Ayub 6:11

6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait? ¹ 

and what is my end, ² 

that I should prolong my life?

Ayub 7:1

The Brevity of Life

7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service ³  on earth?

Are not their days also

like the days of a hired man? ⁴ 

Ayub 10:21

10:21 before I depart, never to return, ⁵ 

to the land of darkness

and the deepest shadow, ⁶ 

Ayub 14:2

14:2 He grows up ⁷  like a flower and then withers away; ⁸ 

he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. ⁹ 

Ayub 15:29

15:29 He will not grow rich,

and his wealth will not endure,

nor will his possessions ¹⁰  spread over the land.

Ayub 16:22

16:22 For the years that lie ahead are few, ¹¹ 

and then I will go on the way of no return. ¹² 

Ayub 20:5

20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, ¹³ 

the joy of the godless ¹⁴  lasts but a moment. ¹⁵ 

Ayub 20:12

20:12 “If ¹⁶  evil is sweet in his mouth

and he hides it under his tongue, ¹⁷ 

Ayub 36:6

36:6 He does not allow the wicked to live, ¹⁸ 

but he gives justice to the poor.

[6:11]  ¹ sn Now, in vv. 11-13, Job proceeds to describe his hopeless condition. In so doing, he is continuing his defense of his despair and lament. The section begins with these rhetorical questions in which Job affirms that he does not have the strength to wait for the blessings that Eliphaz is talking about.

[6:11]  ² tn The word translated “my end” is קִצִּי (qitsi). It refers to the termination of his life. In Ps 39:5 it is parallel to “the measure of my days.” In a sense, Job is asking what future he has. To him, the “end” of his affliction can only be death.

[7:1]  ³ tn The word צָבָא (tsava’) is actually “army”; it can be used for the hard service of military service as well as other toil. As a military term it would include the fixed period of duty (the time) and the hard work (toil). Job here is considering the lot of all humans, not just himself.

[7:1]  ⁴ tn The שָׂכִיר (sakhir) is a hired man, either a man who works for wages, or a mercenary soldier (Jer 46:21). The latter sense may be what is intended here in view of the parallelism, although the next verse seems much broader.

[10:21]  ⁵ sn The verbs are simple, “I go” and “I return”; but Job clearly means before he dies. A translation of “depart” comes closer to communicating this. The second verb may be given a potential imperfect translation to capture the point. The NIV offered more of an interpretive paraphrase: “before I go to the place of no return.”

[10:21]  ⁶ tn See Job 3:5.

[14:2]  ⁷ tn Heb יָצָא (yatsa’, “comes forth”). The perfect verb expresses characteristic action and so is translated by the present tense (see GKC 329 §111.s).

[14:2]  ⁸ tn The verb וַיִּמָּל (vayyimmal) is from the root מָלַל (malal, “to languish; to wither”) and not from a different root מָלַל (malal, “to cut off”).

[14:2]  ⁹ tn The verb is “and he does not stand.” Here the verb means “to stay fixed; to abide.” The shadow does not stay fixed, but continues to advance toward darkness.

[15:29]  ¹⁰ tn This word מִנְלָם (minlam) also is a hapax legomenon, although almost always interpreted to mean “possession” (with Arabic manal) and repointed as מְנֹלָם (mÿnolam). M. Dahood further changes “earth” to the netherworld, and interprets it to mean “his possessions will not go down to the netherworld (“Value of Ugaritic for Textual Criticism,” Bib 40 [1959]: 164-66). Others suggest it means “ear of grain,” either from the common word for “ears of grain” or a hapax legomenon in Deuteronomy 23:26 [25].

[16:22]  ¹¹ tn The expression is “years of number,” meaning that they can be counted, and so “the years are few.” The verb simply means “comes” or “lie ahead.”

[16:22]  ¹² tn The verbal expression “I will not return” serves here to modify the journey that he will take. It is “the road [of] I will not return.”

[20:5]  ¹³ tn The expression in the text is “quite near.” This indicates that it is easily attained, and that its end is near.

[20:5]  ¹⁴ tn For the discussion of חָנֵף (khanef, “godless”) see Job 8:13.

[20:5]  ¹⁵ tn The phrase is “until a moment,” meaning it is short-lived. But see J. Barr, “Hebrew ’ad, especially at Job 1:18 and Neh 7:3,” JSS 27 (1982): 177-88.

[20:12]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ sn The wicked person holds on to evil as long as he can, savoring the taste or the pleasure of it.

[36:6]  ¹⁸ tn Or “he does not keep the wicked alive.”