Ayub 3:12

3:12 Why did the knees welcome me, ¹ 

and why were there ²  two breasts ³ 

that I might nurse at them? ⁴ 

Ayub 6:19

6:19 The caravans of Tema ⁵  looked intently ⁶  for these streams; ⁷ 

the traveling merchants ⁸  of Sheba hoped for them.

Ayub 14:19

14:19 as water wears away stones,

and torrents ⁹  wash away the soil, ¹⁰ 

so you destroy man’s hope. ¹¹ 

Ayub 17:3

17:3 Make then my pledge ¹²  with you.

Who else will put up security for me? ¹³ 

Ayub 38:5

38:5 Who set its measurements – if ¹⁴  you know –

or who stretched a measuring line across it?

[3:12]  ¹ tn The verb קִדְּמוּנִי (qiddÿmuni) is the Piel from קָדַם (qadam), meaning “to come before; to meet; to prevent.” Here it has the idea of going to meet or welcome someone. In spite of various attempts to connect the idea to the father or to adoption rites, it probably simply means the mother’s knees that welcome the child for nursing. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 42.

[3:12]  sn The sufferer is looking back over all the possible chances of death, including when he was brought forth, placed on the knees or lap, and breastfed.

[3:12]  ² tn There is no verb in the second half of the verse. The idea simply has, “and why breasts that I might suck?”

[3:12]  ³ sn The commentaries mention the parallel construction in the writings of Ashurbanipal: “You were weak, Ashurbanipal, you who sat on the knees of the goddess, queen of Nineveh; of the four teats that were placed near to your mouth, you sucked two and you hid your face in the others” (M. Streck, Assurbanipal [VAB], 348).

[3:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “that I might suckle.” The verb is the Qal imperfect of יָנַק (yanaq, “suckle”). Here the clause is subordinated to the preceding question and so function as a final imperfect.

[6:19]  ⁵ sn Tema is the area of the oasis SE of the head of the Gulf of Aqaba; Sheba is in South Arabia. In Job 1:15 the Sabeans were raiders; here they are traveling merchants.

[6:19]  ⁶ tn The verb נָבַט (navat) means “to gaze intently”; the looking is more intentional, more of a close scrutiny. It forms a fine parallel to the idea of “hope” in the second part. The NIV translates the second verb קִוּוּ (qivvu) as “look in hope.” In the previous verbs the imperfect form was used, expressing what generally happens (so the English present tense was used). Here the verb usage changes to the perfect form. It seems that Job is narrating a typical incident now – they looked, but were disappointed.

[6:19]  ⁷ tn The words “for these streams” are supplied from context to complete the thought and make the connection with the preceding context.

[6:19]  ⁸ tn In Ps 68:24 this word has the meaning of “processions”; here that procession is of traveling merchants forming convoys or caravans.

[14:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “the overflowings of it”; the word סְפִיחֶיהָ (sÿfikheyha) in the text is changed by just about everyone. The idea of “its overflowings” or more properly “its aftergrowths” (Lev 25:5; 2 Kgs 19:29; etc.) does not fit here at all. Budde suggested reading סְחִפָה (sÿkhifah), which is cognate to Arabic sahifeh, “torrential rain, rainstorm” – that which sweeps away” the soil. The word סָחַף (sakhaf) in Hebrew might have a wider usage than the effects of rain.

[14:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[the] dust of [the] earth.”

[14:19]  ¹¹ sn The meaning for Job is that death shatters all of man’s hopes for the continuation of life.

[17:3]  ¹² tn The MT has two imperatives: “Lay down, pledge me, with me.” Most commentators think that the second imperative should be a noun, and take it to say, “Lay my pledge with/beside you.” A. B. Davidson (Job, 126) suggests that the first verb means “give a pledge,” and so the two similar verbs would be emphatic: “Give a pledge, be my surety.” Other than such a change (which would involve changing the vowels) one would have to interpret similarly by seeing the imperatives as a kind of hendiadys, with the main emphasis being on the second imperative, “make a pledge.”

[17:3]  ¹³ sn The idiom is “to strike the hand.” Here the wording is a little different, “Who is he that will strike himself into my hand?”

[38:5]  ¹⁴ tn The particle כּ (ki) is taken here for a conditional clause, “if you know” (see GKC 498 §159.dd). Others take it as “surely” with a biting irony.