Ayub 19:8

19:8 He has blocked ¹  my way so I cannot pass,

and has set darkness ²  over my paths.

Mazmur 82:5

82:5 They ³  neither know nor understand.

They stumble ⁴  around in the dark,

while all the foundations of the earth crumble. ⁵ 

Yeremia 4:23

4:23 “I looked at the land and saw ⁶  that it was an empty wasteland. ⁷ 

I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

[19:8]  ¹ tn The verb גָּדַר (gadar) means “to wall up; to fence up; to block.” God has blocked Job’s way so that he cannot get through. See the note on 3:23. Cf. Lam 3:7.

[19:8]  ² tn Some commentators take the word to be חָשַׁךְ (hasak), related to an Arabic word for “thorn hedge.”

[82:5]  ³ sn Having addressed the defendants, God now speaks to those who are observing the trial, referring to the gods in the third person.

[82:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “walk.” The Hitpael stem indicates iterative action, picturing these ignorant “judges” as stumbling around in the darkness.

[82:5]  ⁵ sn These gods, though responsible for justice, neglect their duty. Their self-imposed ignorance (which the psalmist compares to stumbling around in the dark) results in widespread injustice, which threatens the social order of the world (the meaning of the phrase all the foundations of the earth crumble).

[4:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “I looked at the land and behold...” This indicates the visionary character of Jeremiah’s description of the future condition of the land of Israel.

[4:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “formless and empty.” This is a case of hendiadys (two nouns joined by “and” both describe the same thing): one noun retains its full nominal force, the other functions as an adjective. The words תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ (tohu vavohu) allude to Gen 1:2, hyperbolically picturing a reversal of creation and return to the original precreation chaos.