Ayub 4:15

4:15 Then a breath of air ¹  passes ²  by my face;

it makes ³  the hair of my flesh stand up.

Ayub 6:28

Other Explanation

6:28 “Now then, be good enough to look ⁴  at me; ⁵ 

and I will not ⁶  lie to your face!

Ayub 8:17

8:17 It wraps its roots around a heap ⁷  of stones ⁸ 

and it looks ⁹  for a place among stones. ¹⁰ 

Ayub 9:8

9:8 he alone spreads out the heavens,

and treads ¹¹  on the waves of the sea; ¹² 

Ayub 11:4

11:4 For you have said, ‘My teaching ¹³  is flawless,

and I am pure in your sight.’

Ayub 13:14

13:14 Why ¹⁴  do I put myself in peril, ¹⁵ 

and take my life in my hands?

Ayub 15:27

15:27 Because he covered his face with fat, ¹⁶ 

and made ¹⁷  his hips bulge with fat, ¹⁸ 

Ayub 18:8

18:8 For he has been thrown into a net by his feet ¹⁹ 

and he wanders into a mesh. ²⁰ 

Ayub 25:1

Bildad’s Third Speech ²¹ 

25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

Ayub 28:1

III. Job’s Search for Wisdom (28:1-28)

No Known Road to Wisdom ²² 

28:1 “Surely ²³  there is a mine ²⁴  for silver,

and a place where gold is refined. ²⁵ 

Ayub 28:6

28:6 a place whose stones are sapphires ²⁶ 

and which contains dust of gold; ²⁷ 

Ayub 29:20

29:20 My glory ²⁸  will always be fresh ²⁹  in me,

and my bow ever new in my hand.’

Ayub 30:4

30:4 By the brush ³⁰  they would gather ³¹  herbs from the salt marshes, ³² 

and the root of the broom tree was their food.

Ayub 30:16

Job’s Despondency

30:16 “And now my soul pours itself out within me; ³³ 

days of suffering take hold of me.

Ayub 31:9

31:9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman,

and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, ³⁴ 

Ayub 31:33

31:33 if ³⁵  I have covered my transgressions as men do, ³⁶ 

by hiding ³⁷  iniquity in my heart, ³⁸ 

Ayub 33:5

33:5 Reply to me, if you can;

set your arguments ³⁹  in order before me

and take your stand!

Ayub 33:8

Elihu Rejects Job’s Plea of Innocence

33:8 “Indeed, you have said in my hearing ⁴⁰ 

(I heard the sound of the words!):

[4:15]  ¹ tn The word רוּחַ (ruakh) can be “spirit” or “breath.” The implication here is that it was something that Eliphaz felt – what he saw follows in v. 16. The commentators are divided on whether this is an apparition, a spirit, or a breath. The word can be used in either the masculine or the feminine, and so the gender of the verb does not favor the meaning “spirit.” In fact, in Isa 21:1 the same verb חָלַף (khalaf, “pass on, through”) is used with the subject being a strong wind or hurricane “blowing across.” It may be that such a wind has caused Eliphaz’s hair to stand on end here. D. J. A. Clines (Job [WBC], 111) also concludes it means “wind,” noting that in Job a spirit or spirits would be called רְפָאִים (rÿfa’im), אֶלֹהִים (’elohim) or אוֹב (’ov).

[4:15]  ² tn The verbs in this verse are imperfects. In the last verse the verbs were perfects when Eliphaz reported the fear that seized him. In this continuation of the report the description becomes vivid with the change in verbs, as if the experience were in progress.

[4:15]  ³ tn The subject of this verb is also רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”), since it can assume either gender. The “hair of my flesh” is the complement and not the subject; therefore the Piel is to be retained and not changed to a Qal as some suggest (and compare with Ps 119:120).

[6:28]  ⁴ tn The second verb, the imperative “turn,” is subordinated to the first imperative even though there is no vav present (see GKC 385-87 §120.a, g).

