Ayub 9:25-26

Renewed Complaint

9:25 “My days ¹  are swifter than a runner, ² 

they speed by without seeing happiness.

9:26 They glide by ³  like reed ⁴  boats,

like an eagle that swoops ⁵  down on its prey. ⁶ 

[9:25]  ¹ tn The text has “and my days” following the thoughts in the previous section.

[9:25]  ² 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.

[9:26]  ³ tn Heb “they flee.”

[9:26]  ⁴ tn The word אֵבֶה (’eveh) means “reed, papyrus,” but it is a different word than was in 8:11. What is in view here is a light boat made from bundles of papyrus that glides swiftly along the Nile (cf. Isa 18:2 where papyrus vessels and swiftness are associated).

[9:26]  ⁵ tn The verb יָטוּשׂ (yatus) is also a hapax legomenon; the Aramaic cognate means “to soar; to hover in flight.” The sentence here requires the idea of swooping down while in flight.

[9:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “food.”