Ayub 24:5

24:5 Like ¹  wild donkeys in the desert

they ²  go out to their labor, ³ 

seeking diligently for food;

the wasteland provides ⁴  food for them

and for their children.

Ayub 34:19

34:19 who shows no partiality to princes,

and does not take note of ⁵  the rich more than the poor,

because all of them are the work of his hands?

[24:5]  ¹ tc The verse begins with הֵן (hen); but the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac all have “like.” R. Gordis (Job, 265) takes הֵן (hen) as a pronoun “they” and supplies the comparative. The sense of the verse is clear in either case.

[24:5]  ² tn That is, “the poor.”

[24:5]  ³ tc The MT has “in the working/labor of them,” or “when they labor.” Some commentators simply omit these words. Dhorme retains them and moves them to go with עֲרָבָה (’aravah), which he takes to mean “evening”; this gives a clause, “although they work until the evening.” Then, with many others, he takes לוֹ (lo) to be a negative and finishes the verse with “no food for the children.” Others make fewer changes in the text, and as a result do not come out with such a hopeless picture – there is some food found. The point is that they spend their time foraging for food, and they find just enough to survive, but it is a day-long activity. For Job, this shows how unrighteous the administration of the world actually is.

[24:5]  ⁴ tn The verb is not included in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation.

[34:19]  ⁵ tn The verb means “to give recognition; to take note of” and in this passage with לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”) it means to show preferential treatment to the rich before the poor. The word for “rich” here is an unusual word, found parallel to “noble” (Isa 32:2). P. Joüon thinks it is a term of social distinction (Bib 18 [1937]: 207-8).