Ayub 24:10-11

24:10 They go about naked, without clothing,

and go hungry while they carry the sheaves. ¹ 

24:11 They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees; ² 

they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty. ³ 

Ayub 31:13-15

31:13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants

or my female servants

when they disputed ⁴  with me,

31:14 then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; ⁵ 

when he intervenes, ⁶ 

how will I respond to him?

31:15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make them? ⁷ 

Did not the same one form us in the womb?

[24:10]  ¹ sn The point should not be missed – amidst abundant harvests, carrying sheaves about, they are still going hungry.

[24:11]  ² tc The Hebrew term is שׁוּרֹתָם (shurotam), which may be translated “terraces” or “olive rows.” But that would not be the proper place to have a press to press the olives and make oil. E. Dhorme (Job, 360-61) proposes on the analogy of an Arabic word that this should be read as “millstones” (which he would also write in the dual). But the argument does not come from a clean cognate, but from a possible development of words. The meaning of “olive rows” works well enough.

[24:11]  ³ tn The final verb, a preterite with the ו (vav) consecutive, is here interpreted as a circumstantial clause.

[31:13]  ⁴ tn This construction is an adverbial clause using the temporal preposition, the infinitive from רִיב (riv, “contend”), and the suffix which is the subjective genitive.

[31:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “arises.” The LXX reads “takes vengeance,” an interpretation that is somewhat correct but unnecessary. The verb “to rise” would mean “to confront in judgment.”

[31:14]  ⁶ tn The verb פָקַד (paqad) means “to visit,” but with God as the subject it means any divine intervention for blessing or cursing, anything God does that changes a person’s life. Here it is “visit to judge.”

[31:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “him,” but the plural pronoun has been used in the translation to indicate that the referent is the servants mentioned in v. 13 (since the previous “him” in v. 14 refers to God).