Ayub 37:19-22
Konteks37:19 Tell us what we should 1 say to him.
We cannot prepare a case 2
because of the darkness.
37:20 Should he be informed that I want 3 to speak?
If a man speaks, surely he would be swallowed up!
37:21 But now, the sun 4 cannot be looked at 5 –
it is bright in the skies –
after a wind passed and swept the clouds away. 6
37:22 From the north he comes in golden splendor; 7
around God is awesome majesty.
[37:19] 1 tn The imperfect verb here carries the obligatory nuance, “what we should say?”
[37:19] 2 tn The verb means “to arrange; to set in order.” From the context the idea of a legal case is included.
[37:20] 3 tn This imperfect works well as a desiderative imperfect.
[37:21] 4 tn The light here must refer to the sun in the skies that had been veiled by the storm. Then, when the winds blew the clouds away, it could not be looked at because it was so dazzling. Elihu’s analogy will be that God is the same – in his glory one cannot look at him or challenge him.
[37:21] 5 tn The verb has an indefinite subject, and so should be a passive here.
[37:21] 6 tn Heb “and cleaned them.” The referent is the clouds (v. 18), which has been supplied in the translation for clarity. There is another way of reading this verse: the word translated “bright” means “dark; obscured” in Syriac. In this interpretation the first line would mean that they could not see the sun, because it was darkened by the clouds, but then the wind came and blew the clouds away. Dhorme, Gray, and several others take it this way, as does the NAB.
[37:22] 7 tn The MT has “out of the north comes gold.” Left in that sense the line seems irrelevant. The translation “golden splendor” (with RV, RSV, NRSV, NIV) depends upon the context of theophany. Others suggest “golden rays” (Dhorme), the aurora borealis (Graetz, Gray), or some mythological allusion (Pope), such as Baal’s palace. Golden rays or splendor is what is intended, although the reference is not to a natural phenomenon – it is something that would suggest the glory of God.
