Job 1:2

1:2 Seven ¹  sons and three daughters were born to him. ² 

Job 15:7

15:7 “Were you the first man ever born?

Were you brought forth before the hills?

Job 39:2

39:2 Do you count the months they must fulfill,

and do you know the time they give birth? ³ 

¹ sn The numbers used in the chapter, seven, three, and five, carry the symbolism in the Bible of perfection and completeness (see J. J. Davis, Biblical Numerology). Job’s “seven sons” are listed first because in the East sons were considered more valuable than daughters (recall Ruth, who is “better than seven sons” [Ruth 4:15]).

² tn The verb begins the sentence: “and there were born.” This use of the preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, especially after the verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”), is explanatory: there was a man…and there was born to him…” (IBHS 551-52 §33.2.2b).

³ tn Here the infinitive is again a substantive: “the time of their giving birth.”