[6:28]  ⁵ tn The line has “and now, be pleased, turn to me [i.e., face me].” The LXX reverses the idea, “And now, having looked upon your countenances, I will not lie.” The expression “turn to me” means essentially to turn the eyes toward someone to look at him.

[6:28]  ⁶ tn The construction uses אִם (’im) as in a negative oath to mark the strong negative. He is underscoring his sincerity here. See M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92.

[8:17]  ⁷ tn Cheyne reads “spring” or “well” rather than “heap.” However, this does not fit the parallelism very well, and so he emends the second half as well. Nevertheless the Hebrew text needs no emending here.

[8:17]  ⁸ tn The expression “of stones” is added for clarification of what the heap would be. It refers to the object around which the roots would grow. The parallelism with “house of stones” makes this reading highly probable.

[8:17]  ⁹ tn The idea is that the plant grows, looking for a place to grow among the stones. Some trees grow so tightly around the rocks and stones that they are impossible to uproot. The rocky ground where it grows forms “a house of stones.” The LXX supports an emendation from יְחֱזֶה (yÿkhezeh, “it looks”) to יִחְיֶה (yikhyeh, “it lives”). Others have tried to emend the text in a variety of ways: “pushes” (Budde), “cleave” (Gordis), “was opposite” (Driver), or “run against” (NEB, probably based on G. R. Driver). If one were to make a change, the reading with the LXX would be the easiest to defend, but there is no substantial reason to do that. The meaning is about the same without such a change.

[8:17]  ¹⁰ sn The idea seems to be that the stones around which the roots of the tree wrap themselves suggest strength and security for the tree, but uprooting comes to it nevertheless (v. 18). The point is that the wicked may appear to be living in security and flourishing, yet can be quickly destroyed (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 74).

[9:8]  ¹¹ tn Or “marches forth.”

[9:8]  ¹² tn The reference is probably to the waves of the sea. This is the reading preserved in NIV and NAB, as well as by J. Crenshaw, “Wÿdorek `al-bamote ‘ares,” CBQ 34 (1972): 39-53. But many see here a reference to Canaanite mythology. The marginal note in the RSV has “the back of the sea dragon.” The view would also see in “sea” the Ugaritic god Yammu.

[11:4]  ¹³ tn The word translated “teaching” is related etymologically to the Hebrew word “receive,” but that does not restrict the teaching to what is received.

[13:14]  ¹⁴ tc Most editors reject עַל־מָה (’al mah) as dittography from the last verse.

[13:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “why do I take my flesh in my teeth?” This expression occurs nowhere else. It seems to be drawn from animal imagery in which the wild beast seizes the prey and carries it off to a place of security. The idea would then be that Job may be destroying himself. An animal that fights with its flesh (prey) in its mouth risks losing it. Other commentators do not think this is satisfactory, but they are unable to suggest anything better.

[15:27]  ¹⁶ sn This verse tells us that he is not in any condition to fight, because he is bloated and fat from luxurious living.

[15:27]  ¹⁷ tn D. W. Thomas defends a meaning “cover” for the verb עָשָׂה (’asah). See “Translating Hebrew `asah,” BT 17 [1966]: 190-93.

[15:27]  ¹⁸ tn The term פִּימָה (pimah), a hapax legomenon, is explained by the Arabic fa’ima, “to be fat.” Pope renders this “blubber.” Cf. KJV “and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.”

[18:8]  ¹⁹ tn See Ps 25:15.

[18:8]  ²⁰ tn The word שְׂבָכָה (sÿvakhah) is used in scripture for the lattice window (2 Kgs 1:2). The Arabic cognate means “to be intertwined.” So the term could describe a net, matting, grating, or lattice. Here it would be the netting stretched over a pit.

[25:1]  ²¹ sn The third speech of Bildad takes up Job 25, a short section of six verses. It is followed by two speeches from Job; and Zophar does not return with his third. Does this mean that the friends have run out of arguments, and that Job is just getting going? Many scholars note that in chs. 26 and 27 there is material that does not fit Job’s argument. Many have rearranged the material to show that there was a complete cycle of three speeches. In that light, 26:5-14 is viewed as part of Bildad’s speech. Some, however, take Bildad’s speech to be only ch. 25, and make 26:5-14 an interpolated hymn. For all the arguments and suggestions, one should see the introductions and the commentaries.

