13:4 But you, however, are inventors of lies; 1
all of you are worthless physicians! 2
36:3 The words he speaks are sinful and deceitful;
he does not care about doing what is wise and right. 3
38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; 4
those who want to harm me speak destructive words;
all day long they say deceitful things.
52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; 5
it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver. 6
59:4 No one is concerned about justice; 7
no one sets forth his case truthfully.
They depend on false words 8 and tell lies;
they conceive of oppression 9
and give birth to sin.
1 tn The טֹפְלֵי־שָׁקֶר (tofÿle shaqer) are “plasterers of lies” (Ps 119:69). The verb means “to coat, smear, plaster.” The idea is that of imputing something that is not true. Job is saying that his friends are inventors of lies. The LXX was influenced by the next line and came up with “false physicians.”
2 tn The literal rendering of the construct would be “healers of worthlessness.” Ewald and Dillmann translated it “patchers” based on a meaning in Arabic and Ethiopic; this would give the idea “botchers.” But it makes equally good sense to take “healers” as the meaning, for Job’s friends came to minister comfort and restoration to him – but they failed. See P. Humbert, “Maladie et medicine dans l’AT,” RHPR 44 (1964): 1-29.
3 tn Heb “he ceases to exhibit wisdom to do good.” The Hiphil forms are exhibitive, indicating the outward expression of an inner attitude.
4 tn Heb “lay snares.”
5 tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”
6 tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (’asah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.
7 tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”
8 tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”
9 tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”
10 tn Heb “heart.” So also in v. 28.
11 tn Heb “speak.”
12 tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify that the Greek pronoun and verb are plural.
13 tn Many translations read “You are of your father the devil” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “You belong to your father, the devil” (NIV), but the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) emphasizes the idea of source or origin. Jesus said his opponents were the devil’s very offspring (a statement which would certainly infuriate them).
14 tn Grk “the desires of your father you want to do.”
15 tn Grk “That one” (referring to the devil).
16 tn Grk “he does not stand in the truth” (in the sense of maintaining, upholding, or accepting the validity of it).
17 tn Grk “Whenever he speaks the lie.”
18 tn Grk “he speaks from his own.”
19 tn Grk “because he is a liar and the father of it.”