Ayub 34:36

34:36 But ¹  Job will be tested to the end,

because his answers are like those of wicked men.

Mazmur 44:21

44:21 would not God discover it,

for he knows ²  one’s thoughts? ³ 

Mazmur 139:23

139:23 Examine me, and probe my thoughts! ⁴ 

Test me, and know my concerns! ⁵ 

Yeremia 17:10

17:10 I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds.

I examine people’s hearts. ⁶ 

I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.

I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

[34:36]  ¹ tc The MT reads אָבִי (’avi, “my father”), which makes no sense. Some follow the KJV and emend the word to make a verb “I desire” or use the noun “my desire of it.” Others follow an Arabic word meaning “entreat, I pray” (cf. ESV, “Would that Job were tried”). The LXX and the Syriac versions have “but” and “surely” respectively. Since this is the only ms support, albeit weak, it may be the best choice. In this sense Elihu would be saying that because of Job’s attitude God will continue to test him.

[44:21]  ² tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.

[44:21]  ³ tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.

[139:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “and know my heart.”

[139:23]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew noun שַׂרְעַפַּי (sar’apay, “concerns”) is used of “worries” in Ps 94:19.

[17:10]  ⁶ tn The term rendered “mind” here and in the previous verse is actually the Hebrew word for “heart.” However, in combination with the word rendered “heart” in the next line, which is the Hebrew for “kidneys,” it is best rendered “mind” because the “heart” was considered the center of intellect, conscience, and will and the “kidneys” the center of emotions.

[17:10]  sn For an earlier reference to this motif see Jer 11:20. For a later reference see Jer 20:12. See also Ps 17:2-3.