Ayub 8:6

8:6 if you become ¹  pure ²  and upright, ³ 

even now he will rouse himself ⁴  for you,

and will restore ⁵  your righteous abode. ⁶ 

Ayub 8:20

8:20 “Surely, God does not reject a blameless man, ⁷ 

nor does he grasp the hand ⁸ 

of the evildoers.

Ayub 9:20

9:20 Although I am innocent, ⁹ 

my mouth ¹⁰  would condemn me; ¹¹ 

although I am blameless,

it would declare me perverse. ¹² 

Ayub 13:9

13:9 Would it turn out well if he would examine ¹³  you?

Or as one deceives ¹⁴  a man would you deceive him?

Ayub 13:15

13:15 Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; ¹⁵ 

I will surely ¹⁶  defend ¹⁷  my ways to his face!

Ayub 21:17

How Often Do the Wicked Suffer?

21:17 “How often ¹⁸  is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?

How often does their ¹⁹  misfortune come upon them?

How often does God apportion pain ²⁰  to them ²¹  in his anger?

Ayub 21:19

21:19 You may say, ²²  ‘God stores up a man’s ²³  punishment for his children!’ ²⁴ 

Instead let him repay ²⁵  the man himself ²⁶ 

so that ²⁷  he may know it!

Ayub 31:2

31:2 What then would be one’s lot from God above,

one’s heritage from the Almighty ²⁸  on high?

Ayub 33:24

33:24 and if ²⁹  God ³⁰  is gracious to him and says,

‘Spare ³¹  him from going down

to the place of corruption,

I have found a ransom for him,’ ³² 

Ayub 34:32

34:32 Teach me what I cannot see. ³³ 

If I have done evil, I will do so no more.’

Ayub 35:11

35:11 who teaches us ³⁴  more than ³⁵  the wild animals of the earth,

and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’

Ayub 36:33

36:33 ³⁶ His thunder announces the coming storm,

the cattle also, concerning the storm’s approach.

Ayub 37:4-5

37:4 After that a voice roars;

he thunders with an exalted voice,

and he does not hold back his lightning bolts ³⁷ 

when his voice is heard.

37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; ³⁸ 

he does great things beyond our understanding. ³⁹ 

Ayub 37:13

37:13 Whether it is for punishment ⁴⁰  for his land,

or whether it is for mercy,

he causes it to find its mark. ⁴¹ 

Ayub 40:19

40:19 It ranks first among the works of God, ⁴² 

the One who made it

has furnished it with a sword. ⁴³ 

[8:6]  ¹ tn A verb form needs to be supplied here. Bildad is not saying to Job, “If you are pure [as you say you are].” Bildad is convinced that Job is a sinner. Therefore, “If you become pure” makes more sense here.

[8:6]  ² tn Or “innocent” (i.e., acquitted).

[8:6]  ³ tn Many commentators delete this colon as a moralizing gloss on v. 5; but the phrase makes good sense, and simply serves as another condition. Besides, the expression is in the LXX.

[8:6]  ⁴ tn The verb יָעִיר (ya’ir, “rouse, stir up”) is a strong anthropomorphism. The LXX has “he will answer your prayer” (which is probably only the LXX’s effort to avoid the anthropomorphism [D. J. A. Clines, Job (WBC), 198]). A reading of “watch over you” has been adopted because of parallel texts (see H. L. Ginsberg, “Two North Canaanite Letters from Ugarit,” BASOR 72 [1938]: 18-19; and H. N. Richardson, “A Ugaritic Letter of a King to His Mother,” JBL 66 [1947]: 321-24). Others suggest “his light will shine on you” or “he will bestow health on you.” But the idea of “awake” is common enough in the Bible to be retained here.

[8:6]  ⁵ tn The Piel of שָׁלַם (shalam) means “to make good; to repay; to restore something to its wholeness; to reestablish.” The best understanding here would be “restore [Job] to his place.” Some take the verb in the sense of “reward [Job himself] with a righteous habitation.”

