Job 34:32

34:32 Teach me what I cannot see.

If I have done evil, I will do so no more.’

Job 34:37

34:37 For he adds transgression to his sin;

in our midst he claps his hands,

and multiplies his words against God.”

Job 38:11

38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come

and no farther,

here your proud waves will be confined’?


tn Heb “what I do not see,” more specifically, “apart from [that which] I see.”

tn Although frequently translated “rebellion,” the basic meaning of this Hebrew term is “transgression.”

tc If this reading stands, it would mean that Job shows contempt, meaning that he mocks them and accuses God. It is a bold touch, but workable. Of the many suggested emendations, Dhorme alters some of the vowels and obtains a reading “and casts doubt among us,” and then takes “transgression” from the first colon for the complement. Some commentators simply delete the line.

tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.

tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).

tn The MT literally says, “here he will put on the pride of your waves.” The verb has no expressed subject and so is made a passive voice. But there has to be some object for the verb “put,” such as “limit” or “boundary”; the translations “confined; halted; stopped” all serve to paraphrase such an idea. The LXX has “broken” at this point, suggesting the verse might have been confused – but “breaking the pride” of the waves would mean controlling them. Some commentators have followed this, exchanging the verb in v. 11 with this one.