Ayub 16:5

16:5 But ¹  I would strengthen ²  you with my words; ³ 

comfort from my lips would bring ⁴  you relief.

Ayub 34:8

34:8 He goes about ⁵  in company ⁶  with evildoers,

he goes along ⁷  with wicked men. ⁸ 

Ayub 34:36

34:36 But ⁹  Job will be tested to the end,

because his answers are like those of wicked men.

[16:5]  ¹ tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

[16:5]  ² tn The Piel of אָמַץ (’amats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”

[16:5]  ³ tn Heb “my mouth.”

[16:5]  ⁴ tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person – “I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”

[34:8]  ⁵ tn The perfect verb with the vav (ו) consecutive carries the sequence forward from the last description.

[34:8]  ⁶ tn The word חֶבְרַה (khevrah, “company”) is a hapax legomenon. But its meaning is clear enough from the connections to related words and this context as well.

[34:8]  ⁷ tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition may continue the clause with the finite verb (see GKC 351 §114.p).

[34:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “men of wickedness”; the genitive is attributive (= “wicked men”).

[34:36]  ⁹ tc The MT reads אָבִי (’avi, “my father”), which makes no sense. Some follow the KJV and emend the word to make a verb “I desire” or use the noun “my desire of it.” Others follow an Arabic word meaning “entreat, I pray” (cf. ESV, “Would that Job were tried”). The LXX and the Syriac versions have “but” and “surely” respectively. Since this is the only ms support, albeit weak, it may be the best choice. In this sense Elihu would be saying that because of Job’s attitude God will continue to test him.