Ayub 2:4

2:4 But ¹  Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for ²  skin! ³  Indeed, a man will give up ⁴  all that he has to save his life! ⁵ 

Ayub 2:7

Job’s Integrity in Suffering

2:7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted ⁶  Job with a malignant ulcer ⁷  from the sole of his feet to the top of his head. ⁸ 

Ayub 4:7

4:7 Call to mind now: ⁹ 

Who, ¹⁰  being innocent, ever perished? ¹¹ 

And where were upright people ¹²  ever destroyed? ¹³ 

Ayub 4:18

4:18 If ¹⁴  God ¹⁵  puts no trust in ¹⁶  his servants ¹⁷ 

and attributes ¹⁸  folly ¹⁹  to his angels,

Ayub 8:11

8:11 Can the papyrus plant grow tall ²⁰  where there is no marsh?

Can reeds flourish ²¹  without water?

Ayub 9:16

9:16 If I summoned him, and he answered me, ²² 

I would not believe ²³ 

that he would be listening to my voice –

Ayub 9:20

9:20 Although I am innocent, ²⁴ 

my mouth ²⁵  would condemn me; ²⁶ 

although I am blameless,

it would declare me perverse. ²⁷ 

Ayub 11:3

11:3 Will your idle talk ²⁸  reduce people to silence, ²⁹ 

and will no one rebuke ³⁰  you when you mock? ³¹ 

Ayub 11:8

11:8 It is higher ³²  than the heavens – what can you do?

It is deeper than Sheol ³³  – what can you know?

Ayub 12:7

Knowledge of God’s Wisdom ³⁴ 

12:7 “But now, ask the animals and they ³⁵  will teach you,

or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.

Ayub 12:24

12:24 He deprives the leaders of the earth ³⁶ 

of their understanding; ³⁷ 

he makes them wander

in a trackless desert waste. ³⁸ 

Ayub 13:20

13:20 Only in two things spare me, ³⁹  O God, ⁴⁰ 

and then I will not hide from your face:

Ayub 14:3

14:3 Do you fix your eye ⁴¹  on such a one? ⁴² 

And do you bring me ⁴³  before you for judgment?

Ayub 16:8

16:8 You have seized me, ⁴⁴ 

and it ⁴⁵  has become a witness;

my leanness ⁴⁶  has risen up against me

and testifies against me.

Ayub 17:8

17:8 Upright men are appalled ⁴⁷  at this;

the innocent man is troubled ⁴⁸  with the godless.

Ayub 19:10

19:10 He tears me down ⁴⁹  on every side until I perish; ⁵⁰ 

he uproots ⁵¹  my hope ⁵²  like one uproots ⁵³  a tree.

Ayub 22:21

22:21 “Reconcile yourself ⁵⁴  with God, ⁵⁵ 

and be at peace ⁵⁶  with him;

in this way your prosperity will be good.

Ayub 22:23

22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; ⁵⁷ 

if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent,

Ayub 23:3

23:3 O that I knew ⁵⁸  where I might find him, ⁵⁹ 

that I could come ⁶⁰  to his place of residence! ⁶¹ 

Ayub 23:12

23:12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion. ⁶² 

Ayub 24:18

24:18 ⁶³ “You say, ⁶⁴  ‘He is foam ⁶⁵  on the face of the waters; ⁶⁶ 

their portion of the land is cursed

so that no one goes to their vineyard. ⁶⁷ 

Ayub 31:7

31:7 If my footsteps have strayed from the way,

if my heart has gone after my eyes, ⁶⁸ 

or if anything ⁶⁹  has defiled my hands,

Ayub 32:8

32:8 But it is a spirit in people,

the breath ⁷⁰  of the Almighty,

that makes them understand.

Ayub 32:21

32:21 I will not show partiality to anyone, ⁷¹ 

nor will I confer a title ⁷²  on any man.

Ayub 34:28

34:28 so that they caused ⁷³  the cry of the poor

to come before him,

so that he hears ⁷⁴  the cry of the needy.

Ayub 36:18

36:18 Be careful that ⁷⁵  no one entices you with riches;

do not let a large bribe ⁷⁶  turn you aside.

