Ayub 7:1
Konteks7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service 1 on earth?
Are not their days also
like the days of a hired man? 2
Ayub 20:15
Konteks20:15 The wealth that he consumed 3 he vomits up,
God will make him throw it out 4 of his stomach.
Ayub 24:6
Konteks24:6 They reap fodder 5 in the field,
and glean 6 in the vineyard of the wicked.
Ayub 27:22
Konteks27:22 It hurls itself against him without pity 7
as he flees headlong from its power.
[7:1] 1 tn The word צָבָא (tsava’) is actually “army”; it can be used for the hard service of military service as well as other toil. As a military term it would include the fixed period of duty (the time) and the hard work (toil). Job here is considering the lot of all humans, not just himself.
[7:1] 2 tn The שָׂכִיר (sakhir) is a hired man, either a man who works for wages, or a mercenary soldier (Jer 46:21). The latter sense may be what is intended here in view of the parallelism, although the next verse seems much broader.
[20:15] 4 tn The choice of words is excellent. The verb יָרַשׁ (yarash) means either “to inherit” or “to disinherit; to dispossess.” The context makes the figure clear that God is administering the emetic to make the wicked throw up the wealth (thus, “God will make him throw it out…”); but since wealth is the subject there is a disinheritance meant here.
[24:6] 5 tc The word בְּלִילוֹ (bÿlilo) means “his fodder.” It is unclear to what this refers. If the suffix is taken as a collective, then it can be translated “they gather/reap their fodder.” The early versions all have “they reap in a field which is not his” (taking it as בְּלִי לוֹ, bÿli lo). A conjectural emendation would change the word to בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “in the night”). But there is no reason for this.
[24:6] 6 tn The verbs in this verse are uncertain. In the first line “reap” is used, and that would be the work of a hired man (and certainly not done at night). The meaning of this second verb is uncertain; it has been taken to mean “glean,” which would be the task of the poor.
[27:22] 7 tn The verb is once again functioning in an adverbial sense. The text has “it hurls itself against him and shows no mercy.”