Ayub 3:6

3:6 That night – let darkness seize ¹  it;

let it not be included ²  among the days of the year;

let it not enter among the number of the months! ³ 

Ayub 8:20

8:20 “Surely, God does not reject a blameless man, ⁴ 

nor does he grasp the hand ⁵ 

of the evildoers.

Ayub 11:20

11:20 But the eyes of the wicked fail, ⁶ 

and escape ⁷  eludes them;

their one hope ⁸  is to breathe their last.” ⁹ 

Ayub 13:20

13:20 Only in two things spare me, ¹⁰  O God, ¹¹ 

and then I will not hide from your face:

Ayub 14:14-15

14:14 If a man dies, will he live again? ¹² 

All the days of my hard service ¹³  I will wait ¹⁴ 

until my release comes. ¹⁵ 

14:15 You will call ¹⁶  and I ¹⁷  – I will answer you;

you will long for ¹⁸  the creature you have made. ¹⁹ 

Ayub 20:23

20:23 “While he is ²⁰  filling his belly,

God ²¹  sends his burning anger ²²  against him,

and rains down his blows upon him. ²³ 

Ayub 20:26

20:26 Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; ²⁴ 

a fire which has not been kindled ²⁵ 

will consume him

and devour what is left in his tent.

Ayub 21:19

21:19 You may say, ²⁶  ‘God stores up a man’s ²⁷  punishment for his children!’ ²⁸ 

Instead let him repay ²⁹  the man himself ³⁰ 

so that ³¹  he may know it!

Ayub 22:17

22:17 They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ ³² 

Ayub 24:2

24:2 Men ³³  move boundary stones;

they seize the flock and pasture them. ³⁴ 

Ayub 24:9

24:9 The fatherless child is snatched ³⁵  from the breast, ³⁶ 

the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge. ³⁷ 

Ayub 24:13

24:13 There are those ³⁸  who rebel against the light;

they do not know its ways

and they do not stay on its paths.

Ayub 33:24

33:24 and if ³⁹  God ⁴⁰  is gracious to him and says,

‘Spare ⁴¹  him from going down

to the place of corruption,

I have found a ransom for him,’ ⁴² 

Ayub 34:6

34:6 Concerning my right, should I lie? ⁴³ 

My wound ⁴⁴  is incurable,

although I am without transgression.’ ⁴⁵ 

Ayub 36:26

The Work and Wisdom of God

36:26 “Yes, God is great – beyond our knowledge! ⁴⁶ 

The number of his years is unsearchable.

Ayub 41:12

41:12 I will not keep silent about its limbs,

and the extent of its might,

and the grace of its arrangement. ⁴⁷ 

[3:6]  ¹ tn The verb is simply לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”). Here it conveys a strong sense of seizing something and not letting it go.

[3:6]  ² tn The pointing of the verb is meant to connect it with the root חָדָה (khadah, “rejoice”). But the letters in the text were correctly understood by the versions to be from יָחַד (yakhad, “to be combined, added”). See G. Rendsburg, “Double Polysemy in Genesis 49:6 and Job 3:6,” CBQ 44 (1982): 48-51.

[3:6]  ³ sn The choice of this word for “moons,” יְרָחִים (yÿrakhim) instead of חֳדָשִׁים (khodashim) is due to the fact that “month” here is not a reference for which an exact calendar date is essential (in which case חֹדֶשׁ [khodesh] would have been preferred). See J. Segal, “‘yrh’ in the Gezer ‘Calendar,’” JSS 7 (1962): 220, n. 4. Twelve times in the OT יֶרַח (yerakh) means “month” (Exod 2:2; Deut 21:13; 33:14; 1 Kgs 6:37, 38; 8:2; 2 Kgs 15:13; Zech 11:8; Job 3:6; 7:3; 29:2; 39:2).

[8:20]  ⁴ sn This is the description that the book gave to Job at the outset, a description that he deserved according to God’s revelation. The theme “God will not reject the blameless man” becomes Job’s main point (see 9:20,21; 10:3).