[8:6]  ⁶ tn The construct נְוַת (nÿvat) is feminine; only the masculine occurs in Hebrew. But the meaning “abode of your righteousness” is clear enough. The righteousness of Job is pictured as inhabiting an estate, or it pictures the place where Job lives as a righteous man. A translation “rightful habitation” would mean “the habitation that you deserve” – if you are righteous.

[8:20]  ⁷ sn This is the description that the book gave to Job at the outset, a description that he deserved according to God’s revelation. The theme “God will not reject the blameless man” becomes Job’s main point (see 9:20,21; 10:3).

[8:20]  ⁸ sn The idiom “to grasp the hand” of someone means to support or help the person.

[9:20]  ⁹ tn The idea is the same as that expressed in v. 15, although here the imperfect verb is used and not the perfect. Once again with the concessive clause (“although I am right”) Job knows that in a legal dispute he would be confused and would end up arguing against himself.

[9:20]  ¹⁰ tn Some commentators wish to change this to “his mouth,” meaning God’s response to Job’s complaints. But the MT is far more expressive, and “my mouth” fits the context in which Job is saying that even though he is innocent, if he spoke in a court setting in the presence of God he would be overwhelmed, confused, and no doubt condemn himself.

[9:20]  ¹¹ tn The verb has the declarative sense in the Hiphil, “to declare guilty [or wicked]” or “to condemn.”

[9:20]  ¹² tn The verb עָקַשׁ (’aqash) means “to be twisted; to be tortuous.” The Piel has a meaning “to bend; to twist” (Mic 3:9) and “to pervert” (Jer 59:8). The form here is classified as a Hiphil, with the softening of the vowel i (see GKC 147 §53.n). It would then also be a declarative use of the Hiphil.

[13:9]  ¹³ tn The verb חָפַר (khafar) means “to search out, investigate, examine.” In the conditional clause the imperfect verb expresses the hypothetical case.

[13:9]  ¹⁴ tn Both the infinitive and the imperfect of תָּלַל (talal, “deceive, mock”) retain the ה (he) (GKC 148 §53.q). But for the alternate form, see F. C. Fensham, “The Stem HTL in Hebrew,” VT 9 (1959): 310-11. The infinitive is used here in an adverbial sense after the preposition.

[13:15]  ¹⁵ tn There is a textual difficulty here that factors into the interpretation of the verse. The Kethib is לֹא (lo’, “not”), but the Qere is לוֹ (lo, “to him”). The RSV takes the former: “Behold, he will slay me, I have no hope.” The NIV takes it as “though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” Job is looking ahead to death, which is not an evil thing to him. The point of the verse is that he is willing to challenge God at the risk of his life; and if God slays him, he is still confident that he will be vindicated – as he says later in this chapter. Other suggestions are not compelling. E. Dhorme (Job, 187) makes a slight change of אֲיַחֵל (’ayakhel, “I will hope”) to אַחִיל (’akhil, “I will [not] tremble”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 98) retains the MT, but interprets the verb more in line with its use in the book: “I will not wait” (cf. NLT).

[13:15]  ¹⁶ tn On אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) see GKC 483 §153 on intensive clauses.

[13:15]  ¹⁷ tn The verb once again is יָכָה (yakhah, in the Hiphil, “argue a case, plead, defend, contest”). But because the word usually means “accuse” rather than “defend,” I. L. Seeligmann proposed changing “my ways” to “his ways” (“Zur Terminologie für das Gerichtsverfahren im Wortschatz des biblischen Hebräisch,” VTSup 16 [1967]: 251-78). But the word can be interpreted appropriately in the context without emendation.

[21:17]  ¹⁸ tn The interrogative “How often” occurs only with the first colon; it is supplied for smoother reading in the next two.

