Ayub 3:16

3:16 Or why ¹  was ²  I not buried ³ 

like a stillborn infant, ⁴ 

like infants ⁵  who have never seen the light? ⁶ 

Ayub 4:3

4:3 Look, ⁷  you have instructed ⁸  many;

you have strengthened ⁹  feeble hands. ¹⁰ 

Ayub 5:11

5:11 he sets ¹¹  the lowly ¹²  on high,

that those who mourn ¹³  are raised ¹⁴  to safety.

Ayub 9:30

9:30 If I wash myself with snow water, ¹⁵ 

and make my hands clean with lye, ¹⁶ 

Ayub 11:12

11:12 But an empty man will become wise,

when a wild donkey’s colt is born a human being. ¹⁷ 

Ayub 20:12

20:12 “If ¹⁸  evil is sweet in his mouth

and he hides it under his tongue, ¹⁹ 

Ayub 23:9

23:9 In the north ²⁰  when he is at work, ²¹ 

I do not see him; ²² 

when he turns ²³  to the south,

I see no trace of him.

Ayub 28:11

28:11 He has searched ²⁴  the sources ²⁵  of the rivers

and what was hidden he has brought into the light.

Ayub 30:6

30:6 so that they had to live ²⁶ 

in the dry stream beds, ²⁷ 

in the holes of the ground, and among the rocks.

Ayub 33:28

33:28 He redeemed my life ²⁸ 

from going down to the place of corruption,

and my life sees the light!’

Ayub 38:3

38:3 Get ready for a difficult task ²⁹  like a man;

I will question you

and you will inform me!

Ayub 41:4

41:4 Will it make a pact ³⁰  with you,

so you could take it ³¹  as your slave for life?

Ayub 42:4

42:4 You said, ³² 

‘Pay attention, and I will speak;

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

[3:16]  ¹ tn The verb is governed by the interrogative of v. 12 that introduces this series of rhetorical questions.

[3:16]  ² tn The verb is again the prefix conjugation, but the narrative requires a past tense, or preterite.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “hidden.” The LXX paraphrases: “an untimely birth, proceeding from his mother’s womb.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn The noun נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”) is the abortive thing that falls (hence the verb) from the womb before the time is ripe (Ps 58:9). The idiom using the verb “to fall” from the womb means to come into the world (Isa 26:18). The epithet טָמוּן (tamun, “hidden”) is appropriate to the verse. The child comes in vain, and disappears into the darkness – it is hidden forever.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn The word עֹלְלִים (’olÿlim) normally refers to “nurslings.” Here it must refer to infants in general since it refers to a stillborn child.

[3:16]  ⁶ tn The relative clause does not have the relative pronoun; the simple juxtaposition of words indicates that it is modifying the infants.

[4:3]  ⁷ tn The deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) summons attention; it has the sense of “consider, look.”

[4:3]  ⁸ tn The verb יָסַר (yasar) in the Piel means “to correct,” whether by words with the sense of teach, or by chastening with the sense of punish, discipline. The double meaning of “teach” and “discipline” is also found with the noun מוּסָר (musar).

[4:3]  ⁹ tn The parallelism again uses a perfect verb in the first colon and an imperfect in the second; but since the sense of the line is clearly what Job has done in the past, the second verb may be treated as a preterite, or a customary imperfect – what Job repeatedly did in the past (GKC 315 §107.e). The words in this verse may have double meanings. The word יָסַר (yasar, “teach, discipline”) may have the idea of instruction and correction, but also the connotation of strength (see Y. Hoffmann, “The Use of Equivocal Words in the First Speech of Eliphaz [Job IV–V],” VT 30 [1980]: 114-19).

[4:3]  ¹⁰ tn The “feeble hands” are literally “hands hanging down.” This is a sign of weakness, helplessness, or despondency (see 2 Sam 4:1; Isa 13:7).

[5:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “setting.” The infinitive construct clause is here taken as explaining the nature of God, and so parallel to the preceding descriptions. If read simply as a purpose clause after the previous verse, it would suggest that the purpose of watering the earth was to raise the humble (cf. NASB, “And sends water on the fields, // So that He sets on high those who are lowly”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 39) makes a case for this interpretation, saying that God’s gifts in nature have the wider purpose of blessing man, but he prefers to see the line as another benevolence, parallel to v. 10, and so suggests a translation “setting up” rather than “to set up.”

[5:11]  ¹² tn The word שְׁפָלִים (shÿfalim) refers to “those who are down.” This refers to the lowly and despised of the earth. They are the opposite of the “proud” (see Ps 138:6). Here there is a deliberate contrast between “lowly” and “on high.”

[5:11]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the word is “to be dark, dirty”; therefore, it refers to the ash-sprinkled head of the mourner (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 54). The custom was to darken one’s face in sorrow (see Job 2:12; Ps 35:14; 38:7).

