Ayub 1:15

1:15 and the Sabeans ¹  swooped down ²  and carried them all away, and they killed ³  the servants with the sword! ⁴  And I – only I alone ⁵  – escaped to tell you!”

Ayub 2:5

2:5 But extend your hand and strike his bone and his flesh, ⁶  and he will no doubt ⁷  curse you to your face!”

Ayub 3:21

3:21 to ⁸  those who wait ⁹  for death that ¹⁰  does not come,

and search for it ¹¹ 

more than for hidden treasures,

Ayub 4:8

4:8 Even as I have seen, ¹²  those who plow ¹³  iniquity ¹⁴ 

and those who sow trouble reap the same. ¹⁵ 

Ayub 4:19

4:19 how much more to those who live in houses of clay, ¹⁶ 

whose foundation is in the dust,

who are crushed ¹⁷  like ¹⁸  a moth?

Ayub 6:17

6:17 When they are scorched, ¹⁹  they dry up,

when it is hot, they vanish ²⁰  from their place.

Ayub 8:12

8:12 While they are still beginning to flower ²¹ 

and not ripe for cutting, ²² 

they can wither away ²³ 

faster ²⁴  than any grass! ²⁵ 

Ayub 10:14

10:14 If I sinned, then you would watch me

and you would not acquit me of my iniquity.

Ayub 10:21

10:21 before I depart, never to return, ²⁶ 

to the land of darkness

and the deepest shadow, ²⁷ 

Ayub 12:8-9

12:8 Or speak ²⁸  to the earth ²⁹  and it will teach you,

or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

12:9 Which of all these ³⁰  does not know

that the hand of the Lord ³¹  has done ³²  this,

Ayub 14:19

14:19 as water wears away stones,

and torrents ³³  wash away the soil, ³⁴ 

so you destroy man’s hope. ³⁵ 

Ayub 14:21

14:21 If ³⁶  his sons are honored, ³⁷ 

he does not know it; ³⁸ 

if they are brought low,

he does not see ³⁹  it.

Ayub 15:19

15:19 to whom alone the land was given

when no foreigner passed among them. ⁴⁰ 

Ayub 15:28

15:28 he lived in ruined towns ⁴¹ 

and in houses where ⁴²  no one lives,

where they are ready to crumble into heaps. ⁴³ 

Ayub 23:5

23:5 I would know with what words ⁴⁴  he would answer me,

and understand what he would say to me.

Ayub 24:15

24:15 And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,

thinking, ⁴⁵  ‘No eye can see me,’

and covers his face with a mask.

Ayub 32:9

32:9 It is not the aged ⁴⁶  who are wise,

nor old men who understand what is right.

Ayub 32:12

32:12 Now I was paying you close attention, ⁴⁷ 

yet ⁴⁸  there was no one proving Job wrong, ⁴⁹ 

not one of you was answering his statements!

Ayub 35:3

35:3 But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’ ⁵⁰ 

and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’ ⁵¹ 

Ayub 35:10

35:10 But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator,

who gives songs in the night, ⁵² 

[1:15]  ¹ tn The LXX has “the spoilers spoiled them” instead of “the Sabeans swooped down.” The translators might have connected the word to שְָׁבָה (shavah, “to take captive”) rather than שְׁבָא (shÿva’, “Sabeans”), or they may have understood the name as general reference to all types of Bedouin invaders from southern Arabia (HALOT 1381 s.v. שְׁבָא 2.c).

[1:15]  sn The name “Sheba” is used to represent its inhabitants, or some of them. The verb is feminine because the name is a place name. The Sabeans were a tribe from the Arabian peninsula. They were traders mostly (6:19). The raid came from the south, suggesting that this band of Sabeans were near Edom. The time of the attack seems to be winter since the oxen were plowing.

[1:15]  ² tn The Hebrew is simply “fell” (from נָפַל, nafal). To “fall upon” something in war means to attack quickly and suddenly.

[1:15]  ³ sn Job’s servants were probably armed and gave resistance, which would be the normal case in that time. This was probably why they were “killed with the sword.”

[1:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “the edge/mouth of the sword”; see T. J. Meek, “Archaeology and a Point of Hebrew Syntax,” BASOR 122 (1951): 31-33.

[1:15]  ⁵ tn The pleonasms in the verse emphasize the emotional excitement of the messenger.

[2:5]  ⁶ sn The “bones and flesh” are idiomatic for the whole person, his physical and his psychical/spiritual being (see further H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 26-28).

[2:5]  ⁷ sn This is the same oath formula found in 1:11; see the note there.

[3:21]  ⁸ tn The verse simply begins with the participle in apposition to the expressions in the previous verse describing those who are bitter. The preposition is added from the context.

[3:21]  ⁹ tn The verb is the Piel participle of חָכָה (khakhah, “to wait for” someone; Yahweh is the object in Isa 8:17; 64:3; Ps 33:20). Here death is the supreme hope of the miserable and the suffering.

