Ayub 7:20

7:20 If ¹  I have sinned – what have I done to you, ² 

O watcher of men? ³ 

Why have you set me as your target? ⁴ 

Have I become a burden to you? ⁵ 

Ayub 34:20

34:20 In a moment they die, in the middle of the night, ⁶ 

people ⁷  are shaken ⁸  and they pass away.

The mighty are removed effortlessly. ⁹ 

Ayub 34:29

34:29 But if God ¹⁰  is quiet, who can condemn ¹¹  him?

If he hides his face, then who can see him?

Yet ¹²  he is over the individual and the nation alike, ¹³ 

Ayub 42:3

42:3 you asked, ¹⁴ 

‘Who is this who darkens counsel

without knowledge?’

But ¹⁵  I have declared without understanding ¹⁶ 

things too wonderful for me to know. ¹⁷ 

[7:20]  ¹ tn The simple perfect verb can be used in a conditional sentence without a conditional particle present (see GKC 494 §159.h).

[7:20]  ² sn Job is not here saying that he has sinned; rather, he is posing the hypothetical condition – if he had sinned, what would that do to God? In other words, he has not really injured God.

[7:20]  ³ sn In the Bible God is often described as watching over people to protect them from danger (see Deut 32:10; Ps 31:23). However, here it is a hostile sense, for God may detect sin and bring it to judgment.

[7:20]  ⁴ tn This word is a hapax legomenon from the verb פָּגָע (paga’, “meet, encounter”); it would describe what is hit or struck (as nouns of this pattern can indicate the place of the action) – the target.

[7:20]  ⁵ tn In the prepositional phrase עָלַי (’alay) the results of a scribal change is found (these changes were called tiqqune sopherim, “corrections of the scribes” made to avoid using improper language about God). The prepositional phrase would have been עָלֶךָ (’alekha, “to you,” as in the LXX). But it offended the Jews to think of Job’s being burdensome to God. Job’s sin could have repercussions on him, but not on God.

[34:20]  ⁶ tn Dhorme transposes “in the middle of the night” with “they pass away” to get a smoother reading. But the MT emphasizes the suddenness by putting both temporal ideas first. E. F. Sutcliffe leaves the order as it stands in the text, but adds a verb “they expire” after “in the middle of the night” (“Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 79ff.).

[34:20]  ⁷ tn R. Gordis (Job, 389) thinks “people” here mean the people who count, the upper class.

[34:20]  ⁸ tn The verb means “to be violently agitated.” There is no problem with the word in this context, but commentators have made suggestions for improving the idea. The proposal that has the most to commend it, if one were inclined to choose a new word, is the change to יִגְוָעוּ (yigva’u, “they expire”; so Ball, Holscher, Fohrer, and others).

[34:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “not by hand.” This means without having to use force.

[34:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:29]  ¹¹ tn The verb in this position is somewhat difficult, although it does make good sense in the sentence – it is just not what the parallelism would suggest. So several emendations have been put forward, for which see the commentaries.

[34:29]  ¹² tn The line simply reads “and over a nation and over a man together.” But it must be the qualification for the points being made in the previous lines, namely, that even if God hides himself so no one can see, yet he is still watching over them all (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 222).

[34:29]  ¹³ tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.”

[42:3]  ¹⁴ tn The expression “you asked” is added here to clarify the presence of the line to follow. Many commentators delete it as a gloss from Job 38:2. If it is retained, then Job has to be recalling God’s question before he answers it.

[42:3]  ¹⁵ tn The word לָכֵן (lakhen) is simply “but,” as in Job 31:37.

[42:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and I do not understand.” The expression serves here in an adverbial capacity. It also could be subordinated as a complement: “I have declared [things that] I do not understand.”

[42:3]  ¹⁷ tn The last clause is “and I do not know.” This is also subordinated to become a dependent clause.