Ayub 16:21-22

16:21 and ¹  he contends with God on behalf of man

as a man ²  pleads ³  for his friend.

16:22 For the years that lie ahead are few, ⁴ 

and then I will go on the way of no return. ⁵ 

[16:21]  ¹ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 240) alters this slightly to read “Would that” or “Ah! if only.”

[16:21]  ² tn This is the simple translation of the expression “son of man” in Job. But some commentators wish to change the word בֵּן (ben, “son”) to בֵּין (ben, “between”). It would then be “[as] between a man and [for] his friend.” Even though a few mss have this reading, it is to be rejected. But see J. Barr, “Some Notes on ‘ben’ in Classical Hebrew,” JSS 23 (1978): 1-22.

[16:21]  ³ tn The verb is supplied from the parallel clause.

[16:22]  ⁴ tn The expression is “years of number,” meaning that they can be counted, and so “the years are few.” The verb simply means “comes” or “lie ahead.”

[16:22]  ⁵ tn The verbal expression “I will not return” serves here to modify the journey that he will take. It is “the road [of] I will not return.”