Ayub 7:3

7:3 thus ¹  I have been made to inherit ² 

months of futility, ³ 

and nights of sorrow ⁴ 

have been appointed ⁵  to me.

Ayub 9:26

9:26 They glide by ⁶  like reed ⁷  boats,

like an eagle that swoops ⁸  down on its prey. ⁹ 

Ayub 11:16

11:16 For you ¹⁰  will forget your trouble; ¹¹ 

you will remember it

like water that ¹²  has flowed away.

Ayub 13:3

13:3 But I wish to speak ¹³  to the Almighty, ¹⁴ 

and I desire to argue ¹⁵  my case ¹⁶  with God.

Ayub 13:26

13:26 For you write down ¹⁷  bitter things against me

and cause me to inherit the sins of my youth. ¹⁸ 

Ayub 19:19

19:19 All my closest friends ¹⁹  detest me;

and those whom ²⁰  I love have turned against me. ²¹ 

Ayub 20:3

20:3 When ²²  I hear a reproof that dishonors ²³  me,

then my understanding ²⁴  prompts me to answer. ²⁵ 

Ayub 22:30

22:30 he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, ²⁶ 

who will escape ²⁷  through the cleanness of your hands.”

Ayub 26:13

26:13 By his breath ²⁸  the skies became fair;

his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. ²⁹ 

Ayub 27:12

27:12 If you yourselves have all seen this,

Why in the world ³⁰  do you continue this meaningless talk? ³¹ 

Ayub 29:13

29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, ³² 

and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; ³³ 

Ayub 36:24

36:24 Remember to extol ³⁴  his work,

which people have praised in song.

Ayub 37:2

37:2 Listen carefully ³⁵  to the thunder of his voice,

to the rumbling ³⁶  that proceeds from his mouth.

Ayub 38:15

38:15 Then from the wicked the light is withheld,

and the arm raised in violence ³⁷  is broken. ³⁸ 

Ayub 41:33

41:33 The likes of it is not on earth,

a creature ³⁹  without fear.

[7:3]  ¹ tn “Thus” indicates a summary of vv. 1 and 2: like the soldier, the mercenary, and the slave, Job has labored through life and looks forward to death.

[7:3]  ² tn The form is the Hophal perfect of נָחַל (nakhal): “I have been made to inherit,” or more simply, “I have inherited.” The form occurs only here. The LXX must have confused the letters or sounds, a ו (vav) for the ן (nun), for it reads “I have endured.” As a passive the form technically has two accusatives (see GKC 388 §121.c). Job’s point is that his sufferings have been laid on him by another, and so he has inherited them.

[7:3]  ³ tn The word is שָׁוְא (shav’, “vanity, deception, nothingness, futility”). His whole life – marked here in months to show its brevity – has been futile. E. Dhorme (Job, 98) suggests the meaning “disillusionment,” explaining that it marks the deceptive nature of mortal life. The word describes life as hollow, insubstantial.

[7:3]  ⁴ tn “Sorrow” is עָמָל (’amal), used in 3:10. It denotes anxious toil, labor, troublesome effort. It may be that the verse expresses the idea that the nights are when the pains of his disease are felt the most. The months are completely wasted; the nights are agonizing.

[7:3]  ⁵ tn The verb is literally “they have appointed”; the form with no expressed subject is to be interpreted as a passive (GKC 460 §144.g). It is therefore not necessary to repoint the verb to make it passive. The word means “to number; to count,” and so “to determine; to allocate.”

[9:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “they flee.”

[9:26]  ⁷ tn The word אֵבֶה (’eveh) means “reed, papyrus,” but it is a different word than was in 8:11. What is in view here is a light boat made from bundles of papyrus that glides swiftly along the Nile (cf. Isa 18:2 where papyrus vessels and swiftness are associated).

[9:26]  ⁸ tn The verb יָטוּשׂ (yatus) is also a hapax legomenon; the Aramaic cognate means “to soar; to hover in flight.” The sentence here requires the idea of swooping down while in flight.

[9:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “food.”

[11:16]  ¹⁰ tn For a second time (see v. 13) Zophar employs the emphatic personal pronoun. Could he be providing a gentle reminder that Job might have forgotten the sin that has brought this trouble? After all, there will come a time when Job will not remember this time of trial.

[11:16]  ¹¹ sn It is interesting to note in the book that the resolution of Job’s trouble did not come in the way that Zophar prescribed it.

[11:16]  ¹² tn The perfect verb forms an abbreviated relative clause (without the pronoun) modifying “water.”

[13:3]  ¹³ tn The verb is simply the Piel imperfect אֲדַבֵּר (’adabber, “I speak”). It should be classified as a desiderative imperfect, saying, “I desire to speak.” This is reinforced with the verb “to wish, desire” in the second half of the verse.

