Ayub 39:9-12

39:9 Is the wild ox willing to be your servant?

Will it spend the night at your feeding trough?

39:10 Can you bind the wild ox ¹  to a furrow with its rope,

will it till the valleys, following after you?

39:11 Will you rely on it because its strength is great?

Will you commit ²  your labor to it?

39:12 Can you count on ³  it to bring in ⁴  your grain, ⁵ 

and gather the grain ⁶  to your threshing floor? ⁷ 

[39:10]  ¹ tn Some commentators think that the addition of the “wild ox” here is a copyist’s error, making the stich too long. They therefore delete it. Also, binding an animal to the furrow with ropes is unusual. So with a slight emendation Kissane came up with “Will you bind him with a halter of cord?” While the MT is unusual, the sense is understandable, and no changes, even slight ones, are absolutely necessary.

[39:11]  ² tn Heb “leave.”

[39:12]  ³ tn The word is normally translated “believe” in the Bible. The idea is that of considering something dependable and acting on it. The idea of reliability is found also in the Niphal stem usages.

[39:12]  ⁴ tc There is a textual problem here: יָשׁוּב (yashuv) is the Kethib, meaning “[that] he will return”; יָשִׁיב (yashiv) is the Qere, meaning “that he will bring in.” This is the preferred reading, since the object follows it. For commentators who think the line too unbalanced for this, the object is moved to the second colon, and the reading “returns” is taken for the first. But the MT is perfectly clear as it stands.

[39:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “your seed”; this must be interpreted figuratively for what the seed produces.

[39:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “gather it”; the referent (the grain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:12]  ⁷ tn Simply, the MT has “and your threshing floor gather.” The “threshing floor” has to be an adverbial accusative of place.