16:5 But 1 I would strengthen 2 you with my words; 3
comfort from my lips would bring 4 you relief.
37:8 The wild animals go to their lairs,
and in their dens they remain.
19:16 I summon 5 my servant, but he does not respond,
even though I implore 6 him with my own mouth.
16:4 I also could speak 7 like you,
if 8 you were in my place;
I could pile up 9 words against you
and I could shake my head at you. 10
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 verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the ל (lamed) preposition means “to summon.” Contrast Ps 123:2.
6 tn Heb “plead for grace” or “plead for mercy” (ESV).
9 tn For the use of the cohortative in the apodosis of conditional sentences, see GKC 322 §109.f.
10 tn The conjunction לוּ (lu) is used to introduce the optative, a condition that is incapable of fulfillment (see GKC 494-95 §159.l).
11 tn This verb אַחְבִּירָה (’akhbirah) is usually connected to חָבַר (khavar, “to bind”). There are several suggestions for this word. J. J. Finkelstein proposed a second root, a homonym, meaning “to make a sound,” and so here “to harangue” (“Hebrew habar and Semitic HBR,” JBL 75 [1956]: 328-31; see also O. Loretz, “HBR in Job 16:4,” CBQ 23 [1961]: 293-94, who renders it “I could make noisy speeches”). Other suggestions have been for new meanings based on cognate studies, such as “to make beautiful” (i.e., make polished speeches).
12 sn The action is a sign of mockery (see Ps 22:7[8]; Isa 37:22; Matt 27:39).