Ayub 16:10

16:10 People ¹  have opened their mouths against me,

they have struck my cheek in scorn; ² 

they unite ³  together against me.

Mazmur 69:12

69:12 Those who sit at the city gate gossip about me;

drunkards mock me in their songs. ⁴ 

[16:10]  ¹ tn “People” is supplied; the Hebrew verb is third plural. The colon reads, “they have opened against me with [the preposition is instrumental] their mouth.” The gestures here follow the animal imagery; they reflect destructive opposition and attack (see Ps 22:13 among others).

[16:10]  ² tn This is an “insult” or a “reproach.”

[16:10]  ³ tn The verb יִתְמַלָּאוּן (yitmalla’un) is taken from מָלֵא (male’), “to be full,” and in this stem, “to pile up; to press together.” The term has a military connotation, such as “to mobilize” (see D. W. Thomas, “ml'w in Jeremiah 4:5 : a military term,” JJS 3 [1952]: 47-52). Job sees himself surrounded by enemies who persecute him and mock him.

[69:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “the mocking songs of the drinkers of beer.”