18:6 The light in his tent grows dark;
his lamp above him is extinguished. 1
18:15 Fire resides in his tent; 2
over his residence burning sulfur is scattered.
18:21 ‘Surely such is the residence 3 of an evil man;
and this is the place of one who has not known God.’” 4
1 tn The LXX interprets a little more precisely: “his lamp shall be put out with him.”
2 tn This line is difficult as well. The verb, again a third feminine form, says “it dwells in his tent.” But the next part (מִבְּלִי לוֹ, mibbÿli lo) means something like “things of what are not his.” The best that can be made of the MT is “There shall live in his tent they that are not his” (referring to persons and animals; see J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 279). G. R. Driver and G. B. Gray (Job [ICC], 2:161) refer “that which is naught of his” to weeds and wild animals. M. Dahood suggested a reading מַבֶּל (mabbel) and a connection to Akkadian nablu, “fire” (cf. Ugaritic nbl). The interchange of m and n is not a problem, and the parallelism with the next line makes good sense (“Some Northwest Semitic words in Job,” Bib 38 [1957]: 312ff.). Others suggest an emendation to get “night-hag” or vampire. This suggestion, as well as Driver’s “mixed herbs,” are linked to the idea of exorcism. But if a change is to be made, Dahood’s is the most compelling.
3 tn The term is in the plural, “the tabernacles”; it should be taken as a plural of local extension (see GKC 397 §124.b).
4 tn The word “place” is in construct; the clause following it replaces the genitive: “this is the place of – he has not known God.”