Ayub 36:11-12

36:11 If they obey and serve him,

they live out their days in prosperity

and their years in pleasantness. ¹ 

36:12 But if they refuse to listen,

they pass over the river of death, ² 

and expire without knowledge.

[36:11]  ¹ tc Some commentators delete this last line for metrical considerations. But there is no textual evidence for the deletion; it is simply the attempt by some to make the meter rigid.

[36:12]  ² tn This is a similar expression to the one in Job 33:18, where the suggestion was made by many that it means crossing over the canal or river of death. Some retain the earlier interpretation of “perish by the sword” (cf. NIV).