Ayub 9:19

9:19 If it is a matter of strength, ¹ 

most certainly ²  he is the strong one!

And if it is a matter of justice,

he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’ ³ 

Ayub 12:6

12:6 But ⁴  the tents of robbers are peaceful,

and those who provoke God are confident ⁵  –

who carry their god in their hands. ⁶ 

Ayub 14:20

14:20 You overpower him once for all, ⁷ 

and he departs;

you change ⁸  his appearance

and send him away.

Ayub 16:8

16:8 You have seized me, ⁹ 

and it ¹⁰  has become a witness;

my leanness ¹¹  has risen up against me

and testifies against me.

Ayub 37:19

37:19 Tell us what we should ¹²  say to him.

We cannot prepare a case ¹³ 

because of the darkness.

[9:19]  ¹ tn The MT has only “if of strength.”

[9:19]  ² tn “Most certainly” translates the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh).

[9:19]  ³ tn The question could be taken as “who will summon me?” (see Jer 49:19 and 50:44). This does not make immediate sense. Some have simply changed the suffix to “who will summon him.” If the MT is retained, then supplying something like “he will say” could make the last clause fit the whole passage. Another option is to take it as “Who will reveal it to me?” – i.e., Job could be questioning his friends’ qualifications for being God’s emissaries to bring God’s charges against him (cf. KJV, NKJV; and see 10:2 where Job uses the same verb in the Hiphil to request that God reveal what his sin has been that has led to his suffering).

[9:19]  sn Job is saying that whether it is a trial of strength or an appeal to justice, he is unable to go against God.

[12:6]  ⁴ tn The verse gives the other side of the coin now, the fact that the wicked prosper.

[12:6]  ⁵ tn The plural is used to suggest the supreme degree of arrogant confidence (E. Dhorme, Job, 171).

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

[14:20]  ⁷ tn D. W. Thomas took נֵצַח (netsakh) here to have a superlative meaning: “You prevail utterly against him” (“Use of netsach as a superlative in Hebrew,” JSS 1 [1956]: 107). Death would be God’s complete victory over him.

[14:20]  ⁸ tn The subject of the participle is most likely God in this context. Some take it to be man, saying “his face changes.” Others emend the text to read an imperfect verb, but this is not necessary.

[16:8]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The subject is “my calamity.”

[16:8]  ¹¹ 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).

[37:19]  ¹² tn The imperfect verb here carries the obligatory nuance, “what we should say?”

[37:19]  ¹³ tn The verb means “to arrange; to set in order.” From the context the idea of a legal case is included.