6:24 “Teach 1 me and I, for my part, 2 will be silent;
explain to me 3 how I have been mistaken. 4
6:25 How painful 5 are honest words!
But 6 what does your reproof 7 prove? 8
29:22 After I had spoken, they did not respond;
my words fell on them drop by drop. 9
22:34 Now when the Pharisees 12 heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, 13 they assembled together. 14
1 tn The verb “teach” or “instruct” is the Hiphil הוֹרוּנִי (horuni), from the verb יָרָה (yarah); the basic idea of “point, direct” lies behind this meaning. The verb is cognate to the noun תּוֹרָה (torah, “instruction, teaching, law”).
2 tn The independent personal pronoun makes the subject of the verb emphatic: “and I will be silent.”
3 tn The verb is הָבִינוּ (havinu, “to cause someone to understand”); with the ל (lamed) following, it has the sense of “explain to me.”
4 tn The verb שָׁגָה (shagah) has the sense of “wandering, getting lost, being mistaken.”
5 tn The word נִּמְרְצוּ (nimrÿtsu, “[they] painful are”) may be connected to מָרַץ (marats, “to be ill”). This would give the idea of “how distressing,” or “painful” in this stem. G. R. Driver (JTS 29 [1927/28]: 390-96) connected it to an Akkadian cognate “to be ill” and rendered it “bitter.” It has also been linked with מָרַס (maras), meaning “to be hard, strong,” giving the idea of “how persuasive” (see N. S. Doniach and W. E. Barnes, “Job 4:25: The Root Maras,” JTS [1929/30]: 291-92). There seems more support for the meaning “to be ill” (cf. Mal 2:10). Others follow Targum Job “how pleasant [to my palate are your words]”; E. Dhorme (Job, 92) follows this without changing the text but noting that the word has an interchange of letter with מָלַץ (malats) for מָרַץ (marats).
6 tn The וּ (vav) here introduces the antithesis (GKC 484-85 §154.a).
7 tn The infinitive הוֹכֵחַ (hokheakh, “reproof,” from יָכַח [yakhakh, “prove”]) becomes the subject of the verb from the same root, יוֹכִיהַ (yokhiakh), and so serves as a noun (see GKC 340 §113.b). This verb means “to dispute, quarrel, argue, contend” (see BDB 406-7 s.v. יָכַח). Job is saying, “What does reproof from you prove?”
8 tn The LXX again paraphrases this line: “But as it seems, the words of a true man are vain, because I do not ask strength of you.” But the rest of the versions are equally divided on the verse.
9 tn The verb simply means “dropped,” but this means like the rain. So the picture of his words falling on them like the gentle rain, drop by drop, is what is intended (see Deut 32:2).
10 tn Grk “workers of lawlessness.”
11 tn Grk “they were amazed; they marveled.”
12 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
13 sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.
14 tn Grk “for the same.” That is, for the same purpose that the Sadducees had of testing Jesus.
15 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.