Ayub 8:15

8:15 He leans against his house but it does not hold up, ¹ 

he takes hold ²  of it but it does not stand.

Ayub 12:6

12:6 But ³  the tents of robbers are peaceful,

and those who provoke God are confident ⁴  –

who carry their god in their hands. ⁵ 

Ayub 12:14

12:14 If ⁶  he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt;

if he imprisons a person, there is no escape. ⁷ 

Ayub 16:8

16:8 You have seized me, ⁸ 

and it ⁹  has become a witness;

my leanness ¹⁰  has risen up against me

and testifies against me.

Ayub 21:16

21:16 But their prosperity is not their own doing. ¹¹ 

The counsel of the wicked is far from me! ¹² 

Ayub 37:6

37:6 For to the snow he says, ‘Fall ¹³  to earth,’

and to the torrential rains, ¹⁴  ‘Pour down.’ ¹⁵ 

Ayub 38:11

38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come ¹⁶ 

and no farther, ¹⁷ 

here your proud waves will be confined’? ¹⁸ 

Ayub 40:19

40:19 It ranks first among the works of God, ¹⁹ 

the One who made it

has furnished it with a sword. ²⁰ 

Ayub 41:15

41:15 Its back ²¹  has rows of shields,

shut up closely ²²  together as with a seal;

[8:15]  ¹ tn The verb עָמַד (’amad, “to stand”) is almost synonymous with the parallel קוּם (qum, “to rise; to stand”). The distinction is that the former means “to remain standing” (so it is translated here “hold up”), and the latter “rise, stand up.”

[8:15]  ² sn The idea is that he grabs hold of the house, not to hold it up, but to hold himself up or support himself. But it cannot support him. This idea applies to both the spider’s web and the false security of the pagan.

[12:6]  ³ tn The verse gives the other side of the coin now, the fact that the wicked prosper.

[12:6]  ⁴ tn The plural is used to suggest the supreme degree of arrogant confidence (E. Dhorme, Job, 171).

[12:6]  ⁵ sn The line is perhaps best understood as describing one who thinks he is invested with the power of God.

[12:14]  ⁶ tn The use of הֵן (hen, equivalent to הִנֵּה, hinneh, “behold”) introduces a hypothetical condition.

[12:14]  ⁷ tn The verse employs antithetical ideas: “tear down” and “build up,” “imprison” and “escape.” The Niphal verbs in the sentences are potential imperfects. All of this is to say that humans cannot reverse the will of God.

[16:8]  ⁸ tn The verb is קָמַט (qamat) which is used only here and in 22:16; it means “to seize; to grasp.” By God’s seizing him, Job means his afflictions.

[16:8]  ⁹ tn The subject is “my calamity.”

[16:8]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is used in Ps 109:24 to mean “to be lean”; and so “leanness” is accepted here for the noun by most. Otherwise the word is “lie, deceit.” Accordingly, some take it here as “my slanderer” or “my liar” (gives evidence against me).

[21:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “is not in their hand.”

[21:16]  sn The implication of this statement is that their well-being is from God, which is the problem Job is raising in the chapter. A number of commentators make it a question, interpreting it to mean that the wicked enjoy prosperity as if it is their right. Some emend the text to say “his hands” – Gordis reads it, “Indeed, our prosperity is not in his hands.”

[21:16]  ¹² sn Even though their life seems so good in contrast to his own plight, Job cannot and will not embrace their principles – “far be from me their counsel.”

[37:6]  ¹³ tn The verb actually means “be” (found here in the Aramaic form). The verb “to be” can mean “to happen, to fall, to come about.”

[37:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and [to the] shower of rain and shower of rains, be strong.” Many think the repetition grew up by variant readings; several Hebrew mss delete the second pair, and so many editors do. But the repetition may have served to stress the idea that the rains were heavy.

[37:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Be strong.”

[38:11]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.

[38:11]  ¹⁷ tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).

[38:11]  ¹⁸ tn The MT literally says, “here he will put on the pride of your waves.” The verb has no expressed subject and so is made a passive voice. But there has to be some object for the verb “put,” such as “limit” or “boundary”; the translations “confined; halted; stopped” all serve to paraphrase such an idea. The LXX has “broken” at this point, suggesting the verse might have been confused – but “breaking the pride” of the waves would mean controlling them. Some commentators have followed this, exchanging the verb in v. 11 with this one.

[40:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the ways of God.”

[40:19]  sn This may be a reference to Gen 1:24, where the first of the animal creation was the cattle – bÿhemah (בְּהֵמָה).

[40:19]  ²⁰ tc The literal reading of the MT is “let the one who made him draw near [with] his sword.” The sword is apparently a reference to the teeth or tusks of the animal, which cut vegetation like a sword. But the idea of a weapon is easier to see, and so the people who favor the mythological background see here a reference to God’s slaying the Beast. There are again many suggestions on how to read the line. The RV probably has the safest: “He that made him has furnished him with his sword” (the sword being a reference to the sharp tusks with which he can attack).

[41:15]  ²¹ tc The MT has גַּאֲוָה (ga’avah, “his pride”), but the LXX, Aquila, and the Vulgate all read גַּוּוֹ (gavvo, “his back”). Almost all the modern English versions follow the variant reading, speaking about “his [or its] back.”

[41:15]  ²² tn Instead of צָר (tsar, “closely”) the LXX has צֹר (tsor, “stone”) to say that the seal was rock hard.