Ayub 12:8

12:8 Or speak ¹  to the earth ²  and it will teach you,

or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

Ayub 33:33

33:33 If not, you listen to me;

be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Ayub 35:2

35:2 “Do you think this to be ³  just:

when ⁴  you say, ‘My right before God.’ ⁵ 

Ayub 38:19

38:19 “In what direction ⁶  does light reside,

and darkness, where is its place,

[12:8]  ¹ 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]  ² 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).

[35:2]  ³ tn The line could be read as “do you reckon this for justice? Here “to be” is understood.

[35:2]  ⁴ tn The word “when” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[35:2]  ⁵ tn The brief line could be interpreted in a number of ways. The MT simply has “my right from God.” It could be “I am right before God,” “I am more just/right than God” (identifying the preposition as a comparative min (מִן); cf. J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 463), “I will be right before God,” or “My just cause against God.”

[38:19]  ⁶ tn The interrogative with דֶרֶךְ (derekh) means “in what road” or “in what direction.”