Job 21:15

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that ¹  we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray ²  to him?’ ³ 

Job 22:17

22:17 They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ ⁴ 

Job 34:9

34:9 For he says, ‘It does not profit a man

when he makes his delight with God.’ ⁵ 

Malachi 3:14

3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ⁶  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ⁷ 

¹ tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”

² 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.

³ tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.

⁴ tn The form in the text is “to them.” The LXX and the Syriac versions have “to us.”

⁵ tn Gordis, however, takes this expression in the sense of “being in favor with God.”

⁶ tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

⁷ sn The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the Lord. The reason, of course, is that it was blatantly hypocritical.