Ayub 9:26

9:26 They glide by ¹  like reed ²  boats,

like an eagle that swoops ³  down on its prey. ⁴ 

Ayub 19:8

19:8 He has blocked ⁵  my way so I cannot pass,

and has set darkness ⁶  over my paths.

[9:26]  ¹ tn Heb “they flee.”

[9:26]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “food.”

[19:8]  ⁵ tn The verb גָּדַר (gadar) means “to wall up; to fence up; to block.” God has blocked Job’s way so that he cannot get through. See the note on 3:23. Cf. Lam 3:7.

[19:8]  ⁶ tn Some commentators take the word to be חָשַׁךְ (hasak), related to an Arabic word for “thorn hedge.”