Ayub 7:13

7:13 If ¹  I say, ²  “My bed will comfort me, ³ 

my couch will ease ⁴  my complaint,”

Ayub 10:8

Contradictions in God’s Dealings

10:8 “Your hands have shaped ⁵  me and made me,

but ⁶  now you destroy me completely. ⁷ 

Ayub 16:5

16:5 But ⁸  I would strengthen ⁹  you with my words; ¹⁰ 

comfort from my lips would bring ¹¹  you relief.

Ayub 20:18

20:18 He gives back the ill-gotten gain ¹² 

without assimilating it; ¹³ 

he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. ¹⁴ 

Ayub 22:28

22:28 Whatever you decide ¹⁵  on a matter,

it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

Ayub 29:6

29:6 when my steps ¹⁶  were bathed ¹⁷  with butter ¹⁸ 

and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil! ¹⁹ 

Ayub 29:16

29:16 I was a father ²⁰  to the needy,

and I investigated the case of the person I did not know;

Ayub 37:7

37:7 He causes everyone to stop working, ²¹ 

so that all people ²²  may know ²³  his work.

Ayub 41:3

41:3 Will it make numerous supplications to you, ²⁴ 

will it speak to you with tender words? ²⁵ 

[7:13]  ¹ tn The particle כִּי (ki) could also be translated “when,” but “if” might work better to introduce the conditional clause and to parallel the earlier reasoning of Job in v. 4 (using אִם, ’im). See GKC 336-37 §112.hh.

[7:13]  ² tn The verb literally means “say,” but here the connotation must be “think” or “say to oneself” – “when I think my bed….”

[7:13]  ³ sn Sleep is the recourse of the troubled and unhappy. Here “bed” is metonymical for sleep. Job expects sleep to give him the comfort that his friends have not.

[7:13]  ⁴ tn The verb means “to lift up; to take away” (נָשָׂא, nasa’). When followed by the preposition בּ (bet) with the complement of the verb, the idea is “to bear a part; to take a share,” or “to share in the burden” (cf. Num 11:7). The idea then would be that the sleep would ease the complaint. It would not end the illness, but the complaining for a while.

[10:8]  ⁵ tn The root עָצַב (’atsav) is linked by some to an Arabic word meaning “to cut out, hew.” The derived word עֲצַבִּים (’atsabbim) means “idols.” Whatever the precise meaning, the idea is that God formed or gave shape to mankind in creation.

[10:8]  ⁶ tn The verb in this part is a preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive. However, here it has merely an external connection with the preceding perfects, so that in reality it presents an antithesis (see GKC 327 §111.e).

[10:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “together round about and you destroy me.” The second half of this verse is very difficult. Most commentators follow the LXX and connect the first two words with the second colon as the MT accents indicate (NJPS, “then destroyed every part of me”), rather than with the first colon (“and made me complete,” J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 185). Instead of “together” some read “after.” Others see in סָבִיב (saviv) not so much an adjectival use but a verbal or adverbial use: “you turn and destroy” or “you destroy utterly (all around).” This makes more sense than “turn.” In addition, the verb form in the line is the preterite with vav consecutive; this may be another example of the transposition of the copula (see 4:6). For yet another option (“You have engulfed me about altogether”), see R. Fuller, “Exodus 21:22: The Miscarriage Interpretation and the Personhood of the Fetus,” JETS 37 (1994): 178.

[16:5]  ⁸ tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

[16:5]  ⁹ tn The Piel of אָמַץ (’amats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”

[16:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my mouth.”

[16:5]  ¹¹ tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person – “I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”

[20:18]  ¹² tn The idea is the fruit of his evil work. The word יָגָע (yaga’) occurs only here; it must mean ill-gotten gains. The verb is in 10:3.

[20:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he does not swallow.” In the context this means “consume” for his own pleasure and prosperity. The verbal clause is here taken adverbially.

[20:18]  ¹⁴ sn The expression is “according to the wealth of his exchange.” This means he cannot enjoy whatever he gained in his business deals. Some mss have בּ (bet) preposition, making the translation easier; but this is evidence of a scribal correction.

[22:28]  ¹⁵ tn The word is גָּזַר (gazar, “to cut”), in the sense of deciding a matter.

[29:6]  ¹⁶ tn The word is a hapax legomenon, but the meaning is clear enough. It refers to the walking, the steps, or even the paths where one walks. It is figurative of his course of life.

[29:6]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew word means “to wash; to bathe”; here it is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause, “my steps” being the genitive: “in the washing of my steps in butter.”

[29:6]  ¹⁸ tn Again, as in Job 21:17, “curds.”

[29:6]  ¹⁹ tn The MT reads literally, “and the rock was poured out [passive participle] for me as streams of oil.” There are some who delete the word “rock” to shorten the line because it seems out of place. But olive trees thrive in rocky soil, and the oil presses are cut into the rock; it is possible that by metonymy all this is intended here (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 186).

[29:16]  ²⁰ sn The word “father” does not have a wide range of meanings in the OT. But there are places that it is metaphorical, especially in a legal setting like this where the poor need aid.

[37:7]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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].”

[41:3]  ²⁴ tn The line asks if the animal, when caught and tied and under control, would keep on begging for mercy. Absolutely not. It is not in the nature of the beast. The construction uses יַרְבֶּה (yarbeh, “[will] he multiply” [= “make numerous”]), with the object, “supplications” i.e., prayers for mercy.

[41:3]  ²⁵ tn The rhetorical question again affirms the opposite. The poem is portraying the creature as powerful and insensitive.