[5:11]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect verb may be translated “be set on high; be raised up.” E. Dhorme (Job, 64) notes that the perfect is parallel to the infinitive of the first colon, and so he renders it in the same way as the infinitive, comparing the construction to that of 28:25.

[9:30]  ¹⁵ tn The Syriac and Targum Job read with the Qere “with water of [בְמֵי, bÿme] snow.” The Kethib simply has “in [בְמוֹ, bÿmo] snow.” In Ps 51:9 and Isa 1:18 snow forms a simile for purification. Some protest that snow water is not necessarily clean; but if fresh melting snow is meant, then the runoff would be very clear. The image would work well here. Nevertheless, others have followed the later Hebrew meaning for שֶׁלֶג (sheleg) – “soap” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT). Even though that makes a nice parallelism, it is uncertain whether that meaning was in use at the time this text was written.

[9:30]  ¹⁶ tn The word בֹּר (bor, “lye, potash”) does not refer to purity (Syriac, KJV, ASV), but refers to the ingredient used to make the hands pure or clean. It has the same meaning as בֹּרִית (borit), the alkali or soda made from the ashes of certain plants.

[11:12]  ¹⁷ tn As A. B. Davidson (Job, 84) says, the one thing will happen when the other happens – which is never. The word “empty” נָבוּב (navuv) means “hollow; witless,” and “become wise” (יִלָּבֵב, yillavev) is “will get heart” (not to “lack heart” as Driver suggested”). Many commentators do not like the last line of the verse, and so offer even more emendations. E. F. Sutcliffe wanted to change פֶּרֶא (pere’, “donkey”) to פֶּרֶד (pered, “stallion”), rendering “a witless wight may get wit when a mule is born a stallion” (“Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 70-71); and others approached the verse by changing the verb from יִוָּלֵד (yivvaled, “is born”) to יִלָּמֵד (yillamed, “is taught”), resulting in “a hollow man may get understanding, and a wild donkey’s colt may be taught [= tamed]” (cf. NAB).

[20:12]  ¹⁸ tn The conjunction אִם (’im) introduces clauses that are conditional or concessive. With the imperfect verb in the protasis it indicates what is possible in the present or future. See GKC 496 §159.q).

[20:12]  ¹⁹ sn The wicked person holds on to evil as long as he can, savoring the taste or the pleasure of it.

[23:9]  ²⁰ sn The text has “the left hand,” the Semitic idiom for directions. One faces the rising sun, and so left is north, right is south.

[23:9]  ²¹ tc The form בַּעֲשֹׂתוֹ (ba’asoto) would be the temporal clause using the infinitive construct with a pronoun (subject genitive). This would be “when he works.” Several follow the Syriac with “I seek him.” The LXX has “[when] he turns.” R. Gordis (Job, 261) notes that there is no need to emend the text; he shows a link to the Arabic cognate ghasa, “to cover.” To him this is a perfect parallel to יַעְטֹף (ya’tof, “covers himself”).

[23:9]  ²² tn The verb is the apocopated form of the imperfect. The object is supplied.

[23:9]  ²³ tn The MT has “he turns,” but the Syriac and Vulgate have “I turn.”

[28:11]  ²⁴ tc The translation “searched” follows the LXX and Vulgate; the MT reads “binds up” or “dams up.” This latter translation might refer to the damming of water that might seep into a mine (HALOT 289 s.v. חבשׁ; cf. ESV, NJPS, NASB, REB, NLT).

[28:11]  ²⁵ tc The older translations had “he binds the streams from weeping,” i.e., from trickling (מִבְּכִי, mibbÿkhi). But the Ugaritic parallel has changed the understanding, reading “toward the spring of the rivers” (`m mbk nhrm). Earlier than that discovery, the versions had taken the word as a noun as well. Some commentators had suggested repointing the Hebrew. Some chose מַבְּכֵי (mabbÿkhe, “sources”). Now there is much Ugaritic support for the reading (see G. M. Landes, BASOR 144 [1956]: 32f.; and H. L. Ginsberg, “The Ugaritic texts and textual criticism,” JBL 62 [1943]: 111).

[30:6]  ²⁶ tn This use of the infinitive construct expresses that they were compelled to do something (see GKC 348-49 §114.h, k).

[30:6]  ²⁷ tn The adjectives followed by a partitive genitive take on the emphasis of a superlative: “in the most horrible of valleys” (see GKC 431 §133.h).

[33:28]  ²⁸ sn See note on “him” in v. 24.

[38:3]  ²⁹ 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).

[41:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “will he cut a covenant.”

[41:4]  ³¹ tn The imperfect verb serves to express what the covenant pact would cover, namely, “that you take.”

[42:4]  ³² tn This phrase, “you said,” is supplied in the translation to introduce the recollection of God’s words.