[8:20]  ⁵ sn The idiom “to grasp the hand” of someone means to support or help the person.

[11:20]  ⁶ tn The verb כָּלָה (kalah) means “to fail, cease, fade away.” The fading of the eyes, i.e., loss of sight, loss of life’s vitality, indicates imminent death.

[11:20]  ⁷ tn Heb a “place of escape” (with this noun pattern). There is no place to escape to because they all perish.

[11:20]  ⁸ tn The word is to be interpreted as a metonymy; it represents what is hoped for.

[11:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “the breathing out of the soul”; cf. KJV, ASV “the giving up of the ghost.” The line is simply saying that the brightest hope that the wicked have is death.

[13:20]  ¹⁰ tn The line reads “do not do two things.”

[13:20]  ¹¹ tn “God” is supplied to the verse, for the address is now to him. Job wishes to enter into dispute with God, but he first appeals that God not take advantage of him with his awesome power.

[14:14]  ¹² tc The LXX removes the interrogative and makes the statement affirmative, i.e., that man will live again. This reading is taken by D. H. Gard (“The Concept of the Future Life according to the Greek Translator of the Book of Job,” JBL 73 [1954]: 137-38). D. J. A. Clines follows this, putting both of the expressions in the wish clause: “if a man dies and could live again…” (Job [WBC], 332). If that is the way it is translated, then the verbs in the second half of the verse and in the next verse would all be part of the apodosis, and should be translated “would.” The interpretation would not greatly differ; it would be saying that if there was life after death, Job would long for his release – his death. If the traditional view is taken and the question was raised whether there was life after death (the implication of the question being that there is), then Job would still be longing for his death. The point the line is making is that if there is life after death, that would be all the more reason for Job to eagerly expect, to hope for, his death.

[14:14]  ¹³ tn See Job 7:1.

[14:14]  ¹⁴ tn The verb אֲיַחֵל (’ayakhel) may be rendered “I will/would wait” or “I will/would hope.” The word describes eager expectation and longing hope.

[14:14]  ¹⁵ tn The construction is the same as that found in the last verse: a temporal preposition עַד (’ad) followed by the infinitive construct followed by the subjective genitive “release/relief.” Due, in part, to the same verb (חָלַף, khalaf) having the meaning “sprout again” in v. 7, some take “renewal” as the meaning here (J. E. Hartley, Alden, NIV, ESV).

[14:15]  ¹⁶ sn The idea would be that God would sometime in the future call Job into his fellowship again when he longed for the work of his hands (cf. Job 10:3).

[14:15]  ¹⁷ tn The independent personal pronoun is emphatic, as if to say, “and I on my part will answer.”

[14:15]  ¹⁸ tn The word כָּסַף (kasaf) originally meant “to turn pale.” It expresses the sentiment that causes pallor of face, and so is used for desire ardently, covet. The object of the desire is always introduced with the ל (lamed) preposition (see E. Dhorme, Job, 202).

[14:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “long for the work of your hands.”

[20:23]  ²⁰ tn D. J. A. Clines observes that to do justice to the three jussives in the verse, one would have to translate “May it be, to fill his belly to the full, that God should send…and rain” (Job [WBC], 477). The jussive form of the verb at the beginning of the verse could also simply introduce a protasis of a conditional clause (see GKC 323 §109.h, i). This would mean, “if he [God] is about to fill his [the wicked’s] belly to the full, he will send….” The NIV reads “when he has filled his belly.” These fit better, because the context is talking about the wicked in his evil pursuit being cut down.

[20:23]  ²¹ tn “God” is understood as the subject of the judgment.

[20:23]  ²² tn Heb “the anger of his wrath.”

[20:23]  ²³ tn Heb “rain down upon him, on his flesh.” Dhorme changes עָלֵימוֹ (’alemo, “upon him”) to “his arrows”; he translates the line as “he rains his arrows upon his flesh.” The word בִּלְחוּמוֹ (bilkhumo,“his flesh”) has been given a wide variety of translations: “as his food,” “on his flesh,” “upon him, his anger,” or “missiles or weapons of war.”