[28:1]  ²² sn As the book is now arranged, this chapter forms an additional speech by Job, although some argue that it comes from the writer of the book. The mood of the chapter is not despair, but wisdom; it anticipates the divine speeches in the end of the book. This poem, like many psalms in the Bible, has a refrain (vv. 12 and 20). These refrains outline the chapter, giving three sections: there is no known road to wisdom (1-11); no price can buy it (12-19); and only God has it, and only by revelation can man posses it (20-28).

[28:1]  ²³ tn The poem opens with כִּי (ki). Some commentators think this should have been “for,” and that the poem once stood in another setting. But there are places in the Bible where this word occurs with the sense of “surely” and no other meaning (cf. Gen 18:20).

[28:1]  ²⁴ tn The word מוֹצָא (motsa’, from יָצָא [yatsa’, “go out”]) is the word for “mine,” or more simply, “source.” Mining was not an enormous industry in the land of Canaan or Israel; mined products were imported. Some editors have suggested alternative readings: Dahood found in the word the root for “shine” and translated the MT as “smelter.” But that is going too far. P. Joüon suggested “place of finding,” reading מִמְצָא (mimtsa’) for מוֹצָא (motsa’; see Bib 11 [1930]: 323).

[28:1]  ²⁵ tn The verb יָזֹקּוּ (yazoqqu) translated “refined,” comes from זָקַק (zaqaq), a word that basically means “to blow.” From the meaning “to blow; to distend; to inflate” derives the meaning for refining.

[28:6]  ²⁶ tn It is probably best to take “place” in construct to the rest of the colon, with an understood relative clause: “a place, the rocks of which are sapphires.”

[28:6]  sn The modern stone known as sapphire is thought not to have been used until Roman times, and so some other stone is probably meant here, perhaps lapis lazuli.

[28:6]  ²⁷ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 181) suggests that if it is lapis lazuli, then the dust of gold would refer to the particles of iron pyrite found in lapis lazuli which glitter like gold.

[29:20]  ²⁸ tn The word is “my glory,” meaning his high respect and his honor. Hoffmann proposed to read כִּידוֹן (kidon) instead, meaning “javelin” (as in 1 Sam 17:6), to match the parallelism (RQ 3 [1961/62]: 388). But the parallelism does not need to be so tight.

[29:20]  ²⁹ tn Heb “new.”

[30:4]  ³⁰ tn Or “the leaves of bushes” (ESV), a possibility dating back to Saadia and discussed by G. R. Driver and G. B. Gray (Job [ICC], 2:209) in their philological notes.

[30:4]  ³¹ tn Here too the form is the participle with the article.

[30:4]  ³² tn Heb “gather mallow,” a plant which grows in salt marshes.

[30:16]  ³³ tn This line can either mean that Job is wasting away (i.e., his life is being poured out), or it can mean that he is grieving. The second half of the verse gives the subordinate clause of condition for this.

[31:9]  ³⁴ tn Gordis notes that the word פֶּתַח (petakh, “door”) has sexual connotations in rabbinic literature, based on Prov 7:6ff. (see b. Ketubbot 9b). See also the use in Song 4:12 using a synonym.

[31:33]  ³⁵ tn Now the protasis continues again.

[31:33]  ³⁶ sn Some commentators suggest taking the meaning here to be “as Adam,” referring to the Paradise story of the sin and denial.

[31:33]  ³⁷ tn The infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first line.

[31:33]  ³⁸ tn The MT has “in my bosom.” This is the only place in the OT where this word is found. But its meaning is well attested from Aramaic.

[33:5]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew text does not contain the term “arguments,” but this verb has been used already for preparing or arranging a defense.

[33:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “in my ears.”