Ayub 6:6

6:6 Can food that is tasteless ¹  be eaten without salt?

Or is there any taste in the white ²  of an egg?

Ayub 7:18

7:18 And that you visit ³  them every morning,

and try ⁴  them every moment? ⁵ 

Ayub 8:3

8:3 Does God pervert ⁶  justice? ⁷ 

Or does the Almighty pervert ⁸  what is right?

Ayub 8:7

8:7 Your beginning ⁹  will seem so small,

since your future will flourish. ¹⁰ 

Ayub 13:5

13:5 If only you would keep completely silent! ¹¹ 

For you, that would be wisdom. ¹² 

Ayub 15:4

15:4 But you even break off ¹³  piety, ¹⁴ 

and hinder ¹⁵  meditation ¹⁶  before God.

Ayub 21:34

21:34 So how can you console me with your futile words?

Nothing is left of your answers but deception!” ¹⁷ 

Ayub 32:15

Job’s Friends Failed to Answer ¹⁸ 

32:15 “They are dismayed ¹⁹  and cannot answer any more;

they have nothing left to say. ²⁰ 

Ayub 33:1

Elihu Invites Job’s Attention

33:1 “But now, O Job, listen to my words,

and hear ²¹  everything I have to say! ²² 

Ayub 34:5

34:5 For Job says, ‘I am innocent, ²³ 

but God turns away my right.

Ayub 34:9

34:9 For he says, ‘It does not profit a man

when he makes his delight with God.’ ²⁴ 

Ayub 34:16

God Is Impartial and Omniscient

34:16 “If you have ²⁵  understanding, listen to this,

hear what I have to say. ²⁶ 

Ayub 35:16

35:16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; ²⁷ 

without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Ayub 38:2

38:2 “Who is this ²⁸  who darkens counsel ²⁹ 

with words without knowledge?

Ayub 38:35

38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?

Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

[6:6]  ¹ tn Heb “a tasteless thing”; the word “food” is supplied from the context.

[6:6]  ² tn Some commentators are not satisfied with the translation “white of an egg”; they prefer something connected to “slime of purslane” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 59; cf. NRSV “juice of mallows”). This meaning is based on the Syriac and Arabic version of Sa`adia. The meaning “white of the egg” comes from the rabbinic interpretation of “slime of the yolk.” Others carry the idea further and interpret it to mean “saliva of dreams” or after the LXX “in dream words.” H. H. Rowley does not think that the exact edible object can be identified. The idea of the slimy glaring white around the yolk of an egg seems to fit best. This is another illustration of something that is tasteless or insipid.

[7:18]  ³ tn The verb פָּקַד (paqad) is a very common one in the Bible; while it is frequently translated “visit,” the “visit” is never comparable to a social call. When God “visits” people it always means a divine intervention for blessing or cursing – but the visit always changes the destiny of the one visited. Here Job is amazed that God Almighty would be so involved in the life of mere human beings.

[7:18]  ⁴ tn Now the verb “to test” is introduced and gives further explanation to the purpose of the “visit” in the parallel line (see the same parallelism in Ps 17:3). The verb בָּחַן (bakhan) has to do with passing things through the fire or the crucible to purify the metal (see Job 23:10; Zech 13:3); metaphorically it means “to examine carefully” and “to purify by testing.”

[7:18]  ⁵ sn The amazing thing is the regularity of the testing. Job is at first amazed that God would visit him; but even more is he amazed that God is testing him every moment. The employment of a chiasm with the two temporal adverbial phrases as the central elements emphasizes the regularity.

[8:3]  ⁶ tn The Piel verb יְעַוֵּת (yÿ’avvet) means “to bend; to cause to swerve from the norm; to deviate; to pervert.” The LXX renders the first colon as “will the Lord be unjust when he judges?”