[3:21]  ¹⁰ tn The verse simply has the form אֵין (’en, “there is not”) with a pronominal suffix and a conjunction – “and there is not it” or “and it is not.” The LXX and the Vulgate add a verb to explain this form: “and obtain it not.”

[3:21]  ¹¹ tn The parallel verb is now a preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive; it therefore has the nuance of a characteristic perfect or gnomic perfect – the English present tense.

[3:21]  sn The verb חָפַר (khafar) means “to dig; to excavate.” It may have the accusative of the thing that is being sought (Exod 7:24); but here it is followed by a comparative min (מִן). The verse therefore describes the sufferers who excavate or dig the ground to find death, more than others who seek for treasure.

[4:8]  ¹² tn The perfect verb here represents the indefinite past. It has no specific sighting in mind, but refers to each time he has seen the wicked do this.

[4:8]  ¹³ sn The figure is an implied metaphor. Plowing suggests the idea of deliberately preparing (or cultivating) life for evil. This describes those who are fundamentally wicked.

[4:8]  ¹⁴ tn The LXX renders this with a plural “barren places.”

[4:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “reap it.”

[4:19]  ¹⁶ sn Those who live in houses of clay are human beings, for the human body was made of clay (Job 10:9; 33:6; and Isa 64:7). In 2 Cor 4:7 the body is an “earthen vessel” – a clay pot. The verse continues the analogy: houses have foundations, and the house of clay is founded on dust, and will return to dust (Gen 3:19; Ps 103:14). The reasoning is that if God finds defects in angels, he will surely find them in humans who are inferior to the angels because they are but dust. In fact, they are easily crushed like the moth.

[4:19]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect verb is in the plural, suggesting “they crush.” But since there is no subject expressed, the verb may be given an impersonal subject, or more simply, treated as a passive (see GKC 460 §144.g).

[4:19]  ¹⁸ tn The prepositional compound לִפְנֵי (lifne) normally has the sense of “before,” but it has been used already in 3:24 in the sense of “like.” That is the most natural meaning of this line. Otherwise, the interpretation must offer some explanation of a comparison between how quickly a moth and a human can be crushed. There are suggestions for different readings here; see for example G. R. Driver, “Linguistic and Textual Problems: Jeremiah,” JQR 28 (1937/38): 97-129 for a change to “bird’s nest”; and J. A. Rimbach, “‘Crushed before the Moth’ (Job 4:19),” JBL 100 (1981): 244-46, for a change of the verb to “they are pure before their Maker.” However, these are unnecessary emendations.

[6:17]  ¹⁹ tn The verb יְזֹרְבוּ (yÿzorÿvu, “burnt, scorched”) occurs only here. A good number of interpretations take the root as a by-form of צָרַב (tsarav) which means in the Niphal “to be burnt” (Ezek 21:3). The expression then would mean “in the time they are burnt,” a reference to the scorching heat of the summer (“when the great heat comes”) and the rivers dry up. Qimchi connected it to the Arabic “canal,” and this has led to the suggestion by E. Dhorme (Job, 88) that the root זָרַב (zarav) would mean “to flow.” In the Piel it would be “to cause to flow,” and in the passive “to be made to flow,” or “melt.” This is attractive, but it does require the understanding (or supplying) of “ice/snow” as the subject. G. R. Driver took the same meaning but translated it “when they (the streams) pour down in torrents, they (straightway) die down” (ZAW 65 [1953]: 216-17). Both interpretations capture the sense of the brooks drying up.

[6:17]  ²⁰ tn The verb נִדְעֲכוּ (nid’akhu) literally means “they are extinguished” or “they vanish” (cf. 18:5-6; 21:17). The LXX, perhaps confusing the word with the verb יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) has “and it is not known what it was.”

[8:12]  ²¹ tn The word has been traditionally translated “greenness” (so KJV, ASV), but some modern commentators argue for “in flower.” The word is found only in Song 6:11 (where it may be translated “blossoms”). From the same root is אָבִיב (’aviv, “fresh young ears of barley”). Here the word refers to the plant that is still in its early stages of flowering. It should not be translated to suggest the plant is flowering (cf. NRSV), but translating as if the plant is green (so NASB) is also problematic.

[8:12]  ²² sn The idea is that as the plant begins to flower, but before it is to be cut down, there is no sign of withering or decay in it. But if the water is withdrawn, it will wither sooner than any other herb. The point Bildad will make of this is that when people rebel against God and his grace is withheld, they perish more swiftly than the water reed.

[8:12]  ²³ tn The imperfect verb here is the modal use of potential, “can wither away” if the water is not there.

[8:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “before.”

[8:12]  ²⁵ tn The LXX interprets the line: “does not any herb wither before it has received moisture?”

[10:21]  ²⁶ sn The verbs are simple, “I go” and “I return”; but Job clearly means before he dies. A translation of “depart” comes closer to communicating this. The second verb may be given a potential imperfect translation to capture the point. The NIV offered more of an interpretive paraphrase: “before I go to the place of no return.”

