Ayub 19:27

19:27 whom I will see for myself, ¹ 

and whom my own eyes will behold,

and not another. ² 

My heart ³  grows faint within me. ⁴ 

Mazmur 119:131

119:131 I open my mouth and pant,

because I long ⁵  for your commands.

Yoel 1:20

1:20 Even the wild animals ⁶  cry out to you; ⁷ 

for the river beds ⁸  have dried up;

fire has destroyed ⁹  the grassy pastures. ¹⁰ 

[19:27]  ¹ tn The emphasis is on “I” and “for myself.” No other will be seeing this vindication, but Job himself will see it. Of that he is confident. Some take לִי (li, “for myself”) to mean favorable to me, or on my side (see A. B. Davidson, Job, 143). But Job is expecting (not just wishing for) a face-to-face encounter in the vindication.

[19:27]  ² tn Hitzig offered another interpretation that is somewhat forced. The “other” (זָר, zar) or “stranger” would refer to Job. He would see God, not as an enemy, but in peace.

[19:27]  ³ tn Heb “kidneys,” a poetic expression for the seat of emotions.

[19:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “fail/grow faint in my breast.” Job is saying that he has expended all his energy with his longing for vindication.

[119:131]  ⁵ tn The verb occurs only here in the OT.

[1:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “beasts of the field.”

[1:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “long for you.” Animals of course do not have religious sensibilities as such; they do not in any literal sense long for Yahweh. Rather, the language here is figurative (metonymy of cause for effect). The animals long for food and water (so BDB 788 s.v. עָרַג), the ultimate source of which is Yahweh.

[1:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “sources of water.”

[1:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “consumed.”

[1:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the pastures of the wilderness.”