38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come 1
and no farther, 2
here your proud waves will be confined’? 3
38:12 Have you ever in your life 4 commanded the morning,
or made the dawn know 5 its place,
1 tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.
2 tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).
3 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.
4 tn The Hebrew idiom is “have you from your days?” It means “never in your life” (see 1 Sam 25:28; 1 Kgs 1:6).
5 tn The verb is the Piel of יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) with a double accusative.