Ayub 7:11

Job Remonstrates with God

7:11 “Therefore, ¹  I will not refrain my mouth; ² 

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

I will complain ³  in the bitterness of my soul.

Ayub 10:1

An Appeal for Revelation

10:1 “I ⁴  am weary ⁵  of my life;

I will complain without restraint; ⁶ 

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Ayub 21:25

21:25 And another man ⁷  dies in bitterness of soul, ⁸ 

never having tasted ⁹  anything good.

[7:11]  ¹ tn “Also I” has been rendered frequently as “therefore,” introducing a conclusion. BDB 168-69 s.v. גַמּ lists Ps 52:7 [5] as a parallel, but it also could be explained as an adversative.

[7:11]  ² sn “Mouth” here is metonymical for what he says – he will not withhold his complaints. Peake notes that in this section Job comes very close to doing what Satan said he would do. If he does not curse God to his face, he certainly does cast off restraints to his lament. But here Job excuses himself in advance of the lament.

[7:11]  ³ tn The verb is not limited to mental musing; it is used for pouring out a complaint or a lament (see S. Mowinckel, “The Verb si^ah and the Nouns si^ah, siha,” ST 15 [1961]: 1-10).

[10:1]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew has נַפְשִׁי (nafshi), usually rendered “my soul.”

[10:1]  ⁵ tn The verb is pointed like a Qal form but is originally a Niphal from קוּט (qut). Some wish to connect the word to Akkadian cognates for a meaning “I am in anguish”; but the meaning “I am weary” fits the passage well.

[10:1]  ⁶ tn The verb עָזַב (’azav) means “to abandon.” It may have an extended meaning of “to let go” or “to let slip.” But the expression “abandon to myself” means to abandon all restraint and give free course to the complaint.

[21:25]  ⁷ tn The expression “this (v. 23)…and this” (v. 25) means “one…the other.”

[21:25]  ⁸ tn The text literally has “and this [man] dies in soul of bitterness.” Some simply reverse it and translate “in the bitterness of soul.” The genitive “bitterness” may be an attribute adjective, “with a bitter soul.”

[21:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “eaten what is good.” It means he died without having enjoyed the good life.