Job 20:24

20:24 If he flees from an iron weapon,

then an arrow from a bronze bow pierces him.

Job 39:21

39:21 It paws the ground in the valley,

exulting mightily,

it goes out to meet the weapons.


tn Heb “a bronze bow pierces him.” The words “an arrow from” are implied and are supplied in the translation; cf. “pulls it out” in the following verse.

tc The Hebrew text has a plural verb, “they paw.” For consistency and for stylistic reasons this is translated as a singular.

tn The armies would prepare for battles that were usually fought in the valleys, and so the horse was ready to charge. But in Ugaritic the word `mk means “force” as well as “valley.” The idea of “force” would fit the parallelism here well (see M. Dahood, “Value of Ugaritic for textual criticism,” Bib 40 [1959]: 166).

tn Or “in strength.”