Text -- Job 25:3-6 (NET)

25:3 Can his armies be numbered? On whom does his light not rise? 25:4 How then can a human being be righteous before God? How can one born of a woman be pure? 25:5 If even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned, 25:6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot– a son of man, who is only a worm!”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Job 25:3

¹ tn Heb “Is there a number to his troops?” The question is rhetorical: there is no number to them!

² tc In place of “light” here the LXX has “his ambush,” perhaps reading אֹרְבוֹ (’orÿvo) instead of אוֹרֵהוּ (’orehu, “his light”). But while that captures the idea of troops and warfare, the change should be rejected because the armies are linked with stars and light. The expression is poetic; the LXX interpretation tried to make it concrete.

NET Notes: Job 25:4

¹ sn Bildad here does not come up with new expressions; rather, he simply uses what Eliphaz had said (see Job 4:17-19 and 15:14-16).

NET Notes: Job 25:5

¹ tn Heb “not pure in his eyes.”

NET Notes: Job 25:6

¹ tn The text just has “maggot” and in the second half “worm.” Something has to be added to make it a bit clearer. The terms “maggot” and “worm” describe man in his lowest and most ignominious shape.