[20:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “all darkness is hidden for his laid up things.” “All darkness” refers to the misfortunes and afflictions that await. The verb “hidden” means “is destined for.”

[20:26]  ²⁵ tn Heb “not blown upon,” i.e., not kindled by man. But G. R. Driver reads “unquenched” (“Hebrew notes on the ‘Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach’,” JBL 53 [1934]: 289).

[21:19]  ²⁶ tn These words are supplied. The verse records an idea that Job suspected they might have, namely, that if the wicked die well God will make their children pay for the sins (see Job 5:4; 20:10; as well as Exod 20:5).

[21:19]  ²⁷ tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (’ono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”

[21:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “his sons.”

[21:19]  ²⁹ tn The verb שָׁלַם (shalam) in the Piel has the meaning of restoring things to their normal, making whole, and so reward, repay (if for sins), or recompense in general.

[21:19]  ³⁰ tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”

[21:19]  ³¹ tn The imperfect verb after the jussive carries the meaning of a purpose clause, and so taken as a final imperfect: “in order that he may know [or realize].”

[22:17]  ³² tn The form in the text is “to them.” The LXX and the Syriac versions have “to us.”

[24:2]  ³³ tn The line is short: “they move boundary stones.” So some commentators have supplied a subject, such as “wicked men.” The reason for its being wicked men is that to move the boundary stone was to encroach dishonestly on the lands of others (Deut 19:14; 27:17).

[24:2]  ³⁴ tc The LXX reads “and their shepherd.” Many commentators accept this reading. But the MT says that they graze the flocks that they have stolen. The difficulty with the MT reading is that there is no suffix on the final verb – but that is not an insurmountable difference.

[24:9]  ³⁵ tn The verb with no expressed subject is here again taken in the passive: “they snatch” becomes “[child] is snatched.”

[24:9]  ³⁶ tn This word is usually defined as “violence; ruin.” But elsewhere it does mean “breast” (Isa 60:16; 66:11), and that is certainly what it means here.

[24:9]  ³⁷ tc The MT has a very brief and strange reading: “they take as a pledge upon the poor.” This could be taken as “they take a pledge against the poor” (ESV). Kamphausen suggested that instead of עַל (’al, “against”) one should read עוּל (’ul, “suckling”). This is supported by the parallelism. “They take as pledge” is also made passive here.

[24:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “They are among those who.”

[33:24]  ³⁹ tn This verse seems to continue the protasis begun in the last verse, with the apodosis coming in the next verse.

[33:24]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:24]  ⁴¹ tc The verb is either taken as an anomalous form of פָּדַע (pada’, “to rescue; to redeem,” or “to exempt him”), or it is emended to some similar word, like פָּרַע (para’, “to let loose,” so Wright).

[33:24]  ⁴² sn This verse and v. 28 should be compared with Ps 49:7-9, 15 (8-10, 16 HT) where the same basic vocabulary and concepts are employed.

[34:6]  ⁴³ tn The verb is the Piel imperfect of כָּזַב (kazav), meaning “to lie.” It could be a question: “Should I lie [against my right?] – when I am innocent. If it is repointed to the Pual, then it can be “I am made to lie,” or “I am deceived.” Taking it as a question makes good sense here, and so emendations are unnecessary.

[34:6]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew text has only “my arrow.” Some commentators emend that word slightly to get “my wound.” But the idea could be derived from “arrows” as well, the wounds caused by the arrows. The arrows are symbolic of God’s affliction.

[34:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “without transgression”; but this is parallel to the first part where the claim is innocence.

[36:26]  ⁴⁶ tn The last part has the verbal construction, “and we do not know.” This clause is to be used adverbially: “beyond our understanding.”

[41:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Dhorme changes the noun into a verb, “I will tell,” and the last two words into אֵין עֶרֶךְ (’en ’erekh, “there is no comparison”). The result is “I will tell of his incomparable might.”