28:26 When he imposed a limit 1 for the rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm, 2
38:33 Do you know the laws of the heavens,
or can you set up their rule over the earth?
22:22 Accept instruction 3 from his mouth
and store up his words 4 in your heart.
9:3 If someone wishes 5 to contend 6 with him,
he cannot answer 7 him one time in a thousand.
31:13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants
or my female servants
when they disputed 8 with me,
9:19 If it is a matter of strength, 9
most certainly 10 he is the strong one!
And if it is a matter of justice,
he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’ 11
1 tn Or “decree.”
2 tn Or “thunderbolt,” i.e., lightning. Heb “the roaring of voices/sounds,” which describes the nature of the storm.
3 tn The Hebrew word here is תּוֹרָה (torah), its only occurrence in the book of Job.
4 tc M. Dahood has “write his words” (“Metaphor in Job 22:22,” Bib 47 [1966]: 108-9).
5 tn Some commentators take God to be the subject of this verb, but it is more likely that it refers to the mortal who tries to challenge God in a controversy. The verb is used of Job in 13:3.
6 tn The verb רִיב (riv) is a common one; it has the idea of “contention; dispute; legal dispute or controversy; go to law.” With the preposition אִם (’im) the idea must be “to contend with” or “to dispute with.” The preposition reflects the prepositional phrase “with God” in v. 2, supporting the view that man is the subject.
7 tn This use of the imperfect as potential imperfect assumes that the human is the subject, that in a dispute with God he could not answer one of God’s questions (for which see the conclusion of the book when God questions Job). On the other hand, if the interpretation were that God does not answer the demands of mortals, then a simple progressive imperfect would be required. In support of this is the frustration of Job that God does not answer him.
7 tn This construction is an adverbial clause using the temporal preposition, the infinitive from רִיב (riv, “contend”), and the suffix which is the subjective genitive.
9 tn The MT has only “if of strength.”
10 tn “Most certainly” translates the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh).
11 tn The question could be taken as “who will summon me?” (see Jer 49:19 and 50:44). This does not make immediate sense. Some have simply changed the suffix to “who will summon him.” If the MT is retained, then supplying something like “he will say” could make the last clause fit the whole passage. Another option is to take it as “Who will reveal it to me?” – i.e., Job could be questioning his friends’ qualifications for being God’s emissaries to bring God’s charges against him (cf. KJV, NKJV; and see 10:2 where Job uses the same verb in the Hiphil to request that God reveal what his sin has been that has led to his suffering).