Ayub 11:3

11:3 Will your idle talk ¹  reduce people to silence, ² 

and will no one rebuke ³  you when you mock? ⁴ 

Ayub 18:4

18:4 You who tear yourself ⁵  to pieces in your anger,

will the earth be abandoned ⁶  for your sake?

Or will a rock be moved from its place? ⁷ 

Ayub 21:15

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that ⁸  we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray ⁹  to him?’ ¹⁰ 

Ayub 21:19

21:19 You may say, ¹¹  ‘God stores up a man’s ¹²  punishment for his children!’ ¹³ 

Instead let him repay ¹⁴  the man himself ¹⁵ 

so that ¹⁶  he may know it!

Ayub 28:28

28:28 And he said to mankind,

‘The fear of the Lord ¹⁷  – that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” ¹⁸ 

Ayub 31:23

31:23 For the calamity from God was a terror to me, ¹⁹ 

and by reason of his majesty ²⁰  I was powerless.

Ayub 38:11

38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come ²¹ 

and no farther, ²² 

here your proud waves will be confined’? ²³ 

[11:3]  ¹ tn The word means “chatter, pratings, boastings” (see Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30).

[11:3]  ² tn The verb חָרַשׁ (kharash) in the Hiphil means “to silence” (41:4); here it functions in a causative sense, “reduce to silence.”

[11:3]  ³ tn The form מַכְלִם (makhlim, “humiliating, mocking”) is the Hiphil participle. The verb כָּלַם (kalam) has the meaning “cover with shame, insult” (Job 20:3).

[11:3]  ⁴ tn The construction shows the participle to be in the circumstantial clause: “will you mock – and [with] no one rebuking.”

[18:4]  ⁵ tn The construction uses the participle and then 3rd person suffixes: “O tearer of himself in his anger.” But it is clearly referring to Job, and so the direct second person pronouns should be used to make that clear. The LXX is an approximation or paraphrase here: “Anger has possessed you, for what if you should die – would under heaven be desolate, or shall the mountains be overthrown from their foundations?”

[18:4]  ⁶ tn There is a good deal of study on this word in this passage, and in Job in general. M. Dahood suggested a root עָזַב (’azav) meaning “to arrange; to rearrange” (“The Root ’zb II in Job,” JBL 78 [1959]: 303-9). But this is refuted by H. G. M. Williamson, “A Reconsideration of ’zb II in Biblical Hebrew,” ZAW 97 (1985): 74-85.

[18:4]  ⁷ sn Bildad is asking if Job thinks the whole moral order of the world should be interrupted for his sake, that he may escape the punishment for wickedness.

[21:15]  ⁸ tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”

[21:15]  ⁹ tn The verb פָּגַע (paga’) means “to encounter; to meet,” but also “to meet with request; to intercede; to interpose.” The latter meaning is a derived meaning by usage.

[21:15]  ¹⁰ tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.

[21:19]  ¹¹ tn These words are supplied. The verse records an idea that Job suspected they might have, namely, that if the wicked die well God will make their children pay for the sins (see Job 5:4; 20:10; as well as Exod 20:5).

[21:19]  ¹² tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (’ono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”

[21:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “his sons.”

[21:19]  ¹⁴ tn The verb שָׁלַם (shalam) in the Piel has the meaning of restoring things to their normal, making whole, and so reward, repay (if for sins), or recompense in general.

[21:19]  ¹⁵ tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”

[21:19]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect verb after the jussive carries the meaning of a purpose clause, and so taken as a final imperfect: “in order that he may know [or realize].”

[28:28]  ¹⁷ tc A number of medieval Hebrew manuscripts have YHWH (“Lord”); BHS has אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”). As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 383) points out, this is the only occurrence of אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) in the book of Job, creating doubt for retaining it. Normally, YHWH is avoided in the book. “Fear of” (יִרְאַת, yir’at) is followed by שַׁדַּי (shadday, “Almighty”) in 6:14 – the only other occurrence of this term for “fear” in construct with a divine title.

[28:28]  ¹⁸ tc Many commentators delete this verse because (1) many read the divine name Yahweh (translated “Lord”) here, and (2) it is not consistent with the argument that precedes it. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 185) points out, there is inconsistency in this reasoning, for many of the critics have already said that this chapter is an interpolation. Following that line of thought, then, one would not expect it to conform to the rest of the book in this matter of the divine name. And concerning the second difficulty, the point of this chapter is that wisdom is beyond human comprehension and control. It belongs to God alone. So the conclusion that the fear of the Lord is wisdom is the necessary conclusion. Rowley concludes: “It is a pity to rob the poem of its climax and turn it into the expression of unrelieved agnosticism.”

[31:23]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX has “For the terror of God restrained me.” Several commentators changed it to “came upon me.” Driver had “The fear of God was burdensome.” I. Eitan suggested “The terror of God was mighty upon me” (“Two unknown verbs: etymological studies,” JBL 42 [1923]: 22-28). But the MT makes clear sense as it stands.

[31:23]  ²⁰ tn The form is וּמִשְּׂאֵתוֹ (umissÿ’eto); the preposition is causal. The form, from the verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to raise; to lift high”), refers to God’s exalted person, his majesty (see Job 13:11).

[38:11]  ²¹ tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.

[38:11]  ²² tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).

[38:11]  ²³ tn The MT literally says, “here he will put on the pride of your waves.” The verb has no expressed subject and so is made a passive voice. But there has to be some object for the verb “put,” such as “limit” or “boundary”; the translations “confined; halted; stopped” all serve to paraphrase such an idea. The LXX has “broken” at this point, suggesting the verse might have been confused – but “breaking the pride” of the waves would mean controlling them. Some commentators have followed this, exchanging the verb in v. 11 with this one.