Ayub 10:11

10:11 You clothed ¹  me with skin and flesh

and knit me together ²  with bones and sinews.

Ayub 13:1

Job Pleads His Cause to God ³ 

13:1 “Indeed, my eyes have seen all this, ⁴ 

my ears have heard and understood it.

Ayub 16:15

16:15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, ⁵ 

and buried ⁶  my horn ⁷  in the dust;

Ayub 19:13

Job’s Forsaken State

19:13 “He has put my relatives ⁸  far from me;

my acquaintances only ⁹  turn away from me.

Ayub 22:9

22:9 you sent widows away empty-handed,

and the arms ¹⁰  of the orphans you crushed. ¹¹ 

Ayub 23:16

23:16 Indeed, God has made my heart faint; ¹² 

the Almighty has terrified me.

Ayub 27:2

27:2 “As surely as God lives, ¹³  who has denied me justice, ¹⁴ 

the Almighty, who has made my life bitter ¹⁵  –

Ayub 30:19

30:19 He has flung me into the mud,

and I have come to resemble dust and ashes.

Ayub 31:16

31:16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, ¹⁶ 

or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Ayub 34:31

Job Is Foolish to Rebel

34:31 “Has anyone said to God,

‘I have endured chastisement, ¹⁷ 

but I will not act wrongly any more.

Ayub 38:16

38:16 Have you gone to the springs that fill the sea, ¹⁸ 

or walked about in the recesses of the deep?

[10:11]  ¹ tn The skin and flesh form the exterior of the body and so the image of “clothing” is appropriate. Once again the verb is the prefixed conjugation, expressing what God did.

[10:11]  ² tn This verb is found only here (related nouns are common) and in the parallel passage of Ps 139:13. The word סָכַךְ (sakhakh), here a Poel prefixed conjugation (preterite), means “to knit together.” The implied comparison is that the bones and sinews form the tapestry of the person (compare other images of weaving the life).

[13:1]  ³ sn Chapter 13 records Job’s charges against his friends for the way they used their knowledge (1-5), his warning that God would find out their insincerity (6-12), and his pleading of his cause to God in which he begs for God to remove his hand from him and that he would not terrify him with his majesty and that he would reveal the sins that caused such great suffering (13-28).

[13:1]  ⁴ tn Hebrew has כֹּל (kol, “all”); there is no reason to add anything to the text to gain a meaning “all this.”

[16:15]  ⁵ sn The language is hyperbolic; Job is saying that the sackcloth he has put on in his lamentable state is now stuck to his skin as if he had stitched it into the skin. It is now a habitual garment that he never takes off.

[16:15]  ⁶ tn The Poel עֹלַלְתִּי (’olalti) from עָלַל (’alal, “to enter”) has here the meaning of “to thrust in.” The activity is the opposite of “raising high the horn,” a picture of dignity and victory.

[16:15]  ⁷ tn There is no English term that captures exactly what “horn” is meant to do. Drawn from the animal world, the image was meant to convey strength and pride and victory. Some modern commentators have made other proposals for the line. Svi Rin suggested from Ugaritic that the verb be translated “lower” or “dip” (“Ugaritic – Old Testament Affinities,” BZ 7 [1963]: 22-33).

[19:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “brothers.”

[19:13]  ⁹ tn The LXX apparently took אַךְ־זָרוּ (’akh, “even, only,” and zaru, “they turn away”) together as if it was the verb אַכְזָרוּ (’akhzaru, “they have become cruel,” as in 20:21). But the grammar in the line would be difficult with this. Moreover, the word is most likely from זוּר (zur, “to turn away”). See L. A. Snijders, “The Meaning of zar in the Old Testament,” OTS 10 (1964): 1-154 (especially p. 9).

[22:9]  ¹⁰ tn The “arms of the orphans” are their helps or rights on which they depended for support.

[22:9]  ¹¹ tn The verb in the text is Pual: יְדֻכָּא (yÿdukka’, “was [were] crushed”). GKC 388 §121.b would explain “arms” as the complement of a passive imperfect. But if that is too difficult, then a change to Piel imperfect, second person, will solve the difficulty. In its favor is the parallelism, the use of the second person all throughout the section, and the reading in all the versions. The versions may have simply assumed the easier reading, however.

[23:16]  ¹² tn The verb הֵרַךְ (kherakh) means “to be tender”; in the Piel it would have the meaning “to soften.” The word is used in parallel constructions with the verbs for “fear.” The implication is that God has made Job fearful.

[27:2]  ¹³ tn The expression חַי־אֵל (khay-’el) is the oath formula: “as God lives.” In other words, the speaker is staking God’s life on the credibility of the words. It is like saying, “As truly as God is alive.”

[27:2]  ¹⁴ tn “My judgment” would here, as before, be “my right.” God has taken this away by afflicting Job unjustly (A. B. Davidson, Job, 187).

[27:2]  ¹⁵ tn The verb הֵמַר (hemar) is the Hiphil perfect from מָרַר (marar, “to be bitter”) and hence, “to make bitter.” The object of the verb is “my soul,” which is better translated as “me” or “my life.”

[31:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “kept the poor from [their] desire.”

[34:31]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text has only “I lift up” or “I bear” (= I endure). The reading “I have been led astray” is obtained by changing the vowels to read a passive. If the MT is retained, an object has to be supplied, such as “chastisement” (so RSV, NASB) or “punishment” (NRSV). If not, then a different reading would be followed (e.g., “I was misguided” [NAB]; “I am guilty” [NIV]).

[38:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the springs of the sea.” The words “that fill” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the phrase.