Ayub 5:9

5:9 He does ¹  great and unsearchable ²  things,

marvelous things without ³  number; ⁴ 

Ayub 8:5

8:5 But ⁵  if you will look ⁶  to God,

and make your supplication ⁷  to the Almighty,

Ayub 9:10

9:10 he does great and unsearchable things, ⁸ 

and wonderful things without number.

Ayub 11:7

11:7 “Can you discover ⁹  the essence ¹⁰  of God?

Can you find out ¹¹ 

the perfection of the Almighty? ¹² 

Ayub 13:7

13:7 Will you speak wickedly ¹³  on God’s behalf? ¹⁴ 

Will you speak deceitfully for him?

Ayub 13:16

13:16 Moreover, this will become my deliverance,

for no godless person would come before him. ¹⁵ 

Ayub 19:12

19:12 His troops ¹⁶  advance together;

they throw up ¹⁷  a siege ramp against me,

and they camp around my tent.

Ayub 22:26

22:26 Surely then you will delight yourself ¹⁸  in the Almighty,

and will lift up your face toward God.

Ayub 22:30

22:30 he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, ¹⁹ 

who will escape ²⁰  through the cleanness of your hands.”

Ayub 26:9

26:9 He conceals ²¹  the face of the full moon, ²² 

shrouding it with his clouds.

Ayub 27:10

27:10 Will he find delight ²³  in the Almighty?

Will he call out to God at all times?

Ayub 27:22

27:22 It hurls itself against him without pity ²⁴ 

as he flees headlong from its power.

Ayub 34:27

34:27 because they have turned away from following him,

and have not understood ²⁵  any of his ways,

Ayub 36:15

36:15 He delivers the afflicted by ²⁶  their ²⁷  afflictions,

he reveals himself to them ²⁸  by their suffering.

Ayub 36:31

36:31 It is by these that he judges ²⁹  the nations

and supplies food in abundance.

Ayub 37:7

37:7 He causes everyone to stop working, ³⁰ 

so that all people ³¹  may know ³²  his work.

Ayub 37:15

37:15 Do you know how God commands them, ³³ 

how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud? ³⁴ 

[5:9]  ¹ tn Heb “who does.” It is common for such doxologies to begin with participles; they follow the pattern of the psalms in this style. Because of the length of the sentence in Hebrew and the conventions of English style, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:9]  ² tn The Hebrew has וְאֵין חֵקֶר (vÿ’en kheqer), literally, “and no investigation.” The use of the conjunction on the expression follows a form of the circumstantial clause construction, and so the entire expression describes the great works as “unsearchable.”

[5:9]  ³ tn The preposition in עַד־אֵין (’ad ’en, “until there was no”) is stereotypical; it conveys the sense of having no number (see Job 9:10; Ps 40:13).

[5:9]  ⁴ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 54) notes that the verse fits Eliphaz’s approach very well, for he has good understanding of the truth, but has difficulty in making the correct conclusions from it.

[8:5]  ⁵ tn “But” is supplied to show the contrast between this verse and the preceding line.

[8:5]  ⁶ tn The verb שִׁחַר (shikhar) means “to seek; to seek earnestly” (see 7:21). With the preposition אֶל (’el) the verb may carry the nuance of “to address; to have recourse to” (see E. Dhorme, Job, 114). The LXX connected it etymologically to “early” and read, “Be early in prayer to the Lord Almighty.”

[8:5]  ⁷ tn The verb תִּתְחַנָּן (titkhannan) means “to make supplication; to seek favor; to seek grace” (from חָנַן, khanan). Bildad is saying that there is only one way for Job to escape the same fate as his children – he must implore God’s mercy. Job’s speech had spoken about God’s seeking him and not finding him; but Bildad is speaking of the importance of Job’s seeking God.

[9:10]  ⁸ tn Only slight differences exist between this verse and 5:9 which employs the simple ו (vav) conjunction before אֵין (’eyn) in the first colon and omits the ו (vav) conjunction before נִפְלָאוֹת (nifla’ot, “wonderful things”) in the second colon.

[9:10]  sn There is probably great irony in Job’s using this same verse as in 5:9. But Job’s meaning here is different than Eliphaz.

[11:7]  ⁹ tn The verb is מָצָא (matsa’, “to find; to discover”). Here it should be given the nuance of potential imperfect. And, in the rhetorical question it is affirming that Job cannot find out the essence of God.

[11:7]  ¹⁰ tn The word means “search; investigation”; but it here means what is discovered in the search (so a metonymy of cause for the effect).

[11:7]  ¹¹ tn The same verb is now found in the second half of the verse, with a slightly different sense – “attain, reach.” A. R. Ceresko notes this as an example of antanaclasis (repetition of a word with a lightly different sense – “find/attain”). See “The Function of Antanaclasis in Hebrew Poetry,” CBQ 44 (1982): 560-61.

