Ayub 22:24

22:24 and throw ¹  your gold ²  in the dust –

your gold ³  of Ophir

among the rocks in the ravines –

Yehezkiel 36:25

36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water ⁴  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols.

Yehezkiel 9:1

The Execution of Idolaters

9:1 Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, ⁵  you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!”

[22:24]  ¹ tc The form is the imperative. Eliphaz is telling Job to get rid of his gold as evidence of his repentance. Many commentators think that this is too improbable for Eliphaz to have said, and that Job has lost everything anyway, and so they make proposals for the text. Most would follow Theodotion and the Syriac to read וְשָׁתָּ (vÿshatta, “and you will esteem….”). This would mean that he is promising Job restoration of his wealth.

[22:24]  tn Heb “place.”

[22:24]  ² tn The word for “gold” is the rare בֶּצֶר (betser), which may be derived from a cognate of Arabic basara, “to see; to examine.” If this is the case, the word here would refer to refined gold. The word also forms a fine wordplay with בְצוּר (bÿtsur, “in the rock”).

[22:24]  ³ tn The Hebrew text simply has “Ophir,” a metonymy for the gold that comes from there.

[36:25]  ⁴ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

[9:1]  ⁵ tc Heb “they approached.” Reading the imperative assumes the same consonantal text but different vowels.