Ayub 37:12-13

37:12 The clouds ⁷⁷  go round in circles,

wheeling about according to his plans,

to carry out ⁷⁸  all that he commands them

over the face of the whole inhabited world.

37:13 Whether it is for punishment ⁷⁹  for his land,

or whether it is for mercy,

he causes it to find its mark. ⁸⁰ 

Ayub 37:24

37:24 Therefore people fear him,

for he does not regard all the wise in heart.” ⁸¹ 

[2:4]  ¹ tn The form is the simply preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive. However, the speech of Satan is in contrast to what God said, even though in narrative sequence.

[2:4]  ² tn The preposition בְּעַד (bÿ’ad) designates interest or advantage arising from the idea of protection for (“for the benefit of”); see IBHS 201-2 §11.2.7a.

[2:4]  ³ sn The meaning of the expression is obscure. It may come from the idea of sacrificing an animal or another person in order to go free, suggesting the expression that one type of skin that was worth less was surrendered to save the more important life. Satan would then be saying that Job was willing for others to die for him to go free, but not himself. “Skin” would be a synecdoche of the part for the whole (like the idiomatic use of skin today for a person in a narrow escape). The second clause indicates that God has not even scratched the surface because Job has been protected. His “skin” might have been scratched, but not his flesh and bone! But if his life had been put in danger, he would have responded differently.

[2:4]  ⁴ tc The LXX has “make full payment, pay a full price” (LSJ 522 s.v. ἐκτίνω).

[2:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “Indeed, all that a man has he will give for his life.”

[2:7]  ⁶ tn The verb is נָכָה (nakhah, “struck, smote”); it can be rendered in this context as “afflicted.”

[2:7]  ⁷ sn The general consensus is that Job was afflicted with a leprosy known as elephantiasis, named because the rough skin and the swollen limbs are animal-like. The Hebrew word שְׁחִין (shÿkhin, “boil”) can indicate an ulcer as well. Leprosy begins with such, but so do other diseases. Leprosy normally begins in the limbs and spreads, but Job was afflicted everywhere at once. It may be some other disease also characterized by such a malignant ulcer. D. J. A. Clines has a thorough bibliography on all the possible diseases linked to this description (Job [WBC], 48). See also HALOT 1460 s.v. שְׁחִין.

[2:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “crown.”

[4:7]  ⁹ sn Eliphaz will put his thesis forward first negatively and then positively (vv. 8ff). He will argue that the suffering of the righteous is disciplinary and not for their destruction. He next will argue that it is the wicked who deserve judgment.

[4:7]  ¹⁰ tn The use of the independent personal pronoun is emphatic, almost as an enclitic to emphasize interrogatives: “who indeed….” (GKC 442 §136.c).

[4:7]  ¹¹ tn The perfect verb in this line has the nuance of the past tense to express the unique past – the uniqueness of the action is expressed with “ever” (“who has ever perished”).

[4:7]  ¹² tn The adjective is used here substantivally. Without the article the word stresses the meaning of “uprightness.” Job will use “innocent” and “upright” together in 17:8.

[4:7]  ¹³ tn The Niphal means “to be hidden” (see the Piel in 6:10; 15:18; and 27:11); the connotation here is “destroyed” or “annihilated.”

[4:18]  ¹⁴ tn The particle הֵן (hen) introduces a conditional clause here, although the older translations used “behold.” The clause forms the foundation for the point made in the next verse, an argument by analogy – if this be true, then how much more/less the other.

[4:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:18]  ¹⁶ tn The verb יַאֲמִין (ya’amin), a Hiphil imperfect from אָמַן (’aman) followed by the preposition בּ (bet), means “trust in.”

[4:18]  ¹⁷ sn The servants here must be angels in view of the parallelism. The Targum to Job interpreted them to be the prophets. In the book we have already read about the “sons of God” who take their stand as servants before the Lord (1:6; 2:1). And Ps 104:4 identifies the angels as servants (using שָׁרַת, sharat).

[4:18]  ¹⁸ tn The verb שִׂים (sim, “set”) with the preposition בּ (bet) has the sense of “impute” or “attribute something to someone.”

