Text -- Job 34:16-30 (NET)

God Is Impartial and Omniscient

34:16 “If you have understanding, listen to this, hear what I have to say. 34:17 Do you really think that one who hates justice can govern? And will you declare guilty the supremely righteous One, 34:18 who says to a king, ‘Worthless man’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked men,’ 34:19 who shows no partiality to princes, and does not take note of the rich more than the poor, because all of them are the work of his hands? 34:20 In a moment they die, in the middle of the night, people are shaken and they pass away. The mighty are removed effortlessly. 34:21 For his eyes are on the ways of an individual, he observes all a person’s steps. 34:22 There is no darkness, and no deep darkness, where evildoers can hide themselves. 34:23 For he does not still consider a person, that he should come before God in judgment. 34:24 He shatters the great without inquiry, and sets up others in their place. 34:25 Therefore, he knows their deeds, he overthrows them in the night and they are crushed. 34:26 He strikes them for their wickedness, in a place where people can see, 34:27 because they have turned away from following him, and have not understood any of his ways, 34:28 so that they caused the cry of the poor to come before him, so that he hears the cry of the needy. 34:29 But if God is quiet, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, then who can see him? Yet he is over the individual and the nation alike, 34:30 so that the godless man should not rule, and not lay snares for the people.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Job 34:16

¹ tn The phrase “you have” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

² tn Heb “the sound of my words.”

NET Notes: Job 34:17

¹ tn The force of הַאַף (ha’af) is “Is it truly the case?” The point is being made that if Job were right God could not be judging the world.

² tn The verb חָבַשׁ (khavash) has the basic idea of “to bind,” as in binding on the yoke, and then in the sense of subduing people under authority (cf. Assyrian absanu). The imperfect verb here is best expressed with the potential nuance.

³ tn The two words could be taken separately, but they seem to form a fine nominal hendiadys, because the issue is God’s justice. So the word for power becomes the modifier.

NET Notes: Job 34:18

¹ tc Heb “Does one say,” although some smooth it out to say “Is it fit to say?” For the reading “who says,” the form has to be repointed to הַאֹמֵר (ha’omer) meaning, “who is the one saying.” This reading is supported by the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac. Also it seems to flow better with the following verse. It would be saying that God is over the rulers and can rebuke them. The former view is saying that no one rebukes kings, much less Job rebuking God.

² tn The word בְּלִיָּעַל (bÿliyya’al) means both “worthless” and “wicked.” It is common in proverbial literature, and in later writings it became a description of Satan. It is usually found with “son of.”

NET Notes: Job 34:19

¹ tn The verb means “to give recognition; to take note of” and in this passage with לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”) it means to show preferential treatment to the rich before the poor. The word for “rich” here is an unusual word, found parallel to “noble” (Isa 32:2). P. Joüon thinks it is a term of social distinction (Bib 18 [1937]: 207-8).

NET Notes: Job 34:20

¹ tn Dhorme transposes “in the middle of the night” with “they pass away” to get a smoother reading. But the MT emphasizes the suddenness by putting both temporal ideas first. E. F. Sutcliffe leaves the order as it stands in the text, but adds a verb “they expire” after “in the middle of the night” (“Notes on Job, textual and exegetical,” Bib 30 [1949]: 79ff.).

² tn R. Gordis (Job, 389) thinks “people” here mean the people who count, the upper class.

³ tn The verb means “to be violently agitated.” There is no problem with the word in this context, but commentators have made suggestions for improving the idea. The proposal that has the most to commend it, if one were inclined to choose a new word, is the change to יִגְוָעוּ (yigva’u, “they expire”; so Ball, Holscher, Fohrer, and others).

⁴ tn Heb “not by hand.” This means without having to use force.

NET Notes: Job 34:21

¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (a person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Job 34:22

¹ tn The construction of this colon uses the Niphal infinitive construct from סָתַר (satar, “to be hidden; to hide”). The resumptive adverb makes this a relative clause in its usage: “where the evildoers can hide themselves.”

NET Notes: Job 34:23

¹ tn Heb “for he does not put upon man yet.” This has been given a wide variety of interpretations, all of which involve a lot of additional thoughts. The word עוֹד (’od, “yet, still”) has been replaced with מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, “an appointed time,” Reiske and Wright), with the ם (mem) having dropped out by haplography. This makes good sense. If the MT is retained, the best interpretation would be that God does not any more consider (from “place upon the heart”) man, that he might appear in judgment.

NET Notes: Job 34:24

¹ tn Heb “[with] no investigation.”

NET Notes: Job 34:25

¹ tn The direct object “them” is implied and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

² tn The Hebrew term “night” is an accusative of time.

NET Notes: Job 34:26

¹ tn Heb “under wicked men,” or “under wickednesses.” J. C. Greenfield shows that the preposition can mean “among” as well (“Prepositions B Tachat in Jes 57:5,” ZAW 32 [1961]: 227). That would allow “among wicked men.” It could also be “instead of” or even “in return for [their wickedness]” which is what the RSV does.

² tn The text simply uses רֹאִים (ro’im): “[in the place where there are] seers,” i.e., spectators.

NET Notes: Job 34:27

¹ tn The verb הִשְׂכִּילוּ (hiskilu) means “to be prudent; to be wise.” From this is derived the idea of “be wise in understanding God’s will,” and “be successful because of prudence” – i.e., successful with God.

NET Notes: Job 34:28

¹ tn The verse begins with the infinitive construct of בּוֹא (bo’, “go”), showing the result of their impious actions.

² tn The verb here is an imperfect; the clause is circumstantial to the preceding clause, showing either the result, or the concomitant action.

NET Notes: Job 34:29

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The verb in this position is somewhat difficult, although it does make good sense in the sentence – it is just not what the parallelism would suggest. So several emendations have been put forward, for which see the commentaries.

³ tn The line simply reads “and over a nation and over a man together.” But it must be the qualification for the points being made in the previous lines, namely, that even if God hides himself so no one can see, yet he is still watching over them all (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 222).

⁴ tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.”

NET Notes: Job 34:30

¹ tn This last verse is difficult because it is unbalanced and cryptic. Some have joined the third line of v. 29 with this entire verse to make a couplet. But the same result is achieved by simply regarding this verse as the purpose of v. 29. But there still are some words that must be added. In the first colon, “[he is over the nations]…preventing from ruling.” And in the second colon, “laying” has to be supplied before “snares.”