[8:3]  ⁷ tn The first word is מִשְׁפָּת (mishpat, “justice”). It can mean an act of judgment, place of judgment, or what is just, that is, the outcome of the decision. It basically describes an umpire’s decision. The parallel word is צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “righteousness,” or “what is right”). The basic idea here is that which conforms to the standard, what is right. See S. H. Scholnick, “The Meaning of Mishpat in the Book of Job,” JBL 101 (1982): 521-29.

[8:3]  ⁸ tn Some commentators think that the second verb should be changed in order to avoid the repetition of the same word and to reflect the different words in the versions. The suggestion is to read יְעַוֵּה (yÿ’avveh) instead; this would mean “to cause someone to deviate,” for the root means “to bend.” The change is completely unwarranted; the LXX probably chose different words for stylistic reasons (see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 198). The repetition in the Hebrew text is a common type; it strengthens the enormity of the charge Job seems to be making.

[8:7]  ⁹ tn The reference to “your beginning” is a reference to Job’s former estate of wealth and peace. The reference to “latter end” is a reference to conditions still in the future. What Job had before will seem so small in comparison to what lies ahead.

[8:7]  ¹⁰ tn The verb has the idea of “to grow”; here it must mean “to flourish; to grow considerably” or the like. The statement is not so much a prophecy; rather Bildad is saying that “if Job had recourse to God, then….” This will be fulfilled, of course, at the end of the book.

[13:5]  ¹¹ tn The construction is the imperfect verb in the wish formula preceded by the infinitive that intensifies it. The Hiphil is not directly causative here, but internally – “keep silent.”

[13:5]  ¹² tn The text literally reads, “and it would be for you for wisdom,” or “that it would become your wisdom.” Job is rather sarcastic here, indicating if they shut up they would prove themselves to be wise (see Prov 17:28).

[15:4]  ¹³ tn The word פָּרַר (parar) in the Hiphil means “to annul; to frustrate; to destroy; to break,” and this fits the line quite well. The NEB reflects G. R. Driver’s suggestion of an Arabic cognate meaning “to expel; to banish” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 77).

[15:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “fear,” “reverence.”

[15:4]  ¹⁵ tn The word גָּרַע (gara’) means “to diminish,” regard as insignificant, occasionally with the sense of “pull down” (Deut 4:2; 13:1). It is here that Eliphaz is portraying Job as a menace to the religion of society because they dissuade people from seeking God.

[15:4]  ¹⁶ tn The word שִׂיחָה (sikhah) is “complaint; cry; meditation.” Job would be influencing people to challenge God and not to meditate before or pray to him.

[21:34]  ¹⁷ tn The word מָעַל (ma’al) is used for “treachery; deception; fraud.” Here Job is saying that their way of interpreting reality is dangerously unfaithful.

[32:15]  ¹⁸ sn Elihu now will give another reason why he will speak – the arguments of these friends failed miserably. But before he gets to his argument, he will first qualify his authority.

[32:15]  ¹⁹ tn The verb חַתּוּ (khattu) is from חָתַת (khatat) which means “to be terrified.” But here it stresses the resulting dilemma. R. Gordis (Job, 369) renders it, “they are shattered, beaten in an argument.”

[32:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “words have moved away from them,” meaning words are gone from them, they have nothing left to say.

[33:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “give ear,” the Hiphil denominative verb from “ear.”

[33:1]  ²² tn Heb “hear all my words.”

[34:5]  ²³ tn Heb “righteous,” but in this context it means to be innocent or in the right.

[34:9]  ²⁴ tn Gordis, however, takes this expression in the sense of “being in favor with God.”

[34:16]  ²⁵ tn The phrase “you have” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[34:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the sound of my words.”

[35:16]  ²⁷ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel) means “vanity; futility; to no purpose.”

[38:2]  ²⁸ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used here to emphasize the interrogative pronoun (see GKC 442 §136.c).

[38:2]  ²⁹ sn The referent of “counsel” here is not the debate between Job and the friends, but the purposes of God (see Ps 33:10; Prov 19:21; Isa 19:17). Dhorme translates it “Providence.”