30:1 “But now they mock me, those who are younger 1 than I,
whose fathers I disdained too much 2
to put with my sheep dogs. 3
30:12 On my right the young rabble 4 rise up;
they drive me from place to place, 5
and build up siege ramps 6 against me. 7
1 tn Heb “smaller than I for days.”
2 tn Heb “who I disdained their fathers to set…,” meaning “whose fathers I disdained to set.” The relative clause modifies the young fellows who mock; it explains that Job did not think highly enough of them to put them with the dogs. The next verse will explain why.
3 sn Job is mocked by young fellows who come from low extraction. They mocked their elders and their betters. The scorn is strong here – dogs were despised as scavengers.
4 tn This Hebrew word occurs only here. The word פִּרְחַח (pirkhakh, “young rabble”) is a quadriliteral, from פָּרַח (parakh, “to bud”) The derivative אֶפְרֹחַ (’efroakh) in the Bible refers to a young bird. In Arabic farhun means both “young bird” and “base man.” Perhaps “young rabble” is the best meaning here (see R. Gordis, Job, 333).
5 tn Heb “they cast off my feet” or “they send my feet away.” Many delete the line as troubling and superfluous. E. Dhorme (Job, 438) forces the lines to say “they draw my feet into a net.”
6 tn Heb “paths of their destruction” or “their destructive paths.”
7 sn See Job 19:12.