[10:21]  ²⁷ tn See Job 3:5.

[12:8]  ²⁸ tn The word in the MT means “to complain,” not simply “to speak,” and one would expect animals as the object here in parallel to the last verse. So several commentators have replaced the word with words for animals or reptiles – totally different words (cf. NAB, “reptiles”). The RSV and NRSV have here the word “plants” (see 30:4, 7; and Gen 21:15).

[12:8]  ²⁹ tn A. B. Davidson (Job, 90) offers a solution by taking “earth” to mean all the lower forms of life that teem in the earth (a metonymy of subject).

[12:9]  ³⁰ tn This line could also be translated “by all these,” meaning “who is not instructed by nature?” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 93). But D. J. A. Clines points out that the verses have presented the animals as having knowledge and communicating it, so the former reading would be best (Job [WBC], 279).

[12:9]  ³¹ tc Some commentators have trouble with the name “Yahweh” in this verse, which is not the pattern in the poetic section of Job. Three mss of Kennicott and two of de Rossi have “God.” If this is so the reminiscence of Isaiah 41:20 led the copyist to introduce the tetragrammaton. But one could argue equally that the few mss with “God” were the copyists’ attempt to correct the text in accord with usage elsewhere.

[12:9]  ³² sn The expression “has done this” probably refers to everything that has been discussed, namely, the way that God in his wisdom rules over the world, but specifically it refers to the infliction of suffering in the world.

[14:19]  ³³ tn Heb “the overflowings of it”; the word סְפִיחֶיהָ (sÿfikheyha) in the text is changed by just about everyone. The idea of “its overflowings” or more properly “its aftergrowths” (Lev 25:5; 2 Kgs 19:29; etc.) does not fit here at all. Budde suggested reading סְחִפָה (sÿkhifah), which is cognate to Arabic sahifeh, “torrential rain, rainstorm” – that which sweeps away” the soil. The word סָחַף (sakhaf) in Hebrew might have a wider usage than the effects of rain.

[14:19]  ³⁴ tn Heb “[the] dust of [the] earth.”

[14:19]  ³⁵ sn The meaning for Job is that death shatters all of man’s hopes for the continuation of life.

[14:21]  ³⁶ tn The clause may be interpreted as a conditional clause, with the second clause beginning with the conjunction serving as the apodosis.

[14:21]  ³⁷ tn There is no expressed subject for the verb “they honor,” and so it may be taken as a passive.

[14:21]  ³⁸ sn Death is separation from the living, from the land of the living. And ignorance of what goes on in this life, good or bad, is part of death. See also Eccl 9:5-6, which makes a similar point.

[14:21]  ³⁹ tn The verb is בִּין (bin, “to perceive; to discern”). The parallelism between “know” and “perceive” stress the point that in death a man does not realize what is happening here in the present life.

[15:19]  ⁴⁰ sn Eliphaz probably thinks that Edom was the proverbial home of wisdom, and so the reference here would be to his own people. If, as many interpret, the biblical writer is using these accounts to put Yahwistic ideas into the discussion, then the reference would be to Canaan at the time of the fathers. At any rate, the tradition of wisdom to Eliphaz has not been polluted by foreigners, but has retained its pure and moral nature from antiquity.

[15:28]  ⁴¹ sn K&D 11:266 rightly explains that these are not cities that he, the wicked, has destroyed, but that were destroyed by a judgment on wickedness. Accordingly, Eliphaz is saying that the wicked man is willing to risk such a curse in his confidence in his prosperity (see further H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 113).

[15:28]  ⁴² tn The verbal idea serves here to modify “houses” as a relative clause; so a relative pronoun is added.

[15:28]  ⁴³ tn The Hebrew has simply “they are made ready for heaps.” The LXX translates it, “what they have prepared, let others carry away.” This would involve a complete change of the last word.

[23:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “the words he would answer me.”

[24:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “saying.”

[32:9]  ⁴⁶ tn The MT has “the great” or “the many,” meaning great in years according to the parallelism.

[32:12]  ⁴⁷ tn The verb again is from בִּין (bin, “to perceive; to understand”); in this stem it means to “to pay close attention.”

[32:12]  ⁴⁸ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) has a deictic force here, calling attention to the thought that is now presented.

[32:12]  ⁴⁹ tn The participle מוֹכִיחַ (mokhiakh) is from the verb יָכַח (yakhakh) that has been used frequently in the book of Job. It means “to argue; to contend; to debate; to prove; to dispute.” The usage of the verb shows that it can focus on the beginning of an argument, the debating itself, or the resolution of the conflict. Here the latter is obviously meant, for they did argue and contend and criticize – but could not prove Job wrong.

[35:3]  ⁵⁰ tn The referent of “you” is usually understood to be God.

[35:3]  ⁵¹ 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?”

[35:10]  ⁵² tn There have been several attempts to emend the line, none of which are particularly helpful or interesting. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 225) says, “It is a pity to rob Elihu of a poetic line when he creates one.”