Ayub 5:27

5:27 Look, we have investigated this, so it is true.

Hear it, ¹  and apply it for your own ²  good.” ³ 

Ayub 10:12

10:12 You gave me ⁴  life and favor, ⁵ 

and your intervention ⁶  watched over my spirit.

Ayub 19:5

19:5 If indeed ⁷  you would exalt yourselves ⁸  above me

and plead my disgrace against me, ⁹ 

Ayub 40:20

40:20 For the hills bring it food, ¹⁰ 

where all the wild animals play.

[5:27]  ¹ tn To make a better parallelism, some commentators have replaced the imperative with another finite verb, “we have found it.”

[5:27]  ² tn The preposition with the suffix (referred to as the ethical dative) strengthens the imperative. An emphatic personal pronoun also precedes the imperative. The resulting force would be something like “and you had better apply it for your own good!”

[5:27]  ³ sn With this the speech by Eliphaz comes to a close. His two mistakes with it are: (1) that the tone was too cold and (2) the argument did not fit Job’s case (see further, A. B. Davidson, Job, 42).

[10:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “you made with me.”

[10:12]  ⁵ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 150) suggests that the relation between these two words is like a hendiadys. In other words, “life,” which he says is made prominent by the shift of the copula, specifies the nature of the grace. He renders it “the favor of life.” D. J. A. Clines at least acknowledges that the expression “you showed loyal love with me” is primary. There are many other attempts to improve the translation of this unusual combination.

[10:12]  ⁶ tn The noun פְּקָָֻדּה (pÿquddah), originally translated “visitation,” actually refers to any divine intervention for blessing on the life. Here it would include the care and overseeing of the life of Job. “Providence” may be too general for the translation, but it is not far from the meaning of this line. The LXX has “your oversight.”

[19:5]  ⁷ tn The introductory particles repeat אָמְנָם (’amnam, “indeed”) but now with אִם (’im, “if”). It could be interpreted to mean “is it not true,” or as here in another conditional clause.

[19:5]  ⁸ tn The verb is the Hiphil of גָּדַל (gadal); it can mean “to make great” or as an internal causative “to make oneself great” or “to assume a lofty attitude, to be insolent.” There is no reason to assume another root here with the meaning of “quarrel” (as Gordis does).

[19:5]  ⁹ sn Job’s friends have been using his shame, his humiliation in all his sufferings, as proof against him in their case.

[40:20]  ¹⁰ tn The word בּוּל (bul) probably refers to food. Many take it as an abbreviated form of יְבוּל (yÿvul, “produce of the field”). The vegetation that is produced on the low hills is what is meant.