22:24 and throw 9 your gold 10 in the dust –
your gold 11 of Ophir
among the rocks in the ravines –
22:25 then the Almighty himself will be your gold, 12
and the choicest 13 silver for you.
1 tn The words “as plentiful” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
2 tn Heb “he made.”
3 tn Heb “as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah.”
4 sn Because Que is also mentioned, some prefer to see 1 Kgs 10:28-29 as a reference to Mutsur. Que and Mutsur were located in Cilicia or Cappadocia (in modern southern Turkey). See HALOT 625 s.v. מִצְרַיִם.
5 tn Heb “and they brought up and brought out from Egypt a chariot for 600 silver (pieces), and a horse for 150, and in the same way to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram by their hand they brought out.”
6 tn The words “as plentiful” are supplied for clarification.
7 tn Heb “he made cedar.”
8 tn Heb “as the sycamore fig trees which are in the Shephelah.”
9 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.
10 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”).
11 tn The Hebrew text simply has “Ophir,” a metonymy for the gold that comes from there.
12 tn The form for “gold” here is plural, which could be a plural of extension. The LXX and Latin versions have “The Almighty will be your helper against your enemies.”
13 tn E. Dhorme (Job, 339) connects this word with an Arabic root meaning “to be elevated, steep.” From that he gets “heaps of silver.”