[11:7]  ¹² tn The abstract תַּכְלִית (takhlit) from כָּלָה (kalah, “to be complete; to be perfect”) may mean the end or limit of something, perhaps to perfection. So the NIV has “can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” The LXX has: “have you come to the end of that which the Almighty has made?”

[13:7]  ¹³ tn The construction literally reads “speak iniquity.” The form functions adverbially. The noun עַוְלָה (’avlah) means “perversion; injustice; iniquity; falsehood.” Here it is parallel to רְמִיָּה (rÿmiyyah, “fraud; deceit; treachery”).

[13:7]  ¹⁴ tn The expression “for God” means “in favor of God” or “on God’s behalf.” Job is amazed that they will say false things on God’s behalf.

[13:16]  ¹⁵ sn The fact that Job will dare to come before God and make his case is evidence – to Job at least – that he is innocent.

[19:12]  ¹⁶ sn Now the metaphor changes again. Since God thinks of Job as an enemy, he attacks with his troops, builds the siege ramp, and camps around him to besiege him. All the power and all the forces are at God’s disposal in his attack of Job.

[19:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they throw up their way against me.” The verb סָלַל (salal) means “to build a siege ramp” or “to throw up a ramp”; here the object is “their way.” The latter could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “as their way.” But as the object it fits just as well. Some delete the middle clause; the LXX has “Together his troops fell upon me, they beset my ways with an ambush.”

[22:26]  ¹⁸ tc This is the same verb as in Ps 37:4. G. R. Driver suggests the word comes from another root that means “abandon oneself to, depend on” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 84).

[22:30]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew has אִי־נָקִי (’i naqi), which could be taken as “island of the innocent” (so Ibn-Ezra), or “him that is not innocent” (so Rashi). But some have changed אִי (’i) to אִישׁ (’ish, “the innocent man”). Others differ: A. Guillaume links אִי (’i) to Arabic ‘ayya “whosoever,” and so leaves the text alone. M. Dahood secures the same idea from Ugaritic, but reads it אֵי (’e).

[22:30]  ²⁰ tc The MT has “he will escape [or be delivered].” Theodotion has the second person, “you will be delivered.”

[26:9]  ²¹ tn The verb means “to hold; to seize,” here in the sense of shutting up, enshrouding, or concealing.

[26:9]  ²² tc The MT has כִסֵּה (khisseh), which is a problematic vocalization. Most certainly כֵּסֶה (keseh), alternative for כֶּסֶא (kese’, “full moon”) is intended here. The MT is close to the form of “throne,” which would be כִּסֵּא (kisse’, cf. NLT “he shrouds his throne with his clouds”). But here God is covering the face of the moon by hiding it behind clouds.

[27:10]  ²³ tn See the note on 22:26 where the same verb is employed.

[27:22]  ²⁴ tn The verb is once again functioning in an adverbial sense. The text has “it hurls itself against him and shows no mercy.”

[34:27]  ²⁵ tn The verb הִשְׂכִּילוּ (hiskilu) means “to be prudent; to be wise.” From this is derived the idea of “be wise in understanding God’s will,” and “be successful because of prudence” – i.e., successful with God.

[36:15]  ²⁶ tn The preposition בּ (bet) in these two lines is not location but instrument, not “in” but “by means of.” The affliction and the oppression serve as a warning for sin, and therefore a means of salvation.

[36:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “his.”

[36:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he uncovers their ear.”

[36:31]  ²⁹ tn The verb is יָדִין (yadin, “he judges”). Houbigant proposedיָזוּן (yazun, “he nourishes”). This has found wide acceptance among commentators (cf. NAB). G. R. Driver retained the MT but gave a meaning “enriches” to the verb (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 88ff.).

[37:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “by the hand of every man he seals.” This line is intended to mean with the heavy rains God suspends all agricultural activity.

[37:7]  ³¹ tc This reading involves a change in the text, for in MT “men” is in the construct. It would be translated, “all men whom he made” (i.e., all men of his making”). This is the translation followed by the NIV and NRSV. Olshausen suggested that the word should have been אֲנָשִׁים (’anashim) with the final ם (mem) being lost to haplography.

[37:7]  ³² tn D. W. Thomas suggested a meaning of “rest” for the verb, based on Arabic. He then reads אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) for man, and supplies a ם (mem) to “his work” to get “that every man might rest from his work [in the fields].”

[37:15]  ³³ tn The verb is בְּשׂוּם (bÿsum, from שִׂים [sim, “set”]), so the idea is how God lays [or sets] [a command] for them. The suffix is proleptic, to be clarified in the second colon.

[37:15]  ³⁴ tn Dhorme reads this “and how his stormcloud makes lightning to flash forth?”