Job 16:5

16:5 But ¹  I would strengthen ²  you with my words; ³ 

comfort from my lips would bring ⁴  you relief.

Job 34:8

34:8 He goes about ⁵  in company ⁶  with evildoers,

he goes along ⁷  with wicked men. ⁸ 

Job 34:36

34:36 But ⁹  Job will be tested to the end,

because his answers are like those of wicked men.

Romans 1:32

1:32 Although they fully know ¹⁰  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ¹¹  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ¹² 

Revelation 18:4

18:4 Then ¹³  I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues,

¹ tn “But” has been added in the translation to strengthen the contrast.

² tn The Piel of אָמַץ (’amats) means “to strengthen, fortify.”

³ tn Heb “my mouth.”

⁴ tn The verb יַחְשֹׂךְ (yakhsokh) means “to restrain; to withhold.” There is no object, so many make it first person subject, “I will not restrain.” The LXX and the Syriac have a different person – “I would not restrain.” G. R. Driver, arguing that the verb is intransitive here, made it “the solace of my lips would not [added] be withheld” (see JTS 34 [1933]: 380). D. J. A. Clines says that what is definitive is the use of the verb in the next line, where it clearly means “soothed, assuaged.”

⁵ tn The perfect verb with the vav (ו) consecutive carries the sequence forward from the last description.

⁶ tn The word חֶבְרַה (khevrah, “company”) is a hapax legomenon. But its meaning is clear enough from the connections to related words and this context as well.

⁷ tn The infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition may continue the clause with the finite verb (see GKC 351 §114.p).

⁸ tn Heb “men of wickedness”; the genitive is attributive (= “wicked men”).

⁹ tc The MT reads אָבִי (’avi, “my father”), which makes no sense. Some follow the KJV and emend the word to make a verb “I desire” or use the noun “my desire of it.” Others follow an Arabic word meaning “entreat, I pray” (cf. ESV, “Would that Job were tried”). The LXX and the Syriac versions have “but” and “surely” respectively. Since this is the only ms support, albeit weak, it may be the best choice. In this sense Elihu would be saying that because of Job’s attitude God will continue to test him.

¹⁰ tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

¹¹ tn Grk “are worthy of death.”

¹² sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.

¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.