Ayub 14:21

14:21 If ¹  his sons are honored, ² 

he does not know it; ³ 

if they are brought low,

he does not see ⁴  it.

Ayub 21:29

21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?

Do you not recognize their accounts ⁵  –

Ayub 27:11

27:11 I will teach you ⁶  about the power ⁷  of God;

What is on the Almighty’s mind ⁸  I will not conceal.

Ayub 38:3-4

38:3 Get ready for a difficult task ⁹  like a man;

I will question you

and you will inform me!

God’s questions to Job

38:4 “Where were you

when I laid the foundation ¹⁰  of the earth?

Tell me, ¹¹  if you possess understanding!

Ayub 38:36

38:36 Who has put wisdom in the heart, ¹² 

or has imparted understanding to the mind?

Ayub 42:4

42:4 You said, ¹³ 

‘Pay attention, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you will answer me.’

[14:21]  ¹ tn The clause may be interpreted as a conditional clause, with the second clause beginning with the conjunction serving as the apodosis.

[14:21]  ² tn There is no expressed subject for the verb “they honor,” and so it may be taken as a passive.

[14:21]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[21:29]  ⁵ tc The LXX reads, “Ask those who go by the way, and do not disown their signs.”

[21:29]  tn The idea is that the merchants who travel widely will talk about what they have seen and heard. These travelers give a different account of the wicked; they tell how he is spared. E. Dhorme (Job, 322) interprets “signs” concretely: “Their custom was to write their names and their thoughts somewhere at the main cross-roads. The main roads of Sinai are dotted with these scribblings made by such passers of a day.”

[27:11]  ⁶ tn The object suffix is in the plural, which gives some support to the idea Job is speaking to them.

[27:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “the hand of.”

[27:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “[what is] with Shaddai.”

[38:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “Gird up your loins.” This idiom basically describes taking the hem of the long garment or robe and pulling it up between the legs and tucking it into the front of the belt, allowing easier and freer movement of the legs. “Girding the loins” meant the preparation for some difficult task (Jer 1:17), or for battle (Isa 5:27), or for running (1 Kgs 18:46). C. Gordon suggests that it includes belt-wrestling, a form of hand-to-hand mortal combat (“Belt-wrestling in the Bible World,” HUCA 23 [1950/51]: 136).

[38:4]  ¹⁰ tn The construction is the infinitive construct in a temporal clause, using the preposition and the subjective genitive suffix.

[38:4]  ¹¹ tn The verb is the imperative; it has no object “me” in the text.

[38:36]  ¹² tn This verse is difficult because of the two words, טֻחוֹת (tukhot, rendered here “heart”) and שֶׂכְוִי (sekhvi, here “mind”). They have been translated a number of ways: “meteor” and “celestial appearance”; the stars “Procyon” and “Sirius”; “inward part” and “mind”; even as birds, “ibis” and “cock.” One expects them to have something to do with nature – clouds and the like. The RSV accordingly took them to mean “meteor” (from a verb “to wander”) and “a celestial appearance.” But these meanings are not well-attested.

[42:4]  ¹³ tn This phrase, “you said,” is supplied in the translation to introduce the recollection of God’s words.