indicates that by frustrating the plans of the wicked God saves the poor. So the vav (ו) consecutive shows the result in the sequence of the verses.

[5:15]  ² tn The juxtaposition of “from the sword from their mouth” poses translation difficulties. Some mss do not have the preposition on “their mouth,” but render the expression as a construct: “from the sword of their mouth.” This would mean their tongue, and by metonymy, what they say. The expression “from their mouth” corresponds well with “from the hand” in the next colon. And as E. Dhorme (Job, 67) notes, what is missing is a parallel in the first part with “the poor” in the second. So he follows Cappel in repointing “from the sword” as a Hophal participle, מֹחֳרָב (mokhorav), meaning “the ruined.” If a change is required, this has the benefit of only changing the pointing. The difficulty with this is that the word “desolate, ruined” is not used for people, but only to cities, lands, or mountains. The sense of the verse can be supported from the present pointing: “from the sword [which comes] from their mouth”; the second phrase could also be in apposition, meaning, “from the sword, i.e., from their mouth.”

[5:15]  ³ tn If the word “poor” is to do double duty, i.e., serving as the object of the verb “saves” in the first colon as well as the second, then the conjunction should be explanatory.

[6:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew expresses the desire (desiderative clause) with “who will give?” (see GKC 477 §151.d).

[6:8]  ⁵ tn The verb בּוֹא (bo’, “go”) has the sense of “to be realized; to come to pass; to be fulfilled.” The optative “Who will give [that] my request be realized?” is “O that my request would be realized.”

[6:8]  ⁶ tn The text has תִקְוָתִי (tiqvati, “hope”). There is no reason to change the text to “my desire” (as Driver and others do) if the word is interpreted metonymically – it means “what I hope for.” What Job hopes for and asks for is death.

[6:8]  sn See further W. Riggans, “Job 6:8-10: Short Comments,” ExpTim 99 (1987): 45-46.

[9:25]  ⁷ tn The text has “and my days” following the thoughts in the previous section.

[9:25]  ⁸ 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.

[12:5]  ⁹ tn The first word, לַפִּיד (lapid), could be rendered “a torch of scorn,” but this gives no satisfying meaning. The ל (lamed) is often taken as an otiose letter, and the noun פִּיד (pid) is “misfortune, calamity” (cf. Job 30:24; 31:29).

[12:5]  ¹⁰ tn The noun עַשְׁתּוּת (’ashtut, preferably עַשְׁתּוֹת, ’ashtot) is an abstract noun from עָשַׁת (’ashat, “to think”). The word שַׁאֲנָן (sha’anan) means “easy in mind, carefree,” and “happy.”

[12:5]  ¹¹ tn The form has traditionally been taken to mean “is ready” from the verb כּוּן (kun, “is fixed, sure”). But many commentators look for a word parallel to “calamity.” So the suggestion has been put forward that נָכוֹן (nakhon) be taken as a noun from נָכָה (nakhah, “strike, smite”): “a blow” (Schultens, Dhorme, Gordis), “thrust” or “kick” (HALOT 698 s.v. I נָכוֹן).

[13:16]  ¹² sn The fact that Job will dare to come before God and make his case is evidence – to Job at least – that he is innocent.

[15:19]  ¹³ sn Eliphaz probably thinks that Edom was the proverbial home of wisdom, and so the reference here would be to his own people. If, as many interpret, the biblical writer is using these accounts to put Yahwistic ideas into the discussion, then the reference would be to Canaan at the time of the fathers. At any rate, the tradition of wisdom to Eliphaz has not been polluted by foreigners, but has retained its pure and moral nature from antiquity.

[17:16]  ¹⁴ sn It is natural to assume that this verse continues the interrogative clause of the preceding verse.

[17:16]  ¹⁵ tn The plural form of the verb probably refers to the two words, or the two senses of the word in the preceding verse. Hope and what it produces will perish with Job.

[17:16]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew word בַּדִּים (baddim) describes the “bars” or “bolts” of Sheol, referring (by synecdoche) to the “gates of Sheol.” The LXX has “with me to Sheol,” and many adopt that as “by my side.”

[17:16]  ¹⁷ tn The conjunction אִם (’im) confirms the interrogative interpretation.

[17:16]  ¹⁸ tn The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac versions with the change of vocalization in the MT. The MT has the noun “rest,” yielding, “will our rest be together in the dust?” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) in Aramaic means “to go down; to descend.” If that is the preferred reading – and it almost is universally accepted here – then it would be spelled נֵחַת (nekhat). In either case the point of the verse is clearly describing death and going to the grave.

[19:28]  ¹⁹ tc The MT reads “in me.” If that is retained, then the question would be in the first colon, and the reasoning of the second colon would be Job’s. But over 100 mss have “in him,” and so this reading is accepted by most editors. The verse is a little difficult, but it seems to form a warning by Job that God’s appearance which will vindicate Job will bring judgment on those who persecute him and charge him falsely.

[20:5]  ²⁰ tn The expression in the text is “quite near.” This indicates that it is easily attained, and that its end is near.

[20:5]  ²¹ tn For the discussion of חָנֵף (khanef, “godless”) see Job 8:13.

[20:5]  ²² tn The phrase is “until a moment,” meaning it is short-lived. But see J. Barr, “Hebrew ’ad, especially at Job 1:18 and Neh 7:3,” JSS 27 (1982): 177-88.

[27:3]  ²³ tn The adverb עוֹד (’od) was originally a noun, and so here it could be rendered “all the existence of my spirit.” The word comes between the noun in construct and its actual genitive (see GKC 415 §128.e).

[27:3]  ²⁴ tn The word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah) is the “breath” that was breathed into Adam in Gen 2:7. Its usage includes the animating breath, the spiritual understanding, and the functioning conscience – so the whole spirit of the person. The other word in this verse, רוּחַ (ruakh), may be translated as “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit/Spirit” depending on the context. Here, since it talks about the nostrils, it should be translated “breath.”

[27:14]  ²⁵ tn R. Gordis (Job, 294) identifies this as a breviloquence. Compare Ps 92:8 where the last two words also constitute the apodosis.

[27:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “will not be satisfied with bread/food.”

[28:21]  ²⁷ tn The vav on the verb is unexpressed in the LXX. It should not be overlooked, for it introduces a subordinate clause of condition (R. Gordis, Job, 310).

[31:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to Abaddon.”

[31:12]  ²⁹ tn The verb means “to root out,” but this does not fit the parallelism with fire. Wright changed two letters and the vowels in the verb to get the root צָרַף (tsaraf, “to burn”). The NRSV has “burn to the root.”

[38:14]  ³⁰ sn The verse needs to be understood in the context: as the light shines in the dawn, the features of the earth take on a recognizable shape or form. The language is phenomenological.

[38:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the objects or features on the earth) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[38:14]  ³² tc The MT reads “they stand up like a garment” (NASB, NIV) or “its features stand out like a garment” (ESV). The reference could be either to embroidered decoration on a garment or to the folds of a garment (REB: “until all things stand out like the folds of a cloak”; cf. J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 497, “the early light of day makes the earth appear as a beautiful garment, exquisite in design and glorious in color”). Since this is thought to be an odd statement, some suggest with Ehrlich that the text be changed to תִּצָּבַּע (titsabba’, “is dyed [like a garment]”). This reference would be to the colors appearing on the earth’s surface under daylight. The present translation follows the emendation.