[4:18]  ¹⁹ tn The word תָּהֳלָה (toholah) is a hapax legomenon, and so has created some confusion in the various translations. It seems to mean “error; folly.” The word is translated “perverseness” in the LXX; but Symmachus connects it with the word for “madness.” “Some commentators have repointed the word to תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) making the line read: “he finds no [cause for] praise in his angels.” Others suggest תִּפְלָה (tiflah, “offensiveness, silliness”) a bigger change; this matches the idiom in Job 24:12. But if the etymology of the word is הָלַל (halal, “to be mad”) then that change is not necessary. The feminine noun “madness” still leaves the meaning of the line a little uncertain: “[if] he does not impute madness to his angels.” The point of the verse is that God finds flaws in his angels and does not put his trust in them.

[8:11]  ²⁰ sn H. H. Rowley observes the use of the words for plants that grow in Egypt and suspects that Bildad either knew Egypt or knew that much wisdom came from Egypt. The first word refers to papyrus, which grows to a height of six feet (so the verb means “to grow tall; to grow high”). The second word refers to the reed grass that grows on the banks of the river (see Gen 41:2, 18).

[8:11]  ²¹ tn The two verbs, גָּאָה (ga’ah) and שָׂגָה (sagah), have almost the same meanings of “flourish, grow, become tall.”

[9:16]  ²² sn The idea of “answer” in this line is that of responding to the summons, i.e., appearing in court. This preterite and the perfect before it have the nuance of hypothetical perfects since they are in conditional clauses (GKC 330 §111.x). D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 219) translates literally, “If I should call and he should answer.”

[9:16]  ²³ tn The Hiphil imperfect in the apodosis of this conditional sentence expresses what would (not) happen if God answered the summons.

[9:20]  ²⁴ tn The idea is the same as that expressed in v. 15, although here the imperfect verb is used and not the perfect. Once again with the concessive clause (“although I am right”) Job knows that in a legal dispute he would be confused and would end up arguing against himself.

[9:20]  ²⁵ tn Some commentators wish to change this to “his mouth,” meaning God’s response to Job’s complaints. But the MT is far more expressive, and “my mouth” fits the context in which Job is saying that even though he is innocent, if he spoke in a court setting in the presence of God he would be overwhelmed, confused, and no doubt condemn himself.

[9:20]  ²⁶ tn The verb has the declarative sense in the Hiphil, “to declare guilty [or wicked]” or “to condemn.”

[9:20]  ²⁷ tn The verb עָקַשׁ (’aqash) means “to be twisted; to be tortuous.” The Piel has a meaning “to bend; to twist” (Mic 3:9) and “to pervert” (Jer 59:8). The form here is classified as a Hiphil, with the softening of the vowel i (see GKC 147 §53.n). It would then also be a declarative use of the Hiphil.

[11:3]  ²⁸ tn The word means “chatter, pratings, boastings” (see Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30).

[11:3]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ tn The construction shows the participle to be in the circumstantial clause: “will you mock – and [with] no one rebuking.”

[11:8]  ³² tn The Hebrew says “heights of heaven, what can you do?” A. B. Davidson suggested this was an exclamation and should be left that way. But most commentators will repoint גָּבְהֵי שָׁמַיִם (govhe shamayim, “heights of heaven”) to גְּבֹהָה מִשָּׁמַיִם (gÿvohah mishamayim, “higher than the heavens”) to match the parallel expression. The LXX may have rearranged the text: “heaven is high.”

[11:8]  ³³ tn Or “deeper than hell.” The word “Sheol” always poses problems for translation. Here because it is the opposite of heaven in this merism, “hell” would be a legitimate translation. It refers to the realm of the dead – the grave and beyond. The language is excessive; but the point is that God’s wisdom is immeasurable – and Job is powerless before it.

[12:7]  ³⁴ sn As J. E. Hartley (Job [NICOT], 216) observes, in this section Job argues that respected tradition “must not be accepted uncritically.”

[12:7]  ³⁵ tn The singular verb is used here with the plural collective subject (see GKC 464 §145.k).

[12:24]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the heads of the people of the earth.”

[12:24]  ³⁷ tn Heb “heart.”

[12:24]  ³⁸ tn The text has בְּתֹהוּ לֹא־דָרֶךְ (bÿtohu lo’ darekh): “in waste – no way,” or “in a wasteland [where there is] no way,” thus, “trackless” (see the discussion of negative attributes using לֹא [lo’] in GKC 482 §152.u).

