Ayub 6:20

6:20 They were distressed, ¹ 

because each one had been ²  so confident;

they arrived there, ³  but were disappointed.

Ayub 9:6

9:6 he who shakes the earth out of its place ⁴ 

so that its pillars tremble; ⁵ 

Ayub 28:9

28:9 On the flinty rock man has set to work ⁶  with his hand;

he has overturned mountains at their bases. ⁷ 

Ayub 38:23

38:23 which I reserve for the time of trouble,

for the day of war and battle? ⁸ 

[6:20]  ¹ tn The verb בּוֹשׁ (bosh) basically means “to be ashamed”; however, it has a wider range of meaning such as “disappointed” or “distressed.” The feeling of shame or distress is because of their confidence that they knew what they were doing. The verb is strengthened here with the parallel חָפַר (khafar, “to be confounded, disappointed”).

[6:20]  ² tn The perfect verb has the nuance of past perfect here, for their confidence preceded their disappointment. Note the contrast, using these verbs, in Ps 22:6: “they trusted in you and they were not put to shame [i.e., disappointed].”

[6:20]  ³ tn The LXX misread the prepositional phrase as the noun “their cities”; it gives the line as “They too that trust in cities and riches shall come to shame.”

[9:6]  ⁴ sn Shakes the earth out of its place probably refers to earthquakes, although some commentators protest against this in view of the idea of the pillars. In the ancient world the poetical view of the earth is that it was a structure on pillars, with water around it and under it. In an earthquake the pillars were shaken, and the earth moved.

[9:6]  ⁵ tn The verb הִתְפַלָּצ (hitfallats) is found only here, but the root seems clearly to mean “to be tossed; to be thrown about,” and so in the Hitpael “quiver; shake; tremble.” One of the three nouns from this root is פַּלָּצוּת (pallatsut), the “shudder” that comes with terror (see Job 21:6; Isa 21:4; Ezek 7:18; and Ps 55:6).

[28:9]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb is simply “to stretch out; to send” (שָׁלח, shalakh). With יָדוֹ (yado, “his hand”) the idea is that of laying one’s hand on the rock, i.e., getting to work on the hardest of rocks.

[28:9]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew מִשֹּׁרֶשׁ (mishoresh) means “from/at [their] root [or base].” In mining, people have gone below ground, under the mountains, and overturned rock and dirt. It is also interesting that here in a small way humans do what God does – overturn mountains (cf. 9:5).

[38:23]  ⁸ sn The terms translated war and battle are different Hebrew words, but both may be translated “war” or “battle” depending on the context.