Ayub 13:17

13:17 Listen carefully ¹  to my words;

let your ears be attentive to my explanation. ² 

Ayub 21:2

21:2 “Listen carefully ³  to my words;

let this be ⁴  the consolation you offer me. ⁵ 

Ayub 29:21-22

Job’s Reputation

29:21 “People ⁶  listened to me and waited silently; ⁷ 

they kept silent for my advice.

29:22 After I had spoken, they did not respond;

my words fell on them drop by drop. ⁸ 

Ayub 33:1

Elihu Invites Job’s Attention

33:1 “But now, O Job, listen to my words,

and hear ⁹  everything I have to say! ¹⁰ 

Ayub 34:2

34:2 “Listen to my words, you wise men;

hear ¹¹  me, you learned men. ¹² 

[13:17]  ¹ tn The infinitive absolute intensifies the imperative, which serves here with the force of an immediate call to attention. In accordance with GKC 342 §113.n, the construction could be translated, “Keep listening” (so ESV).

[13:17]  ² tn The verb has to be supplied in this line, for the MT has “and my explanation in your ears.” In the verse, both “word” and “explanation” are Aramaisms (the latter appearing in Dan 5:12 for the explanation of riddles).

[21:2]  ³ tn The intensity of the appeal is again expressed by the imperative followed by the infinitive absolute for emphasis. See note on “listen carefully” in 13:17.

[21:2]  ⁴ tc The LXX negates the sentence, “that I may not have this consolation from you.”

[21:2]  ⁵ tn The word תַּנְחוּמֹתֵיכֶם (tankhumotekhem) is literally “your consolations,” the suffix being a subjective genitive. The friends had thought they were offering Job consolation (Job 14:11), but the consolation he wants from them is that they listen to him and respond accordingly.

[29:21]  ⁶ tn “People” is supplied; the verb is plural.

[29:21]  ⁷ tc The last verb of the first half, “wait, hope,” and the first verb in the second colon, “be silent,” are usually reversed by the commentators (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 86). But if “wait” has the idea of being silent as they wait for him to speak, then the second line would say they were silent for the reason of his advice. The reading of the MT is not impossible.

[29:22]  ⁸ tn The verb simply means “dropped,” but this means like the rain. So the picture of his words falling on them like the gentle rain, drop by drop, is what is intended (see Deut 32:2).

[33:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “give ear,” the Hiphil denominative verb from “ear.”

[33:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hear all my words.”

[34:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “give ear to me.”

[34:2]  ¹² tn The Hebrew word means “the men who know,” and without a complement it means “to possess knowledge.”