Ayub 5:22

5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine ¹ 

and need not ²  be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

Ayub 8:18

8:18 If he is uprooted ³  from his place,

then that place ⁴  will disown him, saying, ⁵ 

‘I have never seen you!’

Ayub 22:28

22:28 Whatever you decide ⁶  on a matter,

it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

Ayub 35:3

35:3 But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’ ⁷ 

and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’ ⁸ 

Ayub 41:7

41:7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons

or its head with fishing spears?

Ayub 42:2

42:2 “I know that you can do all things;

no purpose of yours can be thwarted;

[5:22]  ¹ tc The repetition of “destruction” and “famine” here has prompted some scholars to delete the whole verse. Others try to emend the text. The LXX renders them as “the unrighteous and the lawless.” But there is no difficulty in having the repetition of the words as found in the MT.

[5:22]  tn The word for “famine” is an Aramaic word found again in 30:3. The book of Job has a number of Aramaisms that are used to form an alternative parallel expression (see notes on “witness” in 16:19).

[5:22]  ² tn The negated jussive is used here to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen (GKC 322 §109.e).

[8:18]  ³ tc Ball reads אֵל (’el, “God”) instead of אִם (’im, “if”): “God destroys it” – but there is no reason for this. The idea would be implied in the context. A. B. Davidson rightly points out that who destroys it is not important, but the fact that it is destroyed.

[8:18]  tn The Hebrew has “if one destroys it”; the indefinite subject allows for a passive interpretation. The verb means “swallow” in the Qal, but in the Piel it means “to engulf; to destroy; to ruin” (2:3; 10:8). It could here be rendered “removed from its place” (the place where it is rooted); since the picture is that of complete destruction, “uprooted” would be a good rendering.

[8:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “it”; the referent (“his place” in the preceding line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  sn The place where the plant once grew will deny ever knowing it. Such is the completeness of the uprooting that there is not a trace left.

[8:18]  ⁵ tn Here “saying” is supplied in the translation.

[22:28]  ⁶ tn The word is גָּזַר (gazar, “to cut”), in the sense of deciding a matter.

[35:3]  ⁷ tn The referent of “you” is usually understood to be God.

[35:3]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text merely says, “What do I gain from my sin?” But Job has claimed that he has not sinned, and so this has to be elliptical: “more than if I had sinned” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 224). It could also be, “What do I gain without sin?”