Ayub 9:25

Renewed Complaint

9:25 “My days ¹  are swifter than a runner, ² 

they speed by without seeing happiness.

Ayub 35:3

35:3 But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’ ³ 

and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’ ⁴ 

[9:25]  ¹ tn The text has “and my days” following the thoughts in the previous section.

[9:25]  ² sn Job returns to the thought of the brevity of his life (7:6). But now the figure is the swift runner instead of the weaver’s shuttle.

[35:3]  ³ tn The referent of “you” is usually understood to be God.

[35:3]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text merely says, “What do I gain from my sin?” But Job has claimed that he has not sinned, and so this has to be elliptical: “more than if I had sinned” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 224). It could also be, “What do I gain without sin?”