[13:20]  ³⁹ tn The line reads “do not do two things.”

[13:20]  ⁴⁰ tn “God” is supplied to the verse, for the address is now to him. Job wishes to enter into dispute with God, but he first appeals that God not take advantage of him with his awesome power.

[14:3]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “open the eye on,” an idiom meaning to prepare to judge someone.

[14:3]  ⁴² tn The verse opens with אַף־עַל־זֶה (’af-’al-zeh), meaning “even on such a one!” It is an exclamation of surprise.

[14:3]  ⁴³ tn The text clearly has “me” as the accusative; but many wish to emend it to say “him” (אֹתוֹ, ’oto). But D. J. A. Clines rightly rejects this in view of the way Job is written, often moving back and forth from his own tragedy and others’ tragedies (Job [WBC], 283).

[16:8]  ⁴⁴ tn The verb is קָמַט (qamat) which is used only here and in 22:16; it means “to seize; to grasp.” By God’s seizing him, Job means his afflictions.

[16:8]  ⁴⁵ tn The subject is “my calamity.”

[16:8]  ⁴⁶ tn The verb is used in Ps 109:24 to mean “to be lean”; and so “leanness” is accepted here for the noun by most. Otherwise the word is “lie, deceit.” Accordingly, some take it here as “my slanderer” or “my liar” (gives evidence against me).

[17:8]  ⁴⁷ tn This verb שָׁמַם (shamam, “appalled”) is the one found in Isa 52:14, translated there “astonished.”

[17:8]  ⁴⁸ tn The verb means “to rouse oneself to excitement.” It naturally means “to be agitated; to be stirred up.”

[19:10]  ⁴⁹ tn The metaphors are changed now to a demolished building and an uprooted tree. The verb is נָתַץ (natats, “to demolish”). Since it is Job himself who is the object, the meaning cannot be “demolish” (as of a house so that an inhabitant has to leave), but more of the attack or the battering.

[19:10]  ⁵⁰ tn The text has הָלַךְ (halakh, “to leave”). But in view of Job 14:20, “perish” or “depart” would be a better meaning here.

[19:10]  ⁵¹ tn The verb נָסַע (nasa’) means “to travel” generally, but specifically it means “to pull up the tent pegs and move.” The Hiphil here means “uproot.” It is used of a vine in Ps 80:9. The idea here does not contradict Job 14:7, for there the tree still had roots and so could grow.

[19:10]  ⁵² tn The NEB has “my tent rope,” but that seems too contrived here. It is absurd to pull up a tent-rope like a tree.

[19:10]  ⁵³ tn Heb “like a tree.” The words “one uproots” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[22:21]  ⁵⁴ tn The verb סָכַן (sakhan) meant “to be useful; to be profitable” in v. 2. Now, in the Hiphil it means “to be accustomed to” or “to have experience with.” Joined by the preposition “with” it means “to be reconciled with him.” W. B. Bishai cites Arabic and Ugaritic words to support a meaning “acquiesce” (“Notes on hskn in Job 22:21,” JNES 20 [1961]: 258-59).

[22:21]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:21]  ⁵⁶ tn The two imperatives in this verse imply a relationship of succession and not consequence.

[22:23]  ⁵⁷ tc The MT has “you will be built up” (תִּבָּנֶה, tibbaneh). But the LXX has “humble yourself” (reading תְּעַנֶּה [tÿ’anneh] apparently). Many commentators read this; Dahood has “you will be healed.”

[23:3]  ⁵⁸ tn The optative here is again expressed with the verbal clause, “who will give [that] I knew….”

[23:3]  ⁵⁹ tn The form in Hebrew is וְאֶמְצָאֵהוּ (vÿ’emtsa’ehu), simply “and I will find him.” But in the optative clause this verb is subordinated to the preceding verb: “O that I knew where [and] I might find him.” It is not unusual to have the perfect verb followed by the imperfect in such coordinate clauses (see GKC 386 §120.e). This could also be translated making the second verb a complementary infinitive: “knew how to find him.”

[23:3]  sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 159) quotes Strahan without reference: “It is the chief distinction between Job and his friends that he desires to meet God and they do not.”

