Ayub 8:18

8:18 If he is uprooted ¹  from his place,

then that place ²  will disown him, saying, ³ 

‘I have never seen you!’

Ayub 9:25

Renewed Complaint

9:25 “My days ⁴  are swifter than a runner, ⁵ 

they speed by without seeing happiness.

Ayub 11:11

11:11 For he ⁶  knows deceitful ⁷  men;

when he sees evil, will he not ⁸  consider it? ⁹ 

Ayub 21:20

21:20 Let his own eyes see his destruction; ¹⁰ 

let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.

Ayub 22:12

22:12 “Is not God on high in heaven? ¹¹ 

And see ¹²  the lofty stars, ¹³  how high they are!

Ayub 31:21

31:21 if I have raised my hand ¹⁴  to vote against the orphan,

when I saw my support in the court, ¹⁵ 

Ayub 33:28

33:28 He redeemed my life ¹⁶ 

from going down to the place of corruption,

and my life sees the light!’

[8:18]  ¹ tc Ball reads אֵל (’el, “God”) instead of אִם (’im, “if”): “God destroys it” – but there is no reason for this. The idea would be implied in the context. A. B. Davidson rightly points out that who destroys it is not important, but the fact that it is destroyed.

[8:18]  tn The Hebrew has “if one destroys it”; the indefinite subject allows for a passive interpretation. The verb means “swallow” in the Qal, but in the Piel it means “to engulf; to destroy; to ruin” (2:3; 10:8). It could here be rendered “removed from its place” (the place where it is rooted); since the picture is that of complete destruction, “uprooted” would be a good rendering.

[8:18]  ² tn Heb “it”; the referent (“his place” in the preceding line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  sn The place where the plant once grew will deny ever knowing it. Such is the completeness of the uprooting that there is not a trace left.

[8:18]  ³ tn Here “saying” is supplied in the translation.

[9:25]  ⁴ tn The text has “and my days” following the thoughts in the previous section.

[9:25]  ⁵ sn Job returns to the thought of the brevity of his life (7:6). But now the figure is the swift runner instead of the weaver’s shuttle.

[11:11]  ⁶ tn The pronoun is emphatic implying that Zophar indicates that God indeed knows Job’s sin even if Job does not.

[11:11]  ⁷ tn The expression is literally “men of emptiness” (see Ps 26:4). These are false men, for שָׁוְא (shavÿ’) can mean “vain, empty, or false, deceitful.”

[11:11]  ⁸ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 162) reads the prepositional phrase “to him” rather than the negative; he translates the line as “he sees iniquity and observes it closely.”

[11:11]  ⁹ tn Some commentators do not take this last clause as a question, but simply as a statement, namely, that when God sees evil he does not need to ponder or consider it – he knows it instantly. In that case it would be a circumstantial clause: “without considering it.” D. J. A. Clines lists quite an array of other interpretations for the line (Job [WBC], 255); for example, “and he is himself unobserved”; taking the word לֹא (lo’) as an emphatic; taking the negative as a noun, “considering them as nothing”; and others that change the verb to “they do not understand it.” But none of these are compelling; they offer no major improvement.

[21:20]  ¹⁰ tc This word occurs only here. The word כִּיד (kid) was connected to Arabic kaid, “fraud, trickery,” or “warfare.” The word is emended by the commentators to other ideas, such as פִּיד (pid, “[his] calamity”). Dahood and others alter it to “cup”; Wright to “weapons.” A. F. L. Beeston argues for a meaning “condemnation” for the MT form, and so makes no change in the text (Mus 67 [1954]: 315-16). If the connection to Arabic “warfare” is sustained, or if such explanations of the existing MT can be sustained, then the text need not be emended. In any case, the sense of the line is clear.

[22:12]  ¹¹ tn This reading preserves the text as it is. The nouns “high” and “heavens” would then be taken as adverbial accusatives of place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[22:12]  ¹² tn The parallel passage in Isa 40:26-27, as well as the context here, shows that the imperative is to be retained here. The LXX has “he sees.”

[22:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “head of the stars.”

[31:21]  ¹⁴ tn The expression “raised my hand” refers to a threatening manner or gesture in the court rather than a threat of physical violence in the street. Thus the words “to vote” are supplied in the translation to indicate the setting.

[31:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gate,” referring to the city gate where judicial decisions were rendered in the culture of the time. The translation uses the word “court” to indicate this to the modern reader, who might not associate a city gate complex with judicial functions.

[33:28]  ¹⁶ sn See note on “him” in v. 24.