Job 21:14-15

21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!

We do not want to know your ways.

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray to him?’


tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”

sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.

tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”

tn The verb פָּגַע (paga’) means “to encounter; to meet,” but also “to meet with request; to intercede; to interpose.” The latter meaning is a derived meaning by usage.

tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.