[23:3]  ⁶⁰ tn This verb also depends on מִי־יִתֵּן (mi-yitten, “who will give”) of the first part, forming an additional clause in the wish formula.

[23:3]  ⁶¹ tn Or “his place of judgment.” The word is from כּוּן (kun, “to prepare; to arrange”) in the Polel and the Hiphil conjugations. The noun refers to a prepared place, a throne, a seat, or a sanctuary. A. B. Davidson (Job, 169) and others take the word to mean “judgment seat” or “tribunal” in this context.

[23:12]  ⁶² tc The form in the MT (מֵחֻקִּי, mekhuqqi) means “more than my portion” or “more than my law.” An expanded meaning results in “more than my necessary food” (see Ps 119:11; cf. KJV, NASB, ESV). HALOT 346 s.v. חֹק 1 indicates that חֹק (khoq) has the meaning of “portion” and is here a reference to “what is appointed for me.” The LXX and the Latin versions, along with many commentators, have בְּחֵקִי (bÿkheqi, “in my bosom”).

[24:18]  ⁶³ tc Many commentators find vv. 18-24 difficult on the lips of Job, and so identify this unit as a misplaced part of the speech of Zophar. They describe the enormities of the wicked. But a case can also be made for retaining it in this section. Gordis thinks it could be taken as a quotation by Job of his friends’ ideas.

[24:18]  ⁶⁴ tn The verb “say” is not in the text; it is supplied here to indicate that this is a different section.

[24:18]  ⁶⁵ tn Or “is swift.”

[24:18]  ⁶⁶ sn The wicked person is described here as a spray or foam upon the waters, built up in the agitation of the waters but dying away swiftly.

[24:18]  ⁶⁷ tn The text reads, “he does not turn by the way of the vineyards.” This means that since the land is cursed, he/one does not go there. Bickell emended “the way of the vineyards” to “the treader of the vineyard” (see RSV, NRSV). This would mean that “no wine-presser would turn towards” their vineyards.

[31:7]  ⁶⁸ sn The meaning is “been led by what my eyes see.”

[31:7]  ⁶⁹ tc The word מֻאוּם (mu’um) could be taken in one of two ways. One reading is to represent מוּם (mum, “blemish,” see the Masorah); the other is for מְאוּמָה (mÿ’umah, “anything,” see the versions and the Kethib). Either reading fits the passage.

[32:8]  ⁷⁰ tn This is the word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah, “breath”); according to Gen 2:7 it was breathed into Adam to make him a living person (“soul”). With that divine impartation came this spiritual understanding. Some commentators identify the רוּחַ (ruakh) in the first line as the Spirit of God; this “breath” would then be the human spirit. Whether Elihu knew that much, however, is hard to prove.

[32:21]  ⁷¹ tn The idiom is “I will not lift up the face of a man.” Elihu is going to show no favoritism, but speak his mind.

[32:21]  ⁷² tn The verb means “to confer an honorary title; to give a mark of distinction,” but it is often translated with the verb “flatter.” Elihu will not take sides, he will not use pompous titles.

[34:28]  ⁷³ tn The verse begins with the infinitive construct of בּוֹא (bo’, “go”), showing the result of their impious actions.

[34:28]  ⁷⁴ tn The verb here is an imperfect; the clause is circumstantial to the preceding clause, showing either the result, or the concomitant action.

[36:18]  ⁷⁵ tn The first expression is idiomatic: the text says, “because wrath lest it entice you” – thus, beware.

[36:18]  ⁷⁶ tn The word is כֹּפֶר (kofer), often translated “ransom,” but frequently in the sense of a bribe.

[37:12]  ⁷⁷ tn The words “the clouds” are supplied from v. 11; the sentence itself actually starts: “and it goes round,” referring to the cloud.

[37:12]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “that it may do.”

[37:13]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.

[37:13]  ⁸⁰ tn This is interpretive; Heb “he makes find it.” The lightning could be what is intended here, for it finds its mark. But R. Gordis (Job, 429) suggests man is the subject – let him find what it is for, i.e., the fate appropriate for him.

[37:24]  ⁸¹ sn The phrase “wise of heart” was used in Job 9:4 in a negative sense.