[13:3]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew title for God here is אֶל־שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”).

[13:3]  ¹⁵ tn The infinitive absolute functions here as the direct object of the verb “desire” (see GKC 340 §113.b).

[13:3]  ¹⁶ tn The infinitive הוֹכֵחַ (hokheakh) is from the verb יָכַח (yakhakh), which means “to argue, plead, debate.” It has the legal sense here of arguing a case (cf. 5:17).

[13:26]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning is that of writing down a formal charge against someone (cf. Job 31:15).

[13:26]  ¹⁸ sn Job acknowledges sins in his youth, but they are trifling compared to the suffering he now endures. Job thinks it unjust of God to persecute him now for those – if that is what is happening.

[19:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “men of my confidence,” or “men of my council,” i.e., intimate friends, confidants.

[19:19]  ²⁰ tn The pronoun זֶה (zeh) functions here in the place of a nominative (see GKC 447 §138.h).

[19:19]  ²¹ tn T. Penar translates this “turn away from me” (“Job 19,19 in the Light of Ben Sira 6,11,” Bib 48 [1967]: 293-95).

[20:3]  ²² tn There is no indication that this clause is to be subordinated to the next, other than the logical connection, and the use of the ו (vav) in the second half.

[20:3]  ²³ tn See Job 19:3.

[20:3]  ²⁴ tn The phrase actually has רוּחַ מִבִּינָתִי (ruakh mibbinati, “a spirit/wind/breath/impulse from my understanding”). Some translate it “out of my understanding a spirit answers me.” The idea is not that difficult, and so the many proposals to rewrite the text can be rejected. The spirit of his understanding prompts the reply.

[20:3]  ²⁵ tn To take this verb as a simple Qal and read it “answers me,” does not provide a clear idea. The form can just as easily be taken as a Hiphil, with the sense “causes me to answer.” It is Zophar who will “return” and who will “answer.”

[22:30]  ²⁶ tc The Hebrew has אִי־נָקִי (’i naqi), which could be taken as “island of the innocent” (so Ibn-Ezra), or “him that is not innocent” (so Rashi). But some have changed אִי (’i) to אִישׁ (’ish, “the innocent man”). Others differ: A. Guillaume links אִי (’i) to Arabic ‘ayya “whosoever,” and so leaves the text alone. M. Dahood secures the same idea from Ugaritic, but reads it אֵי (’e).

[22:30]  ²⁷ tc The MT has “he will escape [or be delivered].” Theodotion has the second person, “you will be delivered.”

[26:13]  ²⁸ tn Or “wind”; or perhaps “Spirit.” The same Hebrew word, רוּחַ (ruakh), may be translated as “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit/Spirit” depending on the context.

[26:13]  ²⁹ sn Here too is a reference to pagan views indirectly. The fleeing serpent was a designation for Leviathan, whom the book will simply describe as an animal, but the pagans thought to be a monster of the deep. God’s power over nature is associated with defeat of pagan gods (see further W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan; idem, BASOR 53 [1941]: 39).

[27:12]  ³⁰ tn The interrogative uses the demonstrative pronoun in its emphatic position: “Why in the world…?” (IBHS 312-13 §17.4.3c).

[27:12]  ³¹ tn The text has the noun “vain thing; breath; vapor,” and then a denominative verb from the same root: “to become vain with a vain thing,” or “to do in vain a vain thing.” This is an example of the internal object, or a cognate accusative (see GKC 367 §117.q). The LXX has “you all know that you are adding vanity to vanity.”

[29:13]  ³² tn The verb is simply בּוֹא (bo’, “to come; to enter”). With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it could mean “came to me,” or “came upon me,” i.e., descended (see R. Gordis, Job, 320).

[29:13]  ³³ tn The verb אַרְנִן (’arnin) is from רָנַן (ranan, “to give a ringing cry”) but here “cause to give a ringing cry,” i.e., shout of joy. The rejoicing envisioned in this word is far greater than what the words “sing” or “rejoice” suggest.

[36:24]  ³⁴ tn The expression is “that you extol,” serving as an object of the verb.

[37:2]  ³⁵ tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.

[37:2]  ³⁶ tn The word is the usual word for “to meditate; to murmur; to groan”; here it refers to the low building of the thunder as it rumbles in the sky. The thunder is the voice of God (see Ps 29).

[38:15]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the raised arm.” The words “in violence” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[38:15]  ³⁸ sn What is active at night, the violence symbolized by the raised arm, is broken with the dawn. G. R. Driver thought the whole verse referred to stars, and that the arm is the navigator’s term for the line of stars (“Two astronomical passages in the Old Testament,” JTS 4 [1953]: 208-12).

[41:33]  ³⁹ tn Heb “one who was made.”