4:8 Even as I have seen, 1 those who plow 2 iniquity 3
and those who sow trouble reap the same. 4
11:14 if 5 iniquity is in your hand – put it far away, 6
and do not let evil reside in your tents.
15:35 They conceive 7 trouble and bring forth evil;
their belly 8 prepares deception.”
21:19 You may say, 9 ‘God stores up a man’s 10 punishment for his children!’ 11
Instead let him repay 12 the man himself 13
so that 14 he may know it!
22:15 Will you keep to the old path 15
that evil men have walked –
34:22 There is no darkness, and no deep darkness,
where evildoers can hide themselves. 16
36:10 And he reveals 17 this 18 for correction,
and says that they must turn 19 from evil.
1 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.
2 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.
3 tn The LXX renders this with a plural “barren places.”
4 tn Heb “reap it.”
5 tn Verse 14 should be taken as a parenthesis and not a continuation of the protasis, because it does not fit with v. 13 in that way (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 256).
6 tn Many commentators follow the Vulgate and read the line “if you put away the sin that is in your hand.” They do this because the imperative comes between the protasis (v. 13) and the apodosis (v. 15) and does not appear to be clearly part of the protasis. The idea is close to the MT, but the MT is much more forceful – if you find sin in your hand, get rid of it.
9 tn Infinitives absolute are used in this verse in the place of finite verbs. They lend a greater vividness to the description, stressing the basic meaning of the words.
10 tn At the start of the speech Eliphaz said Job’s belly was filled with the wind; now it is there that he prepares deception. This inclusio frames the speech.
13 tn These words are supplied. The verse records an idea that Job suspected they might have, namely, that if the wicked die well God will make their children pay for the sins (see Job 5:4; 20:10; as well as Exod 20:5).
14 tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (’ono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”
15 tn Heb “his sons.”
16 tn The verb שָׁלַם (shalam) in the Piel has the meaning of restoring things to their normal, making whole, and so reward, repay (if for sins), or recompense in general.
17 tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”
18 tn The imperfect verb after the jussive carries the meaning of a purpose clause, and so taken as a final imperfect: “in order that he may know [or realize].”
17 tn The “old path” here is the way of defiance to God. The text in these two verses is no doubt making reference to the flood in Genesis, one of the perennial examples of divine judgment.
21 tn The construction of this colon uses the Niphal infinitive construct from סָתַר (satar, “to be hidden; to hide”). The resumptive adverb makes this a relative clause in its usage: “where the evildoers can hide themselves.”
25 tn The idiom once again is “he uncovers their ear.”
26 tn The revelation is in the preceding verse, and so a pronoun must be added to make the reference clear.
27 tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to turn; to return”) is one of the two major words in the OT for “repent” – to return from evil. Here the imperfect should be obligatory – they must do it.