Ayub 21:15

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that ¹  we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray ²  to him?’ ³ 

Ayub 21:20

21:20 Let his own eyes see his destruction; ⁴ 

let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.

Ayub 34:10-12

God is Not Unjust

34:10 “Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. ⁵ 

Far be it from ⁶  God to do wickedness,

from the Almighty to do evil.

34:11 For he repays a person for his work, ⁷ 

and according to the conduct of a person,

he causes the consequences to find him. ⁸ 

34:12 Indeed, in truth, God does not act wickedly,

and the Almighty does not pervert justice.

Ayub 35:13

35:13 Surely it is an empty cry ⁹  – God does not hear it;

the Almighty does not take notice of it.

Ayub 40:2

40:2 “Will the one who contends ¹⁰  with the Almighty correct him? ¹¹ 

Let the person who accuses God give him an answer!”

[21:15]  ¹ tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”

[21:15]  ² 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]  ³ tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.

[21:20]  ⁴ tc This word occurs only here. The word כִּיד (kid) was connected to Arabic kaid, “fraud, trickery,” or “warfare.” The word is emended by the commentators to other ideas, such as פִּיד (pid, “[his] calamity”). Dahood and others alter it to “cup”; Wright to “weapons.” A. F. L. Beeston argues for a meaning “condemnation” for the MT form, and so makes no change in the text (Mus 67 [1954]: 315-16). If the connection to Arabic “warfare” is sustained, or if such explanations of the existing MT can be sustained, then the text need not be emended. In any case, the sense of the line is clear.

[34:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “men of heart.” The “heart” is used for the capacity to understand and make the proper choice. It is often translated “mind.”

[34:10]  ⁶ tn For this construction, see Job 27:5.

[34:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “for the work of man, he [= God] repays him.”

[34:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “he causes it to find him.” The text means that God will cause a man to find (or receive) the consequences of his actions.

[35:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “surely – vanity, he does not hear.” The cry is an empty cry, not a prayer to God. Dhorme translates it, “It is a pure waste of words.”

[40:2]  ¹⁰ tn The form רֹב (rov) is the infinitive absolute from the verb רִיב (riv, “contend”). Dhorme wishes to repoint it to make it the active participle, the “one who argues with the Almighty.”

[40:2]  ¹¹ tn The verb יִסּוֹר (yissor) is found only here, but comes from a common root meaning “to correct; to reprove.” Several suggestions have been made to improve on the MT. Dhorme read it יָסוּר (yasur) in the sense of “to turn aside; to yield.” Ehrlich read this emendation as “to come to an end.” But the MT could be read as “to correct; to instruct.”