13:28 So I 1 waste away like something rotten, 2
like a garment eaten by moths.
21:22 Can anyone teach 3 God knowledge,
since 4 he judges those that are on high? 5
21:32 And when he is carried to the tombs,
and watch is kept 6 over the funeral mound, 7
1 tn Heb “and he.” Some of the commentators move the verse and put it after Job 14:2, 3 or 6.
2 tn The word רָקָב (raqav) is used elsewhere in the Bible of dry rot in a house, or rotting bones in a grave. It is used in parallelism with “moth” both here and in Hos 5:12. The LXX has “like a wineskin.” This would be from רֹקֶב (roqev, “wineskin”). This word does not occur in the Hebrew Bible, but is attested in Sir 43:20 and in Aramaic. The change is not necessary.
3 tn The imperfect verb in this question should be given the modal nuance of potential imperfect. The question is rhetorical – it is affirming that no one can teach God.
4 tn The clause begins with the disjunctive vav (ו) and the pronoun, “and he.” This is to be subordinated as a circumstantial clause. See GKC 456 §142.d.
5 tc The Hebrew has רָמִים (ramim), a plural masculine participle of רוּם (rum, “to be high; to be exalted”). This is probably a reference to the angels. But M. Dahood restores an older interpretation that it refers to “the Most High” (“Some Northwest Semitic words in Job,”Bib 38 [1957]: 316-17). He would take the word as a singular form with an enclitic mem (ם). He reads the verse, “will he judge the Most High?”
5 tn The verb says “he will watch.” The subject is unspecified, so the translation is passive.
6 tn The Hebrew word refers to the tumulus, the burial mound that is erected on the spot where the person is buried.