24:6 They reap fodder 1 in the field,
and glean 2 in the vineyard of the wicked.
4:8 Even as I have seen, 3 those who plow 4 iniquity 5
and those who sow trouble reap the same. 6
21:4 Is my 7 complaint against a man? 8
If so, 9 why should I not be impatient? 10
1 tc The word בְּלִילוֹ (bÿlilo) means “his fodder.” It is unclear to what this refers. If the suffix is taken as a collective, then it can be translated “they gather/reap their fodder.” The early versions all have “they reap in a field which is not his” (taking it as בְּלִי לוֹ, bÿli lo). A conjectural emendation would change the word to בַּלַּיְלָה (ballaylah, “in the night”). But there is no reason for this.
2 tn The verbs in this verse are uncertain. In the first line “reap” is used, and that would be the work of a hired man (and certainly not done at night). The meaning of this second verb is uncertain; it has been taken to mean “glean,” which would be the task of the poor.
3 tn The perfect verb here represents the indefinite past. It has no specific sighting in mind, but refers to each time he has seen the wicked do this.
4 sn The figure is an implied metaphor. Plowing suggests the idea of deliberately preparing (or cultivating) life for evil. This describes those who are fundamentally wicked.
5 tn The LXX renders this with a plural “barren places.”
6 tn Heb “reap it.”
5 tn The addition of the independent pronoun at the beginning of the sentence (“Is it I / against a man / my complaint”) strengthens the pronominal suffix on “complaint” (see GKC 438 §135.f).
6 sn The point seems to be that if his complaint were merely against men he might expect sympathy from other men; but no one dares offer him sympathy when his complaint is against God. So he will give free expression to his spirit (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 147).
7 tn On disjunctive interrogatives, see GKC 475 §150.g.
8 tn Heb “why should my spirit/breath not be short” (see Num 21:4; Judg 16:16).