24:18 1 “You say, 2 ‘He is foam 3 on the face of the waters; 4
their portion of the land is cursed
so that no one goes to their vineyard. 5
24:19 The drought as well as the heat carry away
the melted snow; 6
so the grave 7 takes away those who have sinned. 8
24:20 The womb 9 forgets him,
the worm feasts on him,
no longer will he be remembered.
Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.
24:21 He preys on 10 the barren and childless woman, 11
and does not treat the widow well.
1 tc Many commentators find vv. 18-24 difficult on the lips of Job, and so identify this unit as a misplaced part of the speech of Zophar. They describe the enormities of the wicked. But a case can also be made for retaining it in this section. Gordis thinks it could be taken as a quotation by Job of his friends’ ideas.
2 tn The verb “say” is not in the text; it is supplied here to indicate that this is a different section.
3 tn Or “is swift.”
4 sn The wicked person is described here as a spray or foam upon the waters, built up in the agitation of the waters but dying away swiftly.
5 tn The text reads, “he does not turn by the way of the vineyards.” This means that since the land is cursed, he/one does not go there. Bickell emended “the way of the vineyards” to “the treader of the vineyard” (see RSV, NRSV). This would mean that “no wine-presser would turn towards” their vineyards.
6 tn Heb “the waters of the snow.”
7 tn Or “so Sheol.”
8 tn This is the meaning of the verse, which in Hebrew only has “The grave / they have sinned.”
11 tn Here “womb” is synecdoche, representing one’s mother.
16 tc The form in the text is the active participle, “feed; graze; shepherd.” The idea of “prey” is not natural to it. R. Gordis (Job, 270) argues that third he (ה) verbs are often by-forms of geminate verbs, and so the meaning here is more akin to רָעַע (ra’a’, “to crush”). The LXX seems to have read something like הֵרַע (hera’, “oppressed”).
17 tn Heb “the childless [woman], she does not give birth.” The verbal clause is intended to serve as a modifier here for the woman. See on subordinate verbal clauses GKC 490 §156.d, f.