Psalms 109:10

109:10 May his children ¹  roam around begging,

asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! ² 

Job 15:23

15:23 he wanders about – food for vultures; ³ 

he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. ⁴ 

Job 30:1-7

Job’s Present Misery

30:1 “But now they mock me, those who are younger ⁵  than I,

whose fathers I disdained too much ⁶ 

to put with my sheep dogs. ⁷ 

30:2 Moreover, the strength of their ⁸  hands –

what use was it to me?

Men whose strength ⁹  had perished;

30:3 gaunt ¹⁰  with want and hunger,

they would gnaw ¹¹  the parched land,

in former time desolate and waste. ¹² 

30:4 By the brush ¹³  they would gather ¹⁴  herbs from the salt marshes, ¹⁵ 

and the root of the broom tree was their food.

30:5 They were banished from the community ¹⁶  –

people ¹⁷  shouted at them

like they would shout at thieves ¹⁸  –

30:6 so that they had to live ¹⁹ 

in the dry stream beds, ²⁰ 

in the holes of the ground, and among the rocks.

30:7 They brayed ²¹  like animals among the bushes

and were huddled together ²²  under the nettles.

Isaiah 8:21

8:21 They will pass through the land ²³  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ²⁴  and they will curse their king and their God ²⁵  as they look upward.

[109:10]  ¹ tn Or “sons.”

[109:10]  ² tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vÿdoreshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yÿgoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shi’elu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.

[15:23]  ³ tn The MT has “he wanders about for food – where is it?” The LXX has “he has been appointed for food for vultures,” reading אַיָּה (’ayyah, “vulture”) for אַיֵּה (’ayyeh, “where is it?”). This would carry on the thought of the passage – he sees himself destined for the sword and food for vultures. Many commentators follow this reading while making a number of smaller changes in נֹדֵד (noded, “wandering”) such as נִתַּן (nittan, “is given”), נוֹעַד (no’ad, “is appointed”), נוֹדַע (noda’, “is known”), or something similar. The latter involves no major change in consonants. While the MT “wandering” may not be as elegant as some of the other suggestions, it is not impossible. But there is no reading of this verse that does not involve some change. The LXX has “and he has been appointed for food for vultures.”

[15:23]  ⁴ tn This line is fraught with difficulties (perceived or real), which prompt numerous suggestions. The reading of the MT is “he knows that a day of darkness is fixed in his hand,” i.e., is certain. Many commentators move “day of darkness” to the next verse, following the LXX. Then, suggestions have been offered for נָכוֹן (nakhon, “ready”), such as נֵכֶר (nekher, “disaster”); and for בְּיָדוֹ (bÿyado, “in his hand”) a number of ideas – לְאֵיד (lÿ’ed, “calamity”) or פִּידוֹ (pido, “his disaster”). Wright takes this last view and renders it “he knows that misfortune is imminent,” leaving the “day of darkness” to the next verse.

[30:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “smaller than I for days.”

[30:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “who I disdained their fathers to set…,” meaning “whose fathers I disdained to set.” The relative clause modifies the young fellows who mock; it explains that Job did not think highly enough of them to put them with the dogs. The next verse will explain why.

[30:1]  ⁷ sn Job is mocked by young fellows who come from low extraction. They mocked their elders and their betters. The scorn is strong here – dogs were despised as scavengers.

[30:2]  ⁸ tn The reference is to the fathers of the scorners, who are here regarded as weak and worthless.

[30:2]  ⁹ tn The word כֶּלַח (kelakh) only occurs in Job 5:26; but the Arabic cognate gives this meaning “strength.” Others suggest כָּלַח (kalakh, “old age”), ֹכּל־חַיִל (kol-khayil, “all vigor”), כֹּל־לֵחַ (kol-leakh, “all freshness”), and the like. But there is no reason for such emendation.

[30:3]  ¹⁰ tn This word, גַּלְמוּד (galmud), describes something as lowly, desolate, bare, gaunt like a rock.

[30:3]  ¹¹ tn The form is the plural participle with the definite article – “who gnaw.” The article, joined to the participle, joins on a new statement concerning a preceding noun (see GKC 404 §126.b).

[30:3]  ¹² tn The MT has “yesterday desolate and waste.” The word “yesterday” (אֶמֶשׁ, ’emesh) is strange here. Among the proposals for אֶמֶשׁ (’emesh), Duhm suggested יְמַשְּׁשׁוּ (yÿmashÿshu, “they grope”), which would require darkness; Pope renders “by night,” instead of “yesterday,” which evades the difficulty; and Fohrer suggested with more reason אֶרֶץ (’erets), “a desolate and waste land.” R. Gordis (Job, 331) suggests יָמִישׁוּ / יָמֻשׁוּ (yamishu/yamushu), “they wander off.”

[30:4]  ¹³ tn Or “the leaves of bushes” (ESV), a possibility dating back to Saadia and discussed by G. R. Driver and G. B. Gray (Job [ICC], 2:209) in their philological notes.

[30:4]  ¹⁴ tn Here too the form is the participle with the article.

[30:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gather mallow,” a plant which grows in salt marshes.

[30:5]  ¹⁶ tn The word גֵּו (gev) is an Aramaic term meaning “midst,” indicating “midst [of society].” But there is also a Phoenician word that means “community” (DISO 48).

[30:5]  ¹⁷ tn The form simply is the plural verb, but it means those who drove them from society.

[30:5]  ¹⁸ tn The text merely says “as thieves,” but it obviously compares the poor to the thieves.

[30:6]  ¹⁹ tn This use of the infinitive construct expresses that they were compelled to do something (see GKC 348-49 §114.h, k).

[30:6]  ²⁰ tn The adjectives followed by a partitive genitive take on the emphasis of a superlative: “in the most horrible of valleys” (see GKC 431 §133.h).

[30:7]  ²¹ tn The verb נָהַק (nahaq) means “to bray.” It has cognates in Arabic, Aramaic, and Ugaritic, so there is no need for emendation here. It is the sign of an animal’s hunger. In the translation the words “like animals” are supplied to clarify the metaphor for the modern reader.

[30:7]  ²² tn The Pual of the verb סָפַח (safakh, “to join”) also brings out the passivity of these people – “they were huddled together” (E. Dhorme, Job, 434).

[8:21]  ²³ tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.

[8:21]  ²⁴ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[8:21]  ²⁵ tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).