[21:17]  ¹⁹ tn The pronominal suffix is objective; it re-enforces the object of the preposition, “upon them.” The verb in the clause is בּוֹא (bo’) followed by עַל (’al), “come upon [or against],” may be interpreted as meaning attack or strike.

[21:17]  ²⁰ tn חֲבָלִים (khavalim) can mean “ropes” or “cords,” but that would not go with the verb “apportion” in this line. The meaning of “pangs (as in “birth-pangs”) seems to fit best here. The wider meaning would be “physical agony.”

[21:17]  ²¹ tn The phrase “to them” is understood and thus is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:19]  ²² tn These words are supplied. The verse records an idea that Job suspected they might have, namely, that if the wicked die well God will make their children pay for the sins (see Job 5:4; 20:10; as well as Exod 20:5).

[21:19]  ²³ tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (’ono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”

[21:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his sons.”

[21:19]  ²⁵ tn The verb שָׁלַם (shalam) in the Piel has the meaning of restoring things to their normal, making whole, and so reward, repay (if for sins), or recompense in general.

[21:19]  ²⁶ tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”

[21:19]  ²⁷ tn The imperfect verb after the jussive carries the meaning of a purpose clause, and so taken as a final imperfect: “in order that he may know [or realize].”

[31:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “lot of Shaddai,” which must mean “the lot from Shaddai,” a genitive of source.

[33:24]  ²⁹ tn This verse seems to continue the protasis begun in the last verse, with the apodosis coming in the next verse.

[33:24]  ³⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:24]  ³¹ tc The verb is either taken as an anomalous form of פָּדַע (pada’, “to rescue; to redeem,” or “to exempt him”), or it is emended to some similar word, like פָּרַע (para’, “to let loose,” so Wright).

[33:24]  ³² sn This verse and v. 28 should be compared with Ps 49:7-9, 15 (8-10, 16 HT) where the same basic vocabulary and concepts are employed.

[34:32]  ³³ tn Heb “what I do not see,” more specifically, “apart from [that which] I see.”

[35:11]  ³⁴ tn The form in the text, the Piel participle from אָלַף (’alaf, “teach”) is written in a contracted form; the full form is מְאַלְּפֵנוּ (mÿ’allÿfenu).

[35:11]  ³⁵ tn Some would render this “teaches us by the beasts.” But Elihu is stressing the unique privilege humans have.

[36:33]  ³⁶ tn Peake knew of over thirty interpretations for this verse. The MT literally says, “He declares his purpose [or his shout] concerning it; cattle also concerning what rises.” Dhorme has it: “The flock which sniffs the coming storm has warned the shepherd.” Kissane: “The thunder declares concerning him, as he excites wrath against iniquity.” Gordis translates it: “His thunderclap proclaims his presence, and the storm his mighty wrath.” Many more could be added to the list.

[37:4]  ³⁷ tn The verb simply has the pronominal suffix, “them.” The idea must be that when God brings in all the thunderings he does not hold back his lightning bolts either.

[37:5]  ³⁸ tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.

[37:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and we do not know.”

[37:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.

[37:13]  ⁴¹ tn This is interpretive; Heb “he makes find it.” The lightning could be what is intended here, for it finds its mark. But R. Gordis (Job, 429) suggests man is the subject – let him find what it is for, i.e., the fate appropriate for him.

[40:19]  ⁴² tn Heb “the ways of God.”

[40:19]  sn This may be a reference to Gen 1:24, where the first of the animal creation was the cattle – bÿhemah (בְּהֵמָה).

[40:19]  ⁴³ tc The literal reading of the MT is “let the one who made him draw near [with] his sword.” The sword is apparently a reference to the teeth or tusks of the animal, which cut vegetation like a sword. But the idea of a weapon is easier to see, and so the people who favor the mythological background see here a reference to God’s slaying the Beast. There are again many suggestions on how to read the line. The RV probably has the safest: “He that made him has furnished him with his sword” (the sword being a reference to the